At Basic Books, Dan Gerstle is being promoted to senior editor, while Leah Stecher moves up to associate editor. Jessica Brown has joined Convergent Books as publicist/marketer. Previously she was a publicist at Howard Books. Sourcebooks announced a number of promotions in its design team. Dawn Adams is being promoted to art director for the Casablanca imprint, and Adrienne Krogh moves up to art director for Landmark. Additionally, Nicole Komasinski is being promoted to associate art director and Jillian Rahn is being promoted to senior production designer. Thérèse Coen will join Madeleine Milburn Ltd as rights agent in July. Previously […]
International News
Norway’s Schibsted Sold
In Norway, the Schibsted Group is selling Schibsted Forlag, one of the country’s leading trade publishers, to Vigmostad & Bjørke. They are also selling them their ebookstoore EBOK.No, for undisclosed terms. The two units had combined 2014 sales of approximately $24 million, with an EBITDA loss of about $1.8 million. Schibsted will book an “immaterial gain” on the sale. The publishing house was founded in 1839. Chair of the board of Schibsted Forlag Bernt Olufsen says in the announcement: “Vigmostad & Bjørke has a solid history, and has over the last 25 years developed very well in the Norwegian book publishing industry. Today, it […]
European Commission Investigates Amazon’s eBook MFNs In UK and Germany
The European Commission announced Thursday morning “a formal antitrust investigation into certain business practices by Amazon in the distribution of electronic books. Their focus is “certain clauses included in Amazon’s contracts with publishers. These clauses require publishers to inform Amazon about more favorable or alternative terms offered to Amazon’s competitors and/or offer Amazon similar terms and conditions than to its competitors, or through other means ensure that Amazon is offered terms at least as good as those for its competitors.” The EC’s scrutiny is on the two largest European markets for ebooks, the UK and Germany. The central question is whether Amazon’s most […]
People, Etc.
Amanda O’Connor will join Trident Media Group as an agent on June 15, representing general interest and upmarket non-fiction, literary fiction, spirituality and wellness. She had been an editor at Crown’s discontinued Image Books. At Simon & Schuster, Emily Graff has been promoted to editor. Avalon Radys has joined Inkshares as marketing manager. Previously she was editor-in-chief at Umano. Declan Taintor has joined Picador as senior publicist. He was previously a publicist at powerHouse Books. Literackie in Poland has appointed Eccles Fisher Associates as its scout, effective immediately. David Higham Associates has acquired Toby Eady Associates, founded in 1968. “Eady will continue to work […]
People, Etc.; Kuyper Named New BISG Executive Director
The Book Industry Study Group has appointed Mark Kuyper, currently president and chief executive officer of the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association, as its newest executive director. Kuyper, who succeeds Len Vlahos, will start at BISG on June 15. “We were pleased to find an association veteran from within our industry with a long history of success,” said BISG chair Tara Catogge, who headed the search committee, in the announcement. “Mark has extensive strategic planning experience mixed with both an easy way and a commanding presence that members will welcome. His strong vision and guiding hand is exactly what BISG needs […]
Corporate: Bertelsmann Sets Up Penguin Verlag in Germany; Frankfurt Book Fair Takes Minority Stake in IPR License
Germany’s Verlagsgruppe Random House will launch a new imprint, Penguin Verlag, sometime in 2016, the Bookseller reports. The imprint, to be run by Random House Germany publisher and managing director Thomas Rathnow, will publish both fiction and non-fiction, original trade and mass-market paperback editions as well as paperback reprints of books that have previously been published in hardback by various German Random House imprints (including Jonas Jonasson’s bestseller The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden.) The idea is that Penguin Verlag will “publish brands” and that Penguin, according to Rathnow, represents “the convergence of high quality and popular commercial […]