Scott’s Bookstore in Newnan, GA will close this month after more than 36 years in business as owner Earlene Scott, 76, retires. “I’m going to miss my customers and I’m going to miss my books,” she said. “Because I don’t know where I’m going to buy my books now.” She said the business has remained solid; “It was just age and time.” After a one-year trial, HugoBooks closed their Spirit of ’76 Squared bookstore in Swampscott, MA, according to a notice on the door. The store had filled about half of the space formerly filled by a Borders Express. The […]
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Editor-at-large at Random House Children’s Books Jim Thomas will leave the company on April 5 to write full-time and spend more time with his family. Thomas will continue to work with RHCB and several authors on a freelance basis. At Knopf Books for Young Readers, Michele Burke has been promoted to senior editor and Allison Worchte moves up to editor. In addition, Loira Walsh has joined RHCB as a junior designer. Previously she was a design assistant at Sixth & Spring. McGraw-Hill Education hired media and information industry veteran Mark Dorman as president of McGraw-Hill Education International. Most recently, he […]
People, Awards, Etc.
Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe, 82, “one of Africa’s most widely read novelists and one of the continent’s towering men of letters,” died after a brief illness, according to agent Andrew Wylie. His THINGS FALL APART is said to have sold over 8 million copies and been published in more than 50 languages. HarperCollins svp, publishing transformation Carolyn Pittis is leaving the company on March 29 after more than two decades to work as a private change management consultant. In her time at Harper Pittis served a number of roles, from book production, managing editorial, business development, and sales to consumer forecasting and supply chain management, […]
People: St. Martin’s Reorganizes Marketing and Publicity Teams
St. Martin’s Press is reorganizing its marketing and publicity departments into four core groups as part of a move from “format-driven orientation to an audience-and-category-focused orientation.” The groups will be made up of SMP’s current marketers, publicists and digital marketers, each working on a specific set of genre groups. Anne Marie Tallberg has been named vp, marketing, communications & audience development leading a group focusing on women’s fiction/romance/young adult/parenting/self-help/health-fitness-diet/crafts. Dori Weintraub will serve in the same executive capacity, leading a group focusing on women’s fiction/literary fiction/biography-memoir. Lisa Senz will has been named vp, marketing and partnerships, and will continue as […]
Trade Paperbacks Boost Adult Trade November AAP Numbers, With Overall eBook Sales at 18 Percent
The AAP released their monthly StatShot report for November 2012, showing flat trade sales overall but a small spike in the growth of ebooks–which comprised 18.1 percent of all trade revenues in the month. Adult trade sales of $434.5 million were up $9.6 million from a year ago. Adult hardcovers declined 21.5 percent, at $155.6 million, while trade paperbacks were up 20.6 percent at $116.9 million (though virtually flat compared to October numbers.) As in October, eBooks comprised the third-largest segment for adult books, at $94.8 million — but was just a 20.7 percent increase over $78.5 million a year […]
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Anthony Mattero has joined Foundry Literary + Media as an agent. Previously he worked with with Vigliano Associates and west-coast based literary and talent agency, Renaissance. Benjamin Alire Saenz has won the PEN/Faulkner Award for his short story collection EVERYTHING BEGINS AND ENDS AT THE KENTUCKY CLUB (Cinco Puntes Press). Saenz will receive the $15,000 prize at an awards ceremony in Washington DC on May 4. Books editor at the Kansas City Star from 2000-2009 John Mark Eberhart, 52, died March 19 after a long bout with cancer. Eberhart also published two volumes of poetry, NIGHT WATCH and BROKEN TIME. […]