Barnes & Noble Education has performed so poorly that an uptick in profits for their fiscal second quarter — even as college bookstore and textbook sales comps fell — has lifted the stock. With net income for the back-to-school quarter of $48.4 million, compared to $29.3 million, the stock rose almost 25 percent in early trading on Tuesday. Even with that, shares are still down by about a third for the year, and after spending $58.5 million for Student Brands and $174 million for MBS Textbook Exchange during the year, the improved market cap is still only about $365 million. […]
Free
People, Etc.
Saraciea Fennell joins Tor/Tor Teen/Starscape and Forge as publicist on December 4. She was previously publicist at Little, Brown Children’s and also held positions at Scholastic, Harlequin and Touchstone. Kimberly Carlton has been promoted to associate acquisitions editor for fiction at Harper Christian. Christina Boys has launched CEB Editorial Services. She was most recently senior editor at Hachette Nashville. Deborah Hofmann has joined the David Black Literary Agency. She was previously the editor of the New York Times bestseller lists. Agencies The Steve Laube Agency has acquired the Leslie H. Stobbe Literary Agency. Steve Laube said in the announcement, “I’m always looking for ways to […]
People, Etc.
Penguin Random House chief financial officer Milena Alberti has decided to leave her position at the end of the year after 16 years with the company, the past two as cfo. Deputy cfo James Johnston will lead the finance group in the interim, reporting to ceo Markus Dohle, as the company searches for a permanent successor, which they hope to announce in the first quarter of 2018. Dohle said in the announcement: “I am one of many who has truly valued, enjoyed, and benefited from collaborating with Milena over the years, and I want to express my sincere appreciation for […]
Briefs: NYT’s Top Ten Books, And More
The New York Times Book Review editors announced their top ten books of 2017, with the individual critics’ lists still to come. In fiction, Jesmyn Ward’s National Book Award-winning Sing, Unburied, Sing makes the list, along with NBA shortlisted Pachinko by Min Jin Lee, plus: Autumn, by Ali Smith Exit West, by Mohsin Hamid The Power, by Naomi Alderman The nonfiction list: The Evolution of Beauty, by Richard O. Prum Grant, by Ron Chernow Locking Up Our Own, by James Forman Jr. Prairie Fires, by Caroline Fraser Priestdaddy, by Patricia Lockwood People At Workman Publishing, Caitlin Kleinschmidt has been promoted to national accounts […]
People, Etc.
Sean Concannon has joined No Starch Press as sales director. Most recently he handled national accounts, special markets, and institutional library sales at Taylor & Francis. Abigail Novak will join Touchstone as a publicist starting December 11. Previously she was assistant publicist at Harper Collins. December features an unusual Pennie’s Pick at Costco: Liane Moriarty “is so good at what she does that I can’t just pick one of her titles; I am suggesting you read everything you can by her.” The chain is featuring The Husband’s Secret, Big Little Lies, and What Alice Forgot. Distribution Quarto will start distributing Russian […]
People, Etc.
Cheryl L. Davis has joined the Authors Guild as general counsel. She is a former partner at Menaker & Herrmann, where she focused on intellectual property issues and litigating copyright and trademark cases. Davis is also an award-winning playwright. She says in the announcement, “This job is really a dream come true for me. Not only does it open new horizons for me in the practice of intellectual property law, it gives me the opportunity to help my fellow authors and advocate for their rights.” At Putnam, Tara Singh Carlson has been promoted to executive editor. Gallery Books Group associate […]