Dan Crissman has joined The Overlook Press as editor, focusing on nonfiction. He was most recently an assistant editor at Hill and Wang. At Red Wheel Weiser/Conari Press, Julian Segal has been named sales and marketing manager. He was formerly the sales director at Heyday Books. In addition, Pat Rose has been named publicity director, moving from UC Berkeley Extension, where she was media relations manager. James Salter, 86, is the newest honoree of the Rea Award for the Short Story. Given for lifetime achievement, judges praised him as “the most stylish and grave and exact of writers.” Calvin Crosby has re-joined […]
Deals
Liberty Media Invests $204 Million in Barnes and Noble For a 16.6 Percent Stake
A day after rumors swirled that Liberty Media had stepped back from buying a 70 percent stake in Barnes & Noble, the bookseller announced Thursday afternoon that Liberty had invested an aggregate of $204 million, through the purchase of newly issued convertible preferred stock, which can be converted into 12 million shares of common stock. The purchase was for the same $17 a share as the original buyout offer – now abandoned – and Liberty will receive a quarterly dividend at an annual rate of 7.75 percent. Under the deal, which closes today, and subject to the waiting period under anti-trust […]
RR Donnelley To Acquire LibreDigital
RR Donnelley announced today that it has acquired digital content distribution and e-service provider LibreDigital for an undisclosed sum. President and ceo Thomas Quinlan said in a statement that buying LibreDigital will “extend RR Donnelley’s reach across the breadth of the supply chain.” This is the second company Donnelley has purchased this week, having also bought Sequence Personal, a provider of proprietary software that enables readers to select relevant content to be digitally produced as specialized publications. Earlier this summer Donnelley also acquired online writer services company Helium and Journalism Online. “With this acquisition we uniquely position RR Donnelley to […]
Self-Help Bestseller Tim Ferriss Sells New Book To Kirshbaum’s Amazon Imprint
Some days the biggest news happens in the deals section, and today is no exception with Amazon’s announcement that the still-untitled imprint headed by Larry Kirshbaum made its first buy, acquiring Timothy Ferriss’ latest self-help opus, THE FOUR-HOUR CHEF, for publication next year. (Our deals database has more information on the terms.) Previously Ferriss was published by Crown, and both of his earlier books, THE FOUR-HOUR WORKWEEK and THE FOUR-HOUR BODY, have been on the NYT bestseller lists for 84 and 33 weeks, respectively. Amazon’s release ceded most of the “future of publishing” rhetoric to Ferriss, who was quoted as […]
Quarto Buys Frances Lincoln For £4.5m, Reports Sales and Profit Increase So Far This Year
Quarto announced Tuesday that it had acquired Frances Lincoln Ltd for £4.5m. Quarto chairman Laurence Orbach said in a statement that Frances Lincoln’s non-fiction and illustrated children’s book list “complements Quarto’s existing UK publishing business, several imprints trading under the Aurum name, and more than doubles the scale of our presence in the UK. The acquisition is in keeping with our strategy to further expand our already broad offering of niche content.” For the fiscal year ending March 31, Frances Lincoln reported an audited profit before tax of £619,000, net assets of £3.8 million and gross assets of £5.9 million. […]
Briefs: University of California Shutters Poetry Program; OFT Signs Off on Bertrams/Dawson Merger; and More
The University of California Press has decided to suspend the publication of its poetry book series New California Poetry after it publishes 3 titles in 2012. Director Alison Mudditt told the LA Times that the decision came about because of budget cuts – it expects to see 10 percent in funding reductions from the university – as well as the “shifting marketplace” for books and publishing. LAT The Office of Fair Trading has been in the headlines of late because of mounting opposition to Amazon’s acquisition of The Book Depository (so much so that UK trade organizations are taking the […]