The rest of the world was open for business all week long and accounts for much of the catch-up news: – Kobo has now redirected their efforts to sell ebooks and ereading devices in Spain towards their France-based retail partner Fnac. The relationship has been expanded to Spain, where Fnac has 50 stores. Kobo first opened their own local ebookstore in 2011 and sells titles in Spanish, Catalan, Basque, and Galician. In 2013 they had partnered with La Central’s group of seven stores. – Germany’s Luebbe has sold 80 percent of their gift product line Rader for 14.1 million euros, valuing the company at about one […]
Finance
Barnes & Noble Hires A COO While They’re Supposed to be Looking for A CEO
Barnes & Noble announced on Monday afternoon that they hired Demos Parneros, 54, as chief operating officer, reporting to Len Riggio, who is now referred to as “chairman and CEO of Barnes & Noble.” Parneros “will work closely with Mr. Riggio on all aspects of company operations including stores, merchandising, e-Commerce, systems and real estate.” He was president, North American stores & online for Staples until late 2012 (so as with the fired ceo Ron Boire, who came to BN from Sears Canada, they are looking to another non-book bricks and mortar retailer). He is a member of the board at Keycorp, […]
Simon & Schuster to Acquire Adams Media
Simon & Schuster announced internally on Monday afternoon an agreement with F+W Media to acquire their trade publishing division Adams Media, as F+W continues to pare back on some its business lines. Adams Media vp, books and content Karen Cooper will serve as vp, publisher of the line for Simon & Schuster, reporting directly to ceo Carolyn Reidy, and staff will remain based in Avon, MA. (F+W president Sara Domville, who had overseen Adams, left the company in July.) Reidy tells employees the acquisition is expected to close before Thanksgiving, noting internal teams “are already hard at work to assure a smooth […]
People, Etc.
Katrin Hagerty has joined Insight Editions as foreign rights salesperson, and Alison Corn has joined the company as assistant design manager. Former managing director of Palgrave Macmillan in the UK Jaime Marshall is launching a literary agency, focused on upmarket nonfiction and popular economics, psychology, and business. Marshall will work in partnership with A M Heath. In his first public remarks on being named the Nobel laureate for literature, Bob Dylan told a reporter for the Telegraph he is “absolutely” planning on attending the Nobel ceremony in Sweden on December 10, “if it’s at all possible.” He says the honor is “amazing, incredible. […]
Jolly Fish Press Claims Sale Is Pending to “Established Publisher”
Ten days ago Jolly Fish Press surprised authors and employees in announcing online that they would close at the end of October “unless another option will present itself” for lack of financing. (That announcement was followed by an apology to authors for announcing online before emailing them, along with an insistence that they “were not legally allowed to pre-release the news to anyone.”) Now in a post titled “Moving Forward,” they have announced “we have reached an agreement in principle to sell Jolly Fish Press to an established publisher. We will announce all the details once the deal is finalized […]
Jolly Fish Press to Close At End of October
Young adult book publisher Jolly Fish Press announced abruptly on their web site that the publisher will close at the end of October, unless “another option will present itself to us in lieu of closing.” The publisher says that it “failed to secure the funds necessary to grow and move the company forward” after “a long process of seeking investors who believe in our company and what we aim to achieve.” Therefore, “We have approached the point where we can no longer sustain our business.” Authors and agents were upset both by the closing and by the lack of any advance notice […]