Mondadori announced Monday that it has a deal to acquire employee-owned Chelsea Green Publishing, for $5 million, subject to adjustment at closing, which is expected in by the middle of the year. For 2022, the publisher had sales of $8.1 million and an operating income of $1.1 million. Chelsea Green will become part of Rizzoli International Publications. Mondadori says that represents “a further step on its international development journey in English-speaking markets, which recently began with the establishment of London-based Rizzoli UK.” When the acquisition is completed, co-founder Margo Baldwin will take the role of publisher emeritus, as Stefano Peccatori […]
Yes, Karp Was Surprised, Too
Regarding the reporting a week ago that Meta considered buying Simon & Schuster to strip mine the catalog for LLM training, the publisher’s ceo Jonathan Karp told a NYT podcast he was just as surprised by the news as you were: “It was really quite an experience for me. So Saturday morning I was eating my breakfast and reading the New York Times…eating my Grape-Nuts… And this was total news to me! I had no idea that this conversation was going on. The story was quoting private conversations that nobody knew about. This really was news to everybody. I’ve checked. […]
BISG Eyes A Bigger Agenda, Looks to Grow Membership
On Friday the Book Industry Study Group (BISG) convened their annual meeting, highlighted by a presentation of their updated strategic plan. Broadly, the board “has been rethinking BISG’s strategy with an eye toward inclusion, research, standards, and education.” Standards — from the BISAC codes that categorize published works to ONIX and other key elements of supply chain communication — have traditionally been the core focus of the organization. But vice chair James Miller, who is senior director, merchandise systems at Barnes & Noble, said the organization aspires to “provide anyone in book publishing with a forum to identify, discuss and […]
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Whiting Awards
The Whiting Awards named winners on Wednesday night.