BookExpo America’s opening night keynote reception on May 25 will feature Barbra Streisand, interviewed about her November 2010 book, MY PASSION FOR DESIGN.
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Results Drop at Bloomsbury, As US Unit Grows
With no Harry Potter paperback, full-year sales at Bloomsbury fell 12.7 million pounds at 87 million pounds for the year, as adjusted pre-tax profit dropped 35 percent to 7.71 million pounds. The company finished the year with total cash of 35 million pounds. The company says that profits were “ahead of consensus market forecasts achieved under difficult trading conditions.” US sales rose 1.46 million pounds to 18.78 million, with profit of 450,000 pounds before central cost recharges, but sales fell at Berlin Verlag, down over 2 million pounds at 9.55 million, which had its first operating loss since 2004. Their […]
People
The Rights Factory has hired Ali McDonald as associate agent, expanding the agency in children’s middle-grade and YA properties. At Harper UK, David Roth-Ey has been promoted to the new position of group digital publisher and Eric Winbolt takes the new role of group director of innovation, with both reporting to global evp for digital Charlie Redmayne and Harper UK publisher Belinda Budge.
First Borders
Call it Psychic April Fool’s week: this is one of those weeks when the two major stories are clear from the beginning, but either narrative is subject to plenty of surprises. First up is Borders, which faces an April 1 deadline on their $42.5 million loan from major shareholder Pershing Square. The company would normally report fourth quarter and full-year earnings on or about that same day, but has yet to announce a release date. Presumably results–and the accompanying SEC filing–won’t be announced until the company can speak authoritatively to its forward plans. While most accounts are focused on the […]
A New Stephen King Novella, Hely Hutchinson's Forecast, and More
Cemetery Dance will publish a new Stephen King novella as a trade hardcover next month, BLOCKADE BILLY. The pitch: “Even diehard baseball fans don’t know the true story of William Blakely, but in just a few weeks you’ll be holding this dark tale in your own two hands so you can read it for yourself.” King comments, “I love old-school baseball, and I also love the way people who’ve spent a lifetime in the game talk about the game. I tried to combine those things in a story of suspense. People have asked me for years when I was going […]
HMH Realigns Sales & Marketing Department; Heilemann and Halperin's 2012 Presidential Campaign Book to Penguin Press; and Other Announcements
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has announced a realignment of the Trade and Reference Group’s sales & marketing division. Laurie Brown, previously SVP of Sales, has been named Senior Vice President, Sales & Marketing, reporting to Gary Gentel. SVP, Director of Marketing Bridget Marmion, who has been at HMH for eleven years, will be leaving after company.John Heilemann and Mark Halperin‘s 2012 presidential campaign book will be published the following year by Penguin Press, which Crain’s reports paid about $5 million (after HarperCollins, which published Game Change earlier this year, dropped out of the bidding earlier this week.)Crain’s New York Former Poet […]