Yes, the NYT foray into the wilds of Brooklyn is comedy gold, but we’ll leave the wisecracks up to individual readers. On the straight-faced side, take note that David Black managed to get the city to provide tax incentives of $3,000 per employee per year for the next 12 years to relocate from Manhattan.NYT Children’s publishing veteran Lori Benton has been named vp, publisher for the Scholastic Trade Publishing division, overseeing all imprints and reporting to president Ellie Berger. Benteon starts January 3. Most recently she was general manager and publisher of the fiction division of Capstone Publishers, and is […]
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Bookselling: Borders Partners with ShopRunner, Barnes & Noble Tests Toy Boutiques
Borders is continuing their program of scrappy imitation of competitors’ offerings through low-cost partnerships, this time joining ShopRunner.com‘s roster. The site provides the equivalent of Amazon Prime–free two-day shipping in exchange for an annual membership fee of $79–across a network of participating etailers. According to ShopRunner’s site, a similar partnership with Barnes & Noble.com is “coming soon.”Release Reuters reports on Barnes & Noble‘s test program of in-store boutiques for educational toys and games. The 3,000-square-foot prototype “play areas” have opened in recent days at five stores in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, “with plans to open more if the […]
People, Awards, Etc.
At Abrams, Susan Van Metre has been promoted to svp and publisher and will now oversee all comic arts books in addition to Abrams Children’s and Amulet Books. Charles Kochman is promoted to editorial director for Abrams ComicArts, adding oversight of children’s comics and graphic novels, reporting to Van Metre. Chad Beckerman moves up to creative director and oversee design for all comic arts books, Abrams Children’s and Amulet. Lindley Boegehold is promoted to editorial director for calendars, licenses and custom publishing. Jennifer Levesque is promoted to editorial director for Stewart, Tabori & Chang and Abrams Image (though Abrams Image […]
People
Lisa Faith Phillips has joined Hachette Book Group as director of digital strategy and development, reporting to Maja Thomas. Most recently she was a digital marketing consultant with Flip Global Marketing; previously she worked at Random House Direct as vp and general manager. Canongate digital editor Dan Franklin is moving to Random House UK where he will hold the same position, working across the group. Starting January 4, he will report to editorial director for ebooks and audio Zoe Willis. Group digital director Fionnuala Duggan says “part of his remit will be to help widen our focus to include direct […]
Sales Fall At Hachette In Third Quarter On Tough Meyer Comps
Lagardere reported third quarter sales in brief, with the publishing division’s “performance dented by a drop in sales of the Stephenie Meyer saga, and by a delay of a few weeks in delivering new secondary school textbooks in France.” They note that results are also lower “due to the non-recurrence of the sale of the international rights to the Twilight saga.” With sales of 634 million euros this quarter, by our count that’s down approximately 50 million euros or over 7 percent from 684.6 million euros a year ago. (They don’t formally break out third quarter sales.) Besides the difficult […]
People, Etc.
San Francisco-based Curtis Brown agent Nathan Bransford announced via his popular writers blog on Friday that he is leaving agenting to work for CNet, where he will help coordinate social media strategy. He says the blog and its forums will continue. At Oxford University Press, Pam Sutherland moves over to the newly-created role of group chief information officer (CIO), overseeing group-wide digital and IT infrastructure and reported to ceo Nigel Portwood. She was operations director for Oxford Journals. Casper Grathwohl recently became online and reference publisher in Oxford’s Global Academic Business, and Ernst Kallus was appointed digital media director for […]