Hachette Livre has announced a plan to reduce its carbon emissions 30 percent by 2030. This will include: “a 30% reduction in the proportion of books that are shredded, a 26% reduction in carbon intensity of paper manufacturing, an 18% reduction in carbon intensity of book printing and binding, and 1% and 1.5% annual reductions in upstream and downstream freight respectively.” The strategy was developed with the help of French consulting firm Carbone 4, which previously helped the company reduce emissions in France by 20 percent. The new plan will apply to all Hachette Livre companies worldwide. They write in […]
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Less Than A Week After Being Sold, Bookforum Announces Closure
The admired book review magazine Bookforum, founded in 1994, will close, and the current December/January/February issue will be their last, the magazine announced online Monday. The publishers noted, “We would like to thank our extraordinarily talented staff and writers. We are so proud of the contribution Bookforum has made to the literary community and are immensely grateful to the advertisers, subscribers and booksellers who made our mission possible over the years.” Just last week, Bookforum’s parent Artforum International Magazine was acquired by Penske Media Corporation. Penske already owned ARTnews and Art in America, and clearly was only interested in Artforum.
National Book Foundation Looks Ahead
The NBF released their strategic plan through 2025, following an extensive survey process. Among their goals is to double the viewership of the National Book Awards, “establish an ongoing fund to support the literary field” through a “permanent iteration of the Literary Arts Emergency Fund,” add two or three new staff positions with a focus on development and programmatic work, and “formalize the Foundation’s commitment to diversity, equity, access, and inclusion.”
Publishing’s “Expressive” Year
Hillel Italie at the AP looks at the turbulent year in and around book publishing, including comments from a number of executives. Simon & Schuster CEO Jonathan Karp remarks: “We are living in expressive times.” Penguin Random House US ceo Madeline McIntosh speaks to what Italie calls “the emerging influence of younger employees.” She says, “Some of us are sounding like the older generation during the rise of the hippies, where we’re like ‘Kids these days, what on Earth are they up to?’ Given the state of the world today, it’s completely logical that Gen Z is determined to change […]
Macmillan Reported Consumer Data Breach Following Summer’s Security Incident
Following Macmillan’s data network “security incident” in June, on Monday the company acknowledged in a filing with the Texas Attorney General’s office, in compliance with state law, that the breach of their systems “resulted in consumer names, addresses, Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers and financial account information being compromised.” According to this account on JD Supra, “the breached information varies depending on the individual.” They report that, “Macmillan sent out data breach letters to all individuals whose information was compromised as a result of the recent data security incident. While the exact number of people who were impacted by […]
Astra Magazine Shuts Down
After just two issues, Astra Publishing House is shutting down its literary journal Astra Magazine. The book publishing side will remain intact. They write in a release that all magazine operations including the website “will come to a close by the end of 2022.” The magazine was launched in April by editor-in-chief Nadja Spiegelman and deputy editor Samuel Rutter. Leying Jiang, president of Astra Publishing House writes, “We are disappointed not to be able to further fund the magazine. In a very difficult year for publishing, we found that the format provided unexpected challenges and have decided to close the magazine […]