Kate Wilson, who left her position as managing director of Scholastic UK without noting her next step, is taking on the newly-created post of chief executive of the Headline Publishing Group within Hachette UK. Wilson joins the company on May 5 and will report to managing director of Headline and chief executive of Hodder & Stoughton and John Murray Martin Neild–but only until Neild relinquishes his full-time job in early 2010 to become a consultant to the company. At that point, Wilson will report directly to Hachette UK ceo Tim Hely Hutchinson and Jamie Hodder-Williams will move up from managing […]
International News
Macmillan's Brief Statement Over Recalled Marr Book
Pan Macmillan issued a brief statement about their recalled Andrew Marr book, saying that “through its solicitors [it] has apologized to Erin Pizzey for the situation that has arisen, has withdrawn the book from circulation and will be removing the passage complained of. As this is an ongoing legal matter, Pan Macmillan will not be able to comment any further.” Attorney Edward Yell, who represents Pizzey, acknowledged the legal objection concerned an assertion in the book that Pizzey (a women’s rights activist) was linked to a militant bombing group in the 1970s called the Angry Brigade. “Yell said he sent […]
Hely Hutchinson Admits Waterstone's Exclusive Was a Mistake; Cancels Plan
Hachette UK head Tim Hely Hutchinson said on Radio Four’s Today show he was cancelling Hodder & Stoughton’s plan to sell Glen David Gold’s new book exclusively at Waterstone’s in hardcover ahead of the fall paperback release to the trade. In what he terms “a historic climbdown,” he announces: “We got this wrong, and so I’m cancelling the exclusivity with the kind permission of Waterstone’s. In retrospect it was a mistake anyway, and choosing between confusion and conspiracy it was definitely in the confusion camp.” He noted, “Although the hardback [of Carter Beats the Devil] did not do very well, […]
Weak Currency Drives Strong Finish for Harlequin
Harlequin record a strong fourth quarter, with sales of $126 million (CA) up over 18 percent from a year ago, and ebitda of $18.4 million up more than 30 percent. Good results were made even stronger by the decline of the Canadian dollar against the US dollar, and they say that “Harlequin’s revenues, to date, have not been significantly affected by the global, and in particular, U.S. economic situation.” But parent Torstar suffered overall, with writedowns producing a net loss of $211 million for the quarter. They are cutting their dividend in half, and “as part of a planned transition,” […]
Lonely Planet to Shrink Staff by 10 Percent
With travel (and travel publishing) in a slump due to the recession, Lonely Planet is eliminating approximately 50 jobs worldwide, or about 10 percent of their workforce, with up to 40 of the layoffs in Australia. Spokesperson Adam Bennett says “it represents the decline of the guidebook market in tough times.” Some reductions will come through not renewing employment contracts, and others from direct layoffs. (There will be modest cuts in the UK and US offices as well.) Acting chief executive Stephen Palmer notes, “Even the most optimistic forecasts do not predict any sustained recovery until 2010 at the earliest, […]
Vintage Broadens Spanish-Language Publishing
Vintage Español has announced a significant expansion through a co-publishing agreement with their parent company’s co-venture Random House Mondadori. Starting this fall, Vintage will reissue approximately 50 of RH Mondadori’s bestselling backlist titles, including all of the Spanish-language editions of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s work, along with works by such authors as Pablo Neruda, Federico GarcÃa Lorca, Ken Follett, John Grisham, Cormac McCarthy, and Mary Higgins Clark. Vintage will also publish 15 new frontlist titles in Spanish (mostly in paperback) annually as part of the initiative. The program is being directed by Vintage Espanol publishing director Milena Alberti and overseen by […]