Waterstones managing director James Daunt responded further — and more skeptically — to the petition signed by more than 4,000 employees asking the company to increase pay for booksellers. Daunt said, “There’s a long gap between wanting to do something and it being remotely sensible,” adding, “If you raise the bottom level really significantly, then everybody all the way up the company has to go up, and then we go bust, which isn’t very helpful.” A group of 1,300 writers have also backed the campaign, but Daunt says they’re “[preaching] to the converted” and the company is “simply not profitable […]
Bookstores
LifeWay to Close All 170 Physical Stores
LifeWay Christian Resources announced that will close all of its 170 physical stores by the end of this year. Acting CEO Brad Waggoner said in a statement, “While we had hoped to keep some stores open, current market projections show this is no longer a viable option. The decision to close our local stores is a difficult one.” (In January, the company had indicated they would close a portion of their store base.) The company says, “The timing of store closings will vary depending on local circumstances.” They will continue to sell online, pitched as a “strategic shift of resources […]
Amazon Blinks, A Little
Under political pressure, Amazon is now giving third-party merchants on its US site the same break they provided to European merchants way back in 2013: The company has dropped price parity or most favored nations conditions that blocked sellers from offering their goods at lower prices on other websites. Amazon confirmed the change, without making any statement about it. Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal had written to the Assistant Attorney General for the Anti-Trust Division about this very issue last December. On Monday, Blumenthal commented, “Amazon’s wise and welcome decision comes only after aggressive advocacy and attention that compelled Amazon to […]
People: New Hire, New Contracts at Barnes & Noble
Barnes & Noble has hired Carlo Pochintesta as chief information officer, reporting to cfo Allen Lindstrom, starting today. He was CIO at Rag & Bone Holdings. More intriguingly, with no sign that the bookseller has any intention of looking for a full-time ceo before completing their “strategic review” of a potential sale (now more than five months old), they signed new employment agreements with ranking executives Timothy Mantel, William Wood and Mary Ellen Keating, and a revised agreement with Lindstrom, filed with the SEC last Friday. Everyone has a base salary of around $600,000, plus target bonuses of about 50 […]
People, Etc.
At Flatiron Books, Bryn Clark has been promoted to senior associate editor. In the publicity department, Amelia Possanza moves up to assistant director of publicity; and Patricia Cave and Kimberly Escobar have both been promoted to senior publicist. Erin Gordon has been promoted to senior designer, and Kelly Gatesman has been promoted to associate designer. Sarah Melnyk has been promoted to assistant director of publicity, St. Martin’s/Minotaur. Jessica Preeg and Jessica Zimmerman both become assistant director of publicity, St. Martin’s Press. At Chronicle Books, Samantha Steele has been promoted to national accounts manager; Morgan Amer becomes sales manager; and Kathleen Miller moves […]
People, Etc.
At Avalon Travel, Nikki Ioakimedes is promoted to acquisitions manager for Moon Travel Guides; Kristi Mitsuda becomes editor; Lisi Baldwin moves up to digital production manager; and Ravina Schneider is promoted to production designer. Susan Fissell has joined the Simon & Schuster special markets team as national accounts sales manager. She was previously director of special markets at Hachette Book Group. Former payroll clerk at New Jersey wholesaler Bookazine John M. Cribbin was arrested in February and charged with stealing $34,000 of vacation pay due to other employees over a two-year period, allegedly deposited to his own account with forged […]