EU investigations are generally slow, even by government standards, but in the case of disputes between publishers and Amazon over terms, the Competition Commission is taking a rare lead, at least in terms of inquiry. Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia told reporters in London in an aside that “we are trying to understand what’s going on there. We are looking into this and trying to understand.” The short Reuters piece focuses on Amazon and French-based Hachette/Lagardere, but if they are looking into steps taken by Amazon to influence terms negotiations, it’s logical that they might talk to Bonnier about their experiences in Germany […]
International News
People, Etc.
Eimear McBride won the Women’s Prize for Fiction for her novel A GIRL IS A HALF-FORMED THING, published by Galley Beggar Press in the UK and by Coffee House Press in the US in September. Prize chair Helen Fraser called the novel “an amazing and ambitious first novel that impressed the judges with its inventiveness and energy. This is an extraordinary new voice – this novel will move and astonish the reader.” Carl Bromley will join The New Press as editorial director. Previously he was editorial director at Nation Books. In addition, Marc Favreau has been promoted to executive editor. […]
People, Etc.
Camille McDuffie is leaving her position as president of Goldberg McDuffie Communications to join the newly-created Columbia Global Reports as publisher, under director Nicholas Lemann. It’s a Columbia University-based publishing project “dedicated to the production of sustained, original reporting and analysis on under-reported global issues for audiences that extend beyond the academy,” and they will produce four to six short books a year, for publication beginning in fall 2015. Also joining the unit as editor is Jimmy So, who was a culture and books editor at The Daily Beast. At William Morrow, Jessica Williams has been promoted to editor. Heather Alexander […]
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Former Atlantic Books editor-in-chief Ravi Mirchandani will join Pan Macmillan’s Picador as associate publisher on September 1, reporting to publisher Paul Baggaley. Founder and president of 800-CEO-READ Jack Covert retired on May 30, thirty years after he started the business books company. In a note on his blog last week Seth Godin remarked: “Jack Covert is one of the most important people in my little village of book publishing, a single individual outside the normal circles of New York, someone who cares and does something about it. Jack Covert relentlessly sees possibility when other people are ready to shrug their shoulders […]
People, Etc.
On Monday, the Supreme Court declined to hear the appeal of NYT reporter and author James Risen, letting stand an Appeals Court ruling that he must testify as to whether former CIA officer James Sterling was the source of leaked, classified information Risen used in his 2006 book STATE OF WAR: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration. (The Court’s decision is in line with the full Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, which had declined to hear Risen’s appeal by a 13-to-1 vote.) Risen has said he will go to jail rather than testify. Similarly, Attorney […]
With Flat Sales and Bigger Loss, Indigo Sees Improvement on the Horizon
Canada’s dominant bookseller Indigo reported fiscal fourth quarter sales (for the period ending March 29, 2014). Sales nudged up marginally, at $184.3 million CA, but the net loss of $14.4 million was much higher than the loss of $8.2 million a year ago. Those “higher expenses were primarily driven by investments made in relation to the company’s ongoing transformational strategy.” Online sales increased by $2.8 million, or 13.1 percent in the quarter, and same-store sales were up 1.4 percent in their superstores, but fell 3.1 percent in the small-format stores. In a note opening the annual report, ceo Heather Reisman […]