Waterstones is giving up on ebooks again and — perhaps more importantly in the long-term, also walking away from the still-growing digital audio market. The company told their digital media customers by email and posted site notice that “the Waterstones digital download store is closing,” and digital files are no longer available for sale on their web site. Customers who purchased ebooks are having their libraries transferred to Kobo, as of June 14. Digital audio customers are being abandoned in full; their only recourse is to “please ensure that all the MP3s in your library are downloaded to your chosen […]
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People
Brenda Marsh will become managing director of Abrams & Chronicle Books, the UK-based sales and marketing joint venture of Abrams and Chronicle Books, on June 27. Marsh has been vp, director of business development at Abrams since 2014, after almost 15 years in executive positions at Barnes & Noble. She fills the position vacated by Doug Pocock in March. Abrams ceo Michael Jacobs says in the announcement, “Brenda is a proven leader, an inspirational boss, and a superb mentor as well as a seasoned professional who is admired throughout the publishing industry.” Also in the UK, president of SAGE International Stephen Barr has been […]
Quotable: Bezos Confirms the Known About Stores
It’s making news that Amazon ceo Jeff Bezos confirmed at the company’s annual meeting what is already known about their store rollout, without adding anything in particular: “We’re definitely going to open additional stores, how many we don’t know yet,” he said. “In these early days it’s all about learning, rather than trying to earn a lot of revenue.” Their second store in La Jolla, CA is due to open this summer. As we have noted before, job postings on the company’s site indicate the intention to hire a full management infrastructure to support multiple stores. After all, among recent listings, […]
People: Pfuhl to Holtzbrinck In Germany, and More
Joerg Pfuhl will join Holtzbrinck on September 1 as chief executive officer of their German trade publishing group, reporting to John Sargent. Previously Pfuhl was ceo of Verlagsgruppe Random House from 2002 to 2011, and more recently was a professor at the University of Applied Management and held board positions with Edel AG and the Franz Cornelsen Foundation. Sargent said in the announcement: “I have known Joerg since his highly successful tenure as president of Random House in New York, and watched with admiration as he transformed Random House in Germany. He has remarkable skills as a publishing executive, combined with […]
People, Etc.
Kathy Trager has decided to retire from her position of evp general counsel, Penguin Random House as June 30. CEO Markus Dohle writes to staff, “As one of the most accomplished general counsels in publishing ever, Kathy has left an indelible mark on our company and our industry.” Associate general counsel Anke Steinecke will be promoted to fill Trager’s position on July 1, reported to Dohle, and also succeeding Trager as secretary of the Penguin Random House US board of directors. Ben Tomek will join Flatiron Books as marketing director on May 23, moving over from Ecco. Keith Hayes joins the division as executive art director on May […]
Another Concept Bookstore Opens — Backed By Penguin Random House
Amazon isn’t the only company of scale experimenting with a sleek new concept bookstore. Last Friday, a 1,000-square-foot concept store opened in under-served Puerto Rico with backing from Penguin Random House, in partnership with the island’s Bookmark (which opened their first store in 2013). At the new Bookmark Boutique, “During its first three months of operation, Penguin Random House will provide support with public relations, an aggressive author event calendar and innovative technology designed to help readers discover new books and authors,” according to a local paper. Similar to the modestly-sized Amazon Books experiment in Seattle, Bookmark Boutique aims to use technology […]