Alessandra Balzer and Donna Bray will move to Macmillan Children’s as of April 15. They will set up a new incarnation of their Balzer + Bray imprint there, with both having the title of SVP and co-publisher. Balzer + Bray was launched in 2008 at Harper Children’s. Existing B+B titles, as well as titles already under contract, will remain at HarperCollins, a spokesperson told us. Beginning in fall 2024, Harper’s B+B books will be published under the imprint of the editorial team to which they have been reassigned. MCPG president and publisher Jen Besser says in the announcement, “The only word […]
Storytel Gains in 2023, But Still Looks to Efficiency
Swedish audiobook company Storytel reported fourth quarter and full year 2023 results on Thursday. Full year sales were SEK3.49 million, up 9 percent. EBITDA was SEK150 million up from SEK(-68) million last year. Operating profit for the year was SEK(-742.3), compared to SEK(-400.5) million the year before. Streaming sales grew 12 percent to SEK3.24 million, or a 9 percent increase at constant currency. Fourth quarter and full-year profit was impacted by significant year-end writedowns of SEK672 million. The biggest, SEK465 million (or roughly $45 million at current exchange) was impairment charges on goodwill attributed to Audiobooks.com, acquired for $135 million. […]
National Book Foundation Expands Awards Eligibility to Writers Who Are Not US Citizens
The National Book Foundation has expanded the eligibility for the National Book Awards. Previously, authors had to hold US citizenship to be considered, but now authors who maintain primary, long-term residency in the US, US territories, or Tribal lands will also be eligible for the prizes. Additionally, the foundation will sunset its petition process, which offered eligibility to authors actively pursuing, or unable to pursue, US citizenship, but which they say was a “procedural hurdle” for authors. The new criteria go into effect on March 13. Ruth Dickey, executive director of the NBF, said in a release, “The Foundation is […]
Hugo Awards Were Influenced By Political Concerns, Report Finds
The 2023 Hugo Awards were influenced by Chinese “political concerns,” as decided by Western awards administrators, according to a report published on Genre Grapevine and File 770. In January, nominating statistics were released, noting that some works and authors were inexplicably “not eligible” for awards. The news spurred a firestorm of criticism, including from R.F. Kuang and Neil Gaiman, both of whom were marked as ineligible for their respective awards. The top Hugos administrator Dave McCarty, who took responsibility for the eligibility decisions but did not explain them, was subsequently censured by the awards governing body, and resigned. The Hugo […]
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KKR’s “Base Case” Is to Own Simon & Schuster for Five to Seven Years
Bloomberg Television interviewed KKR co-head of global private equity Pete Stavros and Simon & Schuster ceo Jonathan Karp recently. Asked how long KKR plans to own S&S before exiting, Stavros noted, “We’ve owned business for 20 years before. It takes as long as it takes….” Primarily, however, “Our base case would be this is five, six, seven years. We’ve got a bunch of things we want to accomplish. Maybe it becomes a great public company some day; we’ll see. We’re not in a hurry.” Stavros suggested a leaner supply chain is part of their strategy: “Foreacasting demand for a new […]