The second book on Mark Zuckerberg’s 2015 reading list is Steven Pinker‘s The Better Angels of Our Nature (Viking/Penguin). “It’s a timely book about how and why violence has steadily decreased throughout our history, and how we can continue this trend,” Zuckerberg writes. At 832 pages, Zuckerberg and Facebook friends will take four weeks to read the book instead of two — but he will “add a third book in two weeks that will be a shorter read to complement this.” At Wiley, Mark Allin is being promoted to executive vice president, chief operating officer, effective May 1, with strategic and operational responsibility for Wiley’s […]
International News
European Commission Moving Towards Tax Ruling Against Amazon and Luxembourg
Per the article we clipped yesterday, moving at the speed of bureaucracy, on Friday the European Commission published its preliminary finding that the 2003 tax agreement between Luxembourg and Amazon’s European holding company based in that country violates EU treaties. “The Commission is of the opinion that the Amazon ruling [from Luxembourg] does not comply with the arm’s length principle. Accordingly, the Commission is of the opinion that through the contested tax ruling the Luxembourgish authorities confer an advantage on Amazon. That advantage is obtained every year and on-going….” Part of what’s at issue is that the 2003 ruling was issued in a […]
Macmillan Science and Education to Merge with Springer Science
In a structure reminiscent of the Penguin Random House merger, two science and education giants are coming together in a cashless merger: Holtzbrinck’s Macmillan Science and Education (comprising Nature, Palgrave Macmillan and Macmillan Education globally but not in the US) is combining with Springer Science+Business Media (owned by funds advised by BCP), in “a strategic transaction…aimed at securing the long-term growth of both businesses.” Holtzbrinck will hold a 53 percent stake in the combined entity, with the management board comprising Derk Haank (ceo), Annette Thomas (chief scientific officer), Martin Mos (coo) and Ulrich Vest (coo). The supervisory board features three people from Holtzbrinck and […]
Briefs: Saramago Estate to Wylie; THE HUSBAND’S SECRET in Paperback; and More
Once again, a prominent literary estate has switched representation to The Wylie Agency. The estate of Jose Saramago announced the change as of December 30, 2014, saying “this shift to a larger literary agency emerges as a natural step to ensure greater presence” of Saramago’s work. They briefly thanked Nicole Witt at Literary Agency Mertin, Saramago’s longtime agency (first under the late Ray-Gude Mertin). Witt expressed “great surprise” at the “short email” from the estate notifying her of the change. She writes, in part, “When I said goodbye to José Saramago in Lanzarote in June 2010, shortly before he passed away, I […]
UK Booksellers Report Good Holiday Sales (And Low Kindle eReader Sales)
Two UK bookstore chains reported encouraging holiday sales. Waterstones says print book sales were up 5 percent in December, and Foyles said same-store book sales were up 11 percent for the holiday. With 290 stores, Waterstones now expects to open a dozen or more new stores during 2015. Both booksellers also reported weak sales for ereading devices — which should hardly be a surprise, as most consumers have moved on tablets and ereading loyalists are most likely to buy directly from their platform of choice rather than stumbling on devices through a third party. Waterstones said Kindle device sales “disappeared to […]
People, Etc.
Candlewick announced a number of recent promotions. Liz Bicknell has been promoted to evp, executive editorial director and associate publisher, while also taking on responsibility as group trade publishing director, Walker Books Australia. Mary Lee Donovan has added the title of director of editorial operations to her current title of editorial director, while Sarah Ketchersid moves up to senior executive editor. Finally, both Kate Fletcher and Andrea Tompa have been promoted to senior editor. At Europa Editions, co-publisher Kent Carroll is transitioning to the role of publisher-at-large, where he will continue to focus on editing and bringing new authors in […]