Bertelsmann announced Monday that ceo Hartmut Ostrowski is leaving his position after more than three years for “personal reasons” and will join the company’s supervisory board as chairman. Thomas Rabe, who has been cfo since 2006, will replace him as of January 1, 2012. Ostrowski first joined Bertelsmann in 1982 and has worked for the company in various functions, including the chief executive position at Arvato and chairman of Bertelsmann’s executive board. Various news sources reported the news in advance of Bertelsmann’s statement, with Reuters deeming Ostrowski’s departure a “surprise” because his contract was not due to expire until December […]
Distribution
Levy Home Entertainment Is Sold
Levy Home Entertainment chair Barbara Levy Kipper and vice chair Jim Levy are retiring from the company and LHE has been sold to an entity run by former Chas. Levy Circulating president and coo Dennis Abboud. He left Levy in 2000 to found Infinity Resources, a marketing and service company he continues to run as ceo. PW says the company will be rebranded within six to nine month as Readerlink Distribution Services. Abbound says in a statement they “will strive to become the ‘reader link’– the essential link between our publishers, our retail partners and their customers. Our new strategy […]
People, Etc.
At Scholastic, Dani Nadel has been hired as chief digital marketing officer for Scholastic book clubs and e-commerce, reporting to Judy Newman. She was most recently president at digital agency Publicis Modem since 2008. In addition, Tom Burke has been promoted to chief e-commerce officer, book clubs and e-commerce. Christopher Davis will join Open Road as evp and chief operating officer, overseeing operations and financial matters, reporting to Jane Friedman, starting October 17. He was previously the svp of business operations for AOL/The Huffington Post Media Group. At Scribner, Katie Monaghan has been promoted to deputy director of publicity. Liz Hartman has […]
When Authors Run the Numbers on Argo Navis Proceeds
What’s going to happen when authors analyze the terms being offered by Perseus’s new Argo Navis? It has been positioned as sounding like Amazon’s KDP program (“Argo Navis offers these authors a 70/30 revenue split”) and the NYT obligingly declares it “a favorable revenue split that is unusual in the industry,” comparing the proceeds to royalties rather than other sef-publishing and distribution arrangements. But for ebooks that qualify for the highest rates from KDP and PubIt, it looks as if Argo Navis will yield gross proceeds that are just half of what authors would get when they participate in those […]
Bloomsbury Readies Digital Distribution Service
As Perseus expands their digital distribution to agents and authors, Bloomsbury is preparing a direct competitor to Constellation, Faber Factory and other ebook distribution platforms for publishers. Launching soon, the new service, called Bloomsbury Connect, has been in development for months under the direction of managing director, group sales and marketing Evan Schnittman. It’s a companion to the Bloomsbury Reader program, announced in April, which launched last week with almost 600 titles. As Schnittman explains, Bloomsbury Connect is a “service solution,” focused on publishers, while Bloomsbury Reader is a full “publishing solution” for out-of-print titles, focused on agencies and estates. Bloomsbury Connect […]
Perseus Adds Digital Distribution for Authors and Agents, Argo Navis
The Perseus Books Group’s digital distribution platform Constellation is adding a service offering targeted at the many literary agencies helping their authors epublish, called Argo Navis Author Services. After presentations to a small set agencies, Perseus is announcing that Janklow & Nesbit and Curtis Brown “are planning to make [the service] available to their clients.” Separately, co-head of publications at ICM Sloan Harris confirmed to Publishers Lunch that the agency is close to finalizing a deal to participate in Perseus’s initiative. “They are not going to be an exclusive destination for us,” Harris said, “but I expect that they will […]