CEO of the Najafi Companies Jahm Najafi spoke briefly to the WSJ about his deal to purchase Direct Groug North America (DGNA) from Bertelsmann: “We’re very excited about this because we see great brands and excellent marketers. We have extensive experience in the online world and think we can change the nature of this business and grow it dramatically. We also think we can extend the club model to other products and services. We have never shied away from difficult businesses.”As the Journal notes, DGNA had sales last year of 900 million euros ($1.42 billion), with approximately 13 million members. […]
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Pre-Pub Buzz for "Guernsey"
Last Friday’s WSJ highlighted hopes for The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, “a debut novel with several strikes against it [that] may become one of the summer’s surprise hits.” Notably, “one of its co-authors died earlier this year when it was being edited.” But Dial says it will ship 100,000 copies, noting that booksellers “began to send unsolicited emails expressing their affection” after a broad distribution of advanced readers’ copies. “Barnes & Noble and Costco have placed large orders” and it’s the No. 1 IndieBound pick for August as well.WSJ
What Does It Meant When Authors Write to Dear Abby?
DEAR ABBY: My boyfriend, “Scott,” and I are writers, although we both have day jobs. During the two years we’ve been together, we have always supported each other’s writing careers. Things changed after my first novel was published. While initially congratulatory, Scott’s behavior was different as the publication date neared. He declined to help my friend throw me a party. When I spotted my book on the shelf of a bookstore for the first time, he chided me to keep my voice down. My novel has now been out for months, but he still hasn’t read it. (I gave him […]
A Buyer for Direct Group NA
The answer to the question “who would want to buy that?” Phoenix-based investment firm Najafi Companies has bought Bertelsmann’s North American Direct Group assets, which include their family of book clubs along with Columbia House. The sale is expected to close in the third quarter and financial terms were not disclosed. (It was subsequently revealed in Bertelsmann’s annual report that the sale “generated proceeds of €19 million,” and Bertelsmann recorded a capital loss of €-18 million.) CEO Jahm Najafi says in the announcement, “We are very excited to enter the direct-to-consumer business and to work closely with Direct Group North America’s […]
Stephenie Meyer's Vampire Empire
Entertainment Weekly features the author as its cover story, as anticipation builds for her latest release. Borders’ director of children’s merchandising Diane Mangan says, ”I kept saying that there will never be another book in my career like Harry Potter 7. Who would have thought a year later we’d be talking like this again?” EW notes: “Despite wincing over the occasional Amazon.com one-star review, Meyer can’t help but pore over the message boards. She loves her fans and wants to know how they’re responding to her work. ”Sometimes the feedback is helpful,” she says. ‘I want to be a better […]
Mayer's New Book Says CIA Engaged In Torture
Jane Mayer’s book THE DARK SIDE: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned Into a War on American Ideals–publishing next week from Doubleday but obtained by the NYT–says that “Red Cross investigators concluded last year in a secret report that the Central Intelligence Agency’s interrogation methods for high-level Qaeda prisoners constituted torture and could make the Bush administration officials who approved them guilty of war crimes.” Mayer “acknowledges that Red Cross investigators based their account largely on interviews with the prisoners. But she writes that several C.I.A. officers she spoke with confirmed parts of the Red Cross […]