Penguin Random House has publicized another one of their retail-focused experiments: Creating customized sets of books for display and sales in a pilot group of West Elm stores, pairing books in categories including art, design, and cooking with the retailer’s products. The project began in the summer, and they are calling attention to a holiday Pop-Up at the West Elm on Manhattan’s Upper West Side (on Broadway, between 62nd and 63, right near the PRH headquarters), which also includes gift, music, and children’s books. In the year ahead that “localized assortment program” will roll out to “a broader set of West Elm […]
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Penguin Random House chief human resources officer Frank Steinert will leave the company after the first quarter in 2019. CEO Markus Dohle writes that Steinert “contributed passionately and immensely to our company by improving and strengthening our services for the most central part of our business: our employees.” Paige McInerney is promoted to the new position of evp, director of human resources for Penguin Random House US, reporting to Madeline McIntosh, and will join the US board. She has been with the company since 1991, when she started to Putnam Berkley. Dohle writes that he “will directly oversee the most […]
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Marian Wood, vice president and publisher of Marian Wood Books, will retire at the end of the year. She has been with Putnam since 1999. Ivan Held president of Putnam, Berkley, and Dutton wrote in a memo to staff, “While her list of writers is a tribute to her acumen as an editor, each of her books has received the skill and passion a good book deserves. As she has been known to say, ‘There is no reason to publish a book you don’t love. If you take that path, you do damage to the house, to the writer, and […]
Dropped Amazon Books Locations Raise Questions
As Amazon’s universe of experiments with physical locations expands to cashierless Amazon Go outlets and rather focusless Amazon 4-Star stores, there are signs of at least a pause in the rollout of Amazon Books stores. It was recently reported that Amazon had passed on developing a Boise, ID location that was to have been their 19th books store. Adding to that, others noticed that a Books store in Atlanta’s Buckhead, reported in November 2017, has not come to pass either. Additionally, the company itself was listing an Amazon Books location “coming soon” in Lone Tree, CO that became a 4-Star […]
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At Scholastic Trade, Liza Baker has been promoted to vp, associate publisher of Cartwheel Books, Orchard Books and Acorn and Branches; Katie Carella to executive editor of Acorn and Branches; Jessica Tice-Gilbert moves up to associate art director of Cartwheel Books and Orchard Books; Yaffa Jaskoll is now executive art director, trade fiction; Celia Lee to senior editor of Cartwheel Books and Orchard Books; and Alexis Lassiter is sales associate. Scholastic also announced a number of new hires. Angie Mason has joined as senior designer, trade creative services. She was previously at Alex Brands. Ingrid Paredes moves over to trade team from the education division, becoming publishing special projects manager. Katie Fitch has joined […]
Corporate: Australian Online Bookseller to Sell Crowdfunded Stock
Australian online bookseller Booktopia has a new plan to raise investment capital after dropping a plan to go public in late 2016. The company is using crowdfunding platform Equitise to raise between $3 million and $10 million (AU), Books and Publishing reports. They are selling 8.1 percent of the business, which had sales of $113 million in the most recent fiscal year (approximately $83.5 million US), with $1.9 million in profit. Booktopia CEO Tony Nash says, “We have always said that our customers have been our investors because they bought books from us and we used those funds to re-invest […]