SFist reports that “Stacey’s finally told its employees today that they will close shop sometime in March. A source in Stacey’s corporate sales tells us: ‘Venerable Stacey’s Books, after celebrating 85 years in business this last fall, announced to staff today that the store will close sometime in late March.'” The SF Chronicle follows with its own story. “The store’s general manager, Tom Allen, said sales had dropped 50 percent since March 2001. But the final blow was the crumbling economy, which hit hard during the holidays. Stacey’s sales in the fourth quarter of 2008 plummeted 15 percent from the […]
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Richard Seaver Dies
Richard W. Seaver, founder and president of Arcade Publishing, passed away unexpectedly on January 5 after a heart attack. A memorial service will be announced in a few days. In lieu of flowers, Arcade reports they would be enormously grateful for any contributions to the PEN American Center. The NYT has an obituary today, calling him “an editor, translator and publisher who defied censorship, societal prudishness and conventional literary standards to bring works by rabble-rousing authors like Samuel Beckett, Henry Miller, William Burroughs and the Marquis de Sade to American readers.” In other personnel news, Lerner Publishing Group has hired […]
More Cuts at McGraw-Hill Education
McGraw-Hill announced “it restructured a limited number of business operations and corporate functions in the fourth quarter of 2008 to serve its markets more efficiently in the current economic environment while positioning the company for future growth.” Included in those cuts they shed another 215 jobs in the McGraw-Hill Education division, the hardest-hit of the four areas that were restructured. Those reductions came on top of 240 positions eliminated at the Education division earlier in the year.Announcement
Kaplan Acquires Cleveland Clinic Press Assets
Kaplan Publishing has acquired “the majority of the assets” of the Cleveland Clinic Press, including 29 titles in the Cleveland Clinic Guides health reference line, and seven other books. The guides comprise “consumer health books written by Cleveland Clinic experts in various subject areas.” Started in 2005, the press’s staff was disbanded last spring. (Kaplan notes that it was Publishers Lunch report on trouble at the press “that led to this agreement coming into place.”) Kaplan president and publisher Maureen McMahon says in the announcement, “Last spring we began looking to expand our trade publishing program and this move allows […]
One Dollar Ebooks
Orbit has launched a promotional program offering a different book each month, selling for just one dollar each. Vendors include Amazon and Sony, along with Stanza, eReader, Fictionwise, Diesel, and MobiPocket. This month’s offering is Brent Weeks’ debut THE WAY OF THE SHADOWS. Publisher Tim Holman says: “We believe that this promotion will give readers a great opportunity to discover new writers. Most of our consumer marketing has an online focus, and the digital marketplace offers the perfect platform for price-promotion initiatives such as this…. The range of titles chosen for the promotion includes a mix of frontlist and backlist, […]
People: Goldberg Named CEO of Lonely Planet, and More News and Announcements
Lonely Planet has appointed Matthew Goldberg as ceo as of March, reporting to BBC Worldwide managing director of Global Brands Marcus Arthur and based in Melbourne, Australia. He was svp, digital strategy & operations at Dow Jones, where he led business operations at the Wall Street Journal Digital Network. (Prior to Dow Jones, Goldberg worked at Bertelsmann.) Arthur says in the announcement that Goldberg “has extensive experience in print and digital media and is a perfect fit for a company like Lonely Planet both culturally and commercially. I’ve no doubt that Matt’s expertise will not only help maintain Lonely Planet’s […]