Following Scholastic’s million-book donation announcement Monday morning, Simon & Schuster ceo Carolyn Reidy informed her employees of S&S’s relief efforts in a memo. They are offering “any public or school library damaged by Hurricane Sandy a donation of 500 ‘best of’ titles in order to help in the restoration of their collections.” So far they are working on concert with the Teachers College Reading, Writing Project’s Literacy Lifeboats initiative, and the New Jersey Library Association to reach libraries in need. The company is working with other relief organizations to provide free books to both children and adults displaced by the […]
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CIA Director Petraeus Resigns After Affair With Biographer Broadwell Disclosed
As you may have already noted, publishing has been featured in the fallout from CIA director David Petraeus’ resignation Friday afternoon,when he disclosed an extramarital affair with a woman later revealed to be Paula Broadwell, author (with Vernon Loeb) of the authorized biography ALL IN: The Education of General David Petraeus. Published by Penguin Press in January with modest results (it was No. 13 on the NYT nonfiction bestseller list for a week in February and fell off the list two weeks later), book sales rose online over the weekend, and the paperback is due for release next month. Penguin […]
Storm Updates: Downtown Houses (Mostly) Operational; National Book Awards Events Still On Track
The restoration of the bulk of New York City’s subway service and some commuter rails means much of the book trade in New York has resumed regular operations (though PATH service remains suspended, continuing the disruption in New Jersey). Macmillan, which closed all of last week while power was out in lower Manhattan, is now open, with systems, email, phone lines, and distribution centers back up. In a note to staff, ceo John Sargent said “[we] ask you all to work diligently to catch up. We will have some infrastructure problems, some systems problems, and some transportation problems. Please be […]
Hackers Steal Credit Card Information From 63 Barnes & Noble Stores
Barnes & Noble revealed Wednesday (after multiple outlets reported the news the previous evening) that hackers gained access to customer credit cards used at 63 store locations in nine states, including at least nine stores in the New York City area. The company said the hackers “planted bugs in tampered PIN pad devices, allowing for the capture of credit card and PIN numbers” in these stores, and the PIN pads have since been removed and will not be reinstalled. Purchases at BN College stores and online through BN.com or the various Nook platforms were not affected. BN learned of the […]
Briefs: Thomas Nelson Pulls THE JEFFERSON LIES For Unverified Historical Details; Thinly-Veiled Sarkozy “Fable” Tops French Bestseller List; And More
Thomas Nelson announced they will withdraw publication of evangelical conservative David Barton‘s THE JEFFERSON LIES: Exposing the Myths You’ve Always Believed About Thomas Jefferson after concluding that “there were historical details — matters of fact, not matters of opinion, that were not supported at all.” Listings for the book have been removed from online retailers with a recall of physical copies underway, and the rights will be reverted to the author. But Barton tells The Tennessean that his only contact from the publisher “was an email saying it was canceled,” adding that “it was a complete surprise.’ Published in April […]
People
Oxford University Press announced a number of recent promotions. Bill Haydis has been promoted to Head of US stock planning and publications, while Chris Critelli moves up to reprints and manufacturing supplier manager. Jen Abrams has been appointed demand planning team leader, while Tracy Rabon moves up to US publications team leader. Barry Koen and Nissa Papillon have been promoted to demand planner, while Nancy Wu moves up to stock planning project manager. Marie Kent joins Free Press today as imprint marketing manager, reporting to Nicole Judge. She was in the school and library marketing department at Penguin Children’s. At […]