William Morris Endeavor has hired two prominent young UK-based agents to run their UK literary office, more than filling the void left when Eugenie Furniss left the agency earlier this year to start her own firm. Simon Trewin of United Agents has been named head of the UK literary department as well as partner, and Elizabeth Sheinkman of Curtis Brown UK “will help spearhead” the London office. Co-head of the worldwide literary department Jennifer Rudolph Walsh says in the announcement, “We feel like we’ve hit the jackpot with these two, and I’m looking forward to watching our UK book division […]
International News
Google Launches eBooks In Both Germany and Spain
Google has rolled out Google Play storefronts in both Germany and Spain this week, with ebooks featured in both offerings. Those store openings have come quickly after their first non-English ebookstore in Italy, which debuted in early May. Particularly after their settlement of lawsuits related to the Google Books scanning project in France earlier this month, a French ebookstore is expected to follow soon.
Phaidon Hires Banker, Seeks Buyer
Phaidon Press has retained investment bankers Greenhill to show the publisher to prospective buyers. Current owner Richard Schlagman bought Phaidon out of bankruptcy in 1990 and “said that he had decided that it was time for another owner to lead its transition from a largely print business to the digital era of iPads, Kindles and other ereading devices.” He admits that Phaidon underwent “retrenchment” in 2009 and 2010 by says the company is “profitable and growing.” The FT says documents filed with the UK’s Companies House show sales of £25 million in the fiscal year ending June 2011 were up […]
Sainsbury’s Relieves HMV of Anobii
UK supermarket chain Sainsbury’s has taken HMV’s 45 percent stake in ebook social network site Anobii off of their hands for a mighty £1. They are making an additional, unspecified “investment in the future” of Anobii that will provide them a total controlling share of what is “anticipated” as a 64 percent stake. HarperCollins, Penguin and Random House UK will remain as minority partners, presumably with some dilution as the result of Sainsbury’s additional investment. HMV paid $3.25 million for their Anobii holding in early 2011, and recorded a £1 million loss in the most recent year on Anobii and another […]
Google Settles French Scanning Lawsuits; Creates Commercial Model for Out-of-Print Access
Google Books has achieved in France what the company has been unable to do in the US: They have settled the remaining lawsuits over their book scanning with the French Publishers Association (Syndicat national de l’édition) and the French Author’s Association (Société des gens de lettres) and instituted a commercial arrangement for selling access to out-of-print books that Google has scanned. Strategic Partner Development Manager of Google Books France Philippe Colombet says the new “partnerships…will put France ahead of the rest of the world in bringing long lost out-of-print works back to life. From now, publishers will promote and commercialize […]
People: Execs at Disney and Curtis Brown UK, and More
At Disney Consumer Products, Andrew Sugerman has been promoted to evp of Disney Publishing, taking over running the division from Russell Hampton (who held the title of president). Sugerman joined the company in 2007 and built their Disney English learning business (with over 30 language learning centers in China) and he oversees all global English language learning efforts for Disney Publishing. Curtis Brown UK has promoted Jonathan Lloyd to chairman “following a strategic review and consultation period,” with Jonny Geller and Ben Hall acting as joint ceos “to spearhead the management of the company.” The partnership has also instituted “a new […]