Canada’s dominant physical bookseller Indigo reported fiscal third quarter sales, through December 26, with revenue up 12.9 percent to $383 million (a $44 million gain), and net earnings of $52.8 million, up sharply from $33 million a year ago. Those gains came even though the chain had one less superstore and four fewer small-format stores than in the same period a year ago. The company had “high single digit growth in the core book business due to a combination of popular titles and a growing trend for adult coloring books” and even better “double digit growth in the general merchandise business,” which […]
International News
People, Etc.: WI to Minneapolis, and More
The ABA’s Winter Institute will double down on the winter part next year, moving to Minneapolis for the 12th annual gathering, convening Friday, January 27 through Monday, January 30, 2017. The overall Costa Book of the Year award was given to The Lie Tree by Frances Hardinge, only the second children’s book to win the overall prize (Philip Pullman’s The Amber Spyglass was the first). Amulet is due to publish the US edition in May. The Target Club Pick for February is The Autumn Balloon by Kenny Porpora (which publishes February 3). People At Hachette Book Group, Anthony Goff has been promoted to svp, content development and […]
Briefs: Italy Investigates Merger, St. Mark’s Benefactor Returns, and More
As expected — albeit on a slow timetable — Italy’s Competition Authority announced last Thursday it has formally opened an investigation into the proposed purchase of RCS Media’s book publishing group by Mondadori. (After more than 7 months of negotiation and consideration, the 127.5 million euro sale was agreed to by the RCS board last October.) The combined companies are expected to control approximately 35 percent of the trade book market in Italy. The CA will aim to “determine whether the acquisition of RCS books by Mondadori will result in the creation or strengthening of a dominant position” in the trade publishing market. […]
People
At St. Martin’s, Michael Homler and Daniela Rapp were promoted to senior editor; Meredith Mennitt, Eileen Rothschild and Holly Ingraham were promoted to editor; Courtney Littler and April Osborn are now associate editors; and Alicia Clancy, Jaime Coyne, Sylvan Creekmore and Sara Thwaite moved up to assistant editor. Publicity directors Susan Corcoran at Ballantine Bantam Dell and Sally Marvin at Random House have both been promoted to senior vice president. At St. Martin’s Press, Jessica Preeg has been promoted to publicity manager. Orbit has hired two new commissioning editors, all starting January 11: Kelly O’Connor was at Harper Voyager, and Brit Hvide was at Simon & Schuster, while Lindsey Hall is promoted to commissioning editor from within Orbit. Margaret Sutherland […]
People
Renee Sedliar has been promoted to the new role of editorial director for Da Capo Lifelong Books. She is charged with “bringing Lifelong to the next level, further growing this crucial part of the Perseus publishing program by exploring new subject categories and taking the lead in charting Lifelong’s editorial course.” At Kobo, Pieter Swinkels has been promoted to evp, publisher relations and content, while Dave Anderson moves up to evp, content sales. Elizabeth Evans has left the Jean V. Naggar Agency, where she was an agent for the past five years, to launch Elizabeth Evans Editorial, providing freelance editorial and publishing […]
People, Etc.
Sarah Grimm has joined Crown as publicist, working on the Crown, Hogarth, Broadway, and Tim Duggan Books imprints. Previously she was an associate publicist at Putnam. Printz Award winner and two-time National Book Award finalist Gene Luen Yang has been named the new as National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. He says in the announcement, “I’m thrilled and humbled…. Reading breaks down the walls that divide us. By reading, we get to know people outside of our own communities. We gain knowledge others don’t expect us to have. We discover new and surprising passions. Reading is critical to our growth, both […]