Hachette svp publishing operations and strategic planning Craig Bauer is leaving, to join Macmillan Science and Education as svp of global publishing operations. Macmillan Publisher Services has appointed Guy Browning as vp, fulfillment, reporting to global trade coo Andrew Weber. Browning, who starts his new position on January 27, moves over from Macmillan UK, where he was most recently distribution director for their center in Swansea, Wales. Richard Nash has joined Byliner as vp, partnerships. Previously he was vp, community and content at Small Demons. At Henry Holt, Allison Adler and Caroline Zancan are both being promoted to associate editor. […]
International News
In Restructuring At Atlantic Books, Mirchandani Exits and Allen and Unwin Takes Control
After two “tough” years, the UK’s Atlantic Books has announced “a significant financial and organizational restructuring.” Shareholders are providing “substantial new funding, and editor-in-chief since 2007 Ravi Mirchandani is leaving “by mutual agreement.” The Bookseller says that minority shareholder Allen and Unwin has increased their investment to a majority share of the company. CEO Toby Mundy tells the magazine their results for 2012 were “pretty horrible” but says the new investment “puts us on much more stable footing, after a month or two of uncertainty. Although I’m very sad to be seeing some good people go, the change is good news […]
Germany’s Weltbild In Bankruptcy Filing
Germany’s big bookseller Weltbild has filed for bankruptcy reorganization following longstanding disagreement among the 12 Catholic diocese that own the company on how to finance it, exacerbated by declining sales in the second half of 2013. The company said in a statement, “The lower level of sales expected for the next three years as well doubles the amount of financing needed until the company is restructured.” Reuters says that the filing “does not affect the bookstores,” referring to their half-ownership of Germany’s second largest book chain, which includes the Hugendubel stores. They have been the second-largest online bookseller in the […]
People, Etc.
Sarah Pelz will join Grand Central Life & Style on January 13 as executive editor. Previously she was executive editor at Rodale. Amazon ceo Jeff Bezos was airlifted out of the Galapagos by Ecuador’s navy on New Year’s Day after suffering from a kidney stone, and returned to the US on his jet for treatment. A matter of material interest to shareholders, Bezos commented in an email provided to media by spokesman Drew Herdener, “Galapagos: five stars. Kidney stones: zero stars.” Herdener added, “He got a good outcome. No surgery was required, and he’s feeling well.” Skyhorse’s newest imprint is Yucca […]
People: Janson-Smith to Retire
Patrick Janson-Smith will retire in fall 2014 when he turns 65, after his fortieth consecutive Frankfurt Book Fair. He is currently publisher of the boutique imprint Blue Door at Harper UK, which he founded in 2008. The line will close after his retirement. He says: “The industry has changed so much in the past few years. The whole industry is in a bit of a mess at the moment, but it can only get better. I think Stephen Page said, if you can’t understand it, get out. I think that’s good advice, which I intend to follow. I’m a book man, and I […]
Briefs: A Harry Potter Play, Hachette UK’s New Office, and a Microsoft Employee Who Leaked Nook Deal
JK Rowling will co-produce a Harry Potter play intended to debut on London’s West End in 2015, and will collaborate with a playwright on the show, which will focus on “the previously untold story of Harry Potter’s early years as an orphan and outcast.” Already a year in “gestation,” it will be produced by veterans Sonia Friedman and Colin Callender. Rowling said their pitch “was the only one that really made sense to me, and which had the sensitivity, intensity and intimacy I thought appropriate for bringing Harry’s story to the stage.” As announced in September, Rowling is also working on […]