Macmillan ceo John Sargent told the publishers’ community Friday morning they company is settling the lawsuit brought by the Department of Justice: “We settled because the potential penalties became too high to risk even the possibility of an unfavorable outcome.” As Sargent explains, each time another company settled with DOJ, that increased Macmillan’s potential liability, to the point where the risk became untenable. As a result of the settlement, “retailers will now be able to discount Macmillan e-books for a limited time,” even beyond the limited 10 percent discounting on ebooks priced at $13.99 and above that they introduced last […]
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Mary Ann Naples is returning to book publishing as publisher of Rodale Books, starting March 4, following detours to OpenSky and then, briefly, Zola Books (as head of business development; she will now join Zola’s strategic advisory board.) Naples had been a co-founder of literary agency The Creative Culture after working at Hyperion. Jim Hanas will join HarperCollins as director of audience development, reporting to cmo Angela Tribelli. Previously he was social media editor at the New York Observer. In the UK, Harper is once again reshuffling and rebranding imprints, consolidating their nonfiction lines. Harper Press and parts of Collins are […]
More Buzz on Buzz Books
Our launch of the big BUZZ BOOKS 2013 free ebook sampler has gotten nice attention all over, from the AP and USA Today to Bookselling This Week and lovely tweets from all over. (Special thanks to Washington Post critic Ron Charles and booksellers Emily Gould and Ami Greko among the tweets we’ve spotted so far.) If downloading a free ebook is a little too much commitment for you, we’ve also posted the entire book in a online reading widget, courtesy of Firebrand and Book2Look. (And that widget can be embedded elsewhere if you wish.) In a similar vein, USA Today […]
People: Reagan Arthur to Become Publisher of Little, Brown
Current editorial director of her eponymous Little, Brown imprint Reagan Arthur will take over as svp and publisher of the division in April when Michael Pietsch moves up to ceo of Hachette Book Group USA. Arthur will also join the company’s management board. Pietsch says in the announcement, “Throughout the world of writers, booksellers, librarians, bloggers, scouts, literary agents, and international publishers, Reagan’s name has come to carry that same weight. Reagan was born to the work of publishing, she understands it deeply, she possesses a publisher’s relentlessness and charm, and she is hungry for more.” Arthur adds, “I’m thrilled […]
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Kirsten Reach has joined Melville House as an editor. Previously she was at Grand Central. At Canada’s Transatlantic Agency, Samantha J. Haywood and Marie Campbell have become shareholding partners. BISG director of standards and best practices Karen Forster is leaving after more than five years as her family relocates to Berlin. Lisa Ekus will receive the 2012 Outstanding Career award at the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards in Paris later this month. Eileen Harte has joined University Book Store in Seattle as events coordinator. She was working with Helen Harte, Bookseller (ABAA)–her mother’s antiquarian Irish books business–and Barnes & Noble. Former chief marketing officer of the […]
Buzz Books 2013 Shares Pre-Publication Excerpts from Big Spring and Summer Releases
With book discovery and exclusive content in the news today, we serendipitously have an announcement of our own: After last year’s successful experiment, today we are publishing BUZZ BOOKS 2013: Spring/Summer as a free ebook, in multiple versions. The new edition of BUZZ BOOKS–available on all major ebook platforms–presents substantial excerpts from 28 highly anticipated books set for release between March and July. For trade readers, it builds on the ABA’s Winter Institute 8, convening later this month in Kansas City, helping to amplify what has become the unofficial spring/summer launch event. For everyone who can’t make it to WI8, […]