Former longtime USA Today books reporter and critic Bob Minzesheimer, 66, died October 15 at his home in Ossining, NY of brain cancer. Minzesheimer joined Gannett in 1982, eventually becoming politics editor for USA Today before moving over to books and features from 1997 through 2014. He is survived by his wife, the documentary filmmaker Mary McDonagh Murphy, and their two children. A memorial service is planned in Ossining at a later date. Murphy told the local paper, “Nobody in his family went to college. Bob got his master’s at Columbia. His life was more than what he thought it would be, and […]
International News
People, Etc.
Sweden’s Grand Agency has acquired competitor Stockholm Noir Agency (founded late last year) and SNA’s ceo Jenni Brunn will now work as an agent at Grand Agency. Brittany Boughter has joined Chronicle Books as marketing manager, entertainment and art. Most recently, she was digital marketing manager at Penguin Random House UK. Carolyn Cox has joined Open Road as editor of The Portalist, a new online community for fans of science fiction, fantasy, and genre-related pop culture news. Cox was previously an editor at the pop culture website The Mary Sue, and reports to Betsy Mitchell. Distribution & Sales Effective January 2, 2017, Baker & Taylor’s recently-formed Global […]
People, Etc.
Theresa Thompson has been promoted to president at Sterling Publishing, which she has run since 2012 as executive vice president (following the departure of Marcus Leaver, and B&N’s withdrawn effort to sell the publisher). She is responsible for the management of the company, both creatively and operationally, and will oversee many areas of the business, including operations, finance, book production and manufacturing. Thompson has worked for parent company Barnes & Noble since 2003, when she ran the audiobook business. At Avery, Anne Kosmoski is promoted to associate director of publicity, while Casey Maloney moves up to assistant publicity director. In […]
Source Says Amazon In Preliminary Settlement Talks In EU eBook Antitrust Case
With the European Commission looking to flex some regulatory muscle over American-based technology giants including Apple, Google and Amazon, at least one source reported to Reuters on Tuesday that “Amazon is in talks to settle the e-book case” under investigation by the EC “but it is too early to say whether it will reach an agreement.” At about the same time, Bloomberg ran a story citing “people familiar with the case” saying that Amazon is in settlement talks with European regulators. The European Commission brought “a formal antitrust investigation into certain business practices by Amazon in the distribution of electronic books” in June […]
Amazon: KU Dispute In Japan, Revised Review Rules
A few big Japanese publishers are reporting that Amazon abruptly withdrew their titles from the Kindle Unlimited subscription program over the weekend. Though in the US and other major territories most big publishers resisted willingly participating in KU, in Japan the WSJ says that “as part of a deal to attract customers to the service” when it launched in August, “Amazon made contracts with Japanese publishers to pay them a premium through the end of this year when a customer read at least 10 percent of a book or other content.” A publisher told them the incentive worked too well and […]
Results Steady At WH Smith, But…
On Wednesday WH Smith issued a short trading notice in advance of their annual results on August 31, saying the report will be “in line with expectations.” Simple enough. That release inspired an equally short but potentially confusing Bloomberg piece that declares, “In the era of Facebook and Twitter, a British newspaper seller pre-dating Queen Victoria is providing bigger gains for investors than modern technology. Over the last five years, WH Smith shares have eclipsed an index that also includes Apple and Google, even as its sales have maintained a steady decline.” Yes, WH Smith’s stock rose sharply between January […]