Cultural critic, historian, and essayist Jacques Barzun, 104, died Thursday evening in San Antonio. Barzun was a longtime professor at Columbia University and the author of dozens of books, including TEACHER OF AMERICA (1945), THE HOUSE OF INTELLECT (1959), THE DELIGHTS OF DETECTION (1961), and most recently, FROM DAWN TILL DECADENCE (2000). NYT Obit In a separate bit of news from Pearson, evp for Content Management, North America Dan Lee will become ceo of Pearson Canada on December 31, when current CEO Allan Reynolds retires. The Central Park stalls currently operated by The Strand Bookstore on Fifth Avenue and East […]
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Effective immediately, Midpoint Trade will distribute print and digital editions of Bunker Hill Publishing, which publishes educational books in collaboration with museums and international research organizations. The Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize has gone to Frank Cottrell Boyce‘s THE UNFORGOTTEN COAT. Take the Guardian’s headline “Amazon to be stripped of tax advantage on sale of ebooks” with a grain of salt. Just as the European Commission warned France about their lowered VAT rate, the EC has now threatened to take Luxembourg to court over their 3 percent VAT on digital services (well below the 15 percent rate that is supposed to […]
Profit Declines at Bloomsbury, As Digital Comprises 15% of Adult Division Sales
Bloomsbury reported results for the six months ending August 31, with continuing pre-tax profits falling 40 percent to £0.9 million, even as sales rose 2 percent to £43.5 million. With recent acquisitions the academic and professional division now comprises 28 percent of company sales, though “academic sales peak at the beginning of the academic year, in September and October.” Sales at the adult division were flat (and down 5 percent before acquisitions), while children’s and educational sales fell 23 percent and operating profit in that segment disappeared, blamed on the comparison to last year’s Harry Potter sales tying in to […]
People
Ashley Garland has joined Ecco as publicity manager. Previously she was a publicist at the Random House Publishing Group. At Riverhead Books, Claire McGinnis has been promoted to publicity manager; Liz Hohenadel is now senior publicist; and Glory Plata is now publicist. Klaus Wolterstoff was recently promoted to vp, content and technology at Wm. B. Eerdmans, where will continue to supervise the company’s production department and manage information technology while also taking a more active leadership role in Eerdmans’ ongoing transition into the ebook market. Wolterstoff has also joined the Eerdmans executive leadership team and board of directors. Fiction writers […]
Simon & Schuster Reorg Puts Free Press and Touchstone Under Other Groups, with Levin and Anfuso to Leave
Simon & Schuster has announced a reorganization of their adult imprints that puts Free Press alongside the S&S adult trade line in a new Simon & Schuster Publishing Group under Jonathan Karp, and puts Touchstone Books inside a new Scribner Publishing Group, with Stacy Creamer reporting to Susan Moldow. Free Press publisher Martha Levin and editorial Dominick Anfuso are both leaving the company as a result, on November 2. Levin has led Free Press since 2001 and Anfuso has been with the line since 2000 (and has spent 25 years at Simon & Schuster). The Christian imprint Howard Books moves […]
People: Pinsker Named President of Scholastic’s Klutz
Jeff Pinsker has been named president of Scholastic’s “books plus” imprint Klutz, effective December 3 (and vp of Scholastic, Inc.). Pinsker, who will report to Scholastic president of trade publishing Ellie Berger and was most recently ceo of educational toy company Infinitoy, will lead the creative, sales, and marketing direction of the Klutz business and will manage the strategic development of the Klutz brand. Pinsker is also the author of 13 books for children, including the QUIZMO Series and entries in Spinner Books’ Armchair Puzzlers Series. He fills the slot that has been vacant all year, since the departure of […]