Stacy Creamer will join Regan Arts as svp, executive editor on April 15. Most recently she was executive editor at Hachette Books and before then was publisher at Touchstone. Andy Hunter has been named publisher of LitHub.com, overseeing the growing site — which is a collaboration between Hunter’s Electric Literature and Grove/Atlantic. (Hunter also serves as publisher of Catapult.) Krishan Trotman has joined Hachette Books as senior editor. Previously she was a senior editor at Skyhorse. In addition, Hallie Patterson moves over to Hachette Books as publicity and marketing manager, from Little, Brown Children’s. At Chronicle Books, Molly Krauss has […]
Barnes & Noble Working On New Concept Store for Westchester
Barnes & Noble is taking over a retail space in Westchester County that has been vacant since Borders went bankrupt, and plans to build one of four new concept stores in the location. (It’s an odd, below-ground space reached through an escalator.) The retailer has been working through the Eastchester planning board, with minutes of a February 25 meeting quoting architect Greg Belanger: “This will be one of four stores built in this country this year that’s going to have a completely new design, not anything seen anywhere locally. They brought in new designer, an Italian designer.” They hope to open the […]
Bezos’s Annual Letter Celebrates “Three Big Pillars,” Vaguely Defends “Corporate Culture”
Amazon ceo Jeff Bezos wrote his annual letter to shareholders and, as with last year’s letter, he focuses on the trinity (or “three big pillars”) of Prime, Marketplace, and AWS. (The last time he mentioned readers or Kindle was two years ago.) Prime membership grew 47 percent growth in the US last year and counts “tens of millions of members worldwide.” And “close to 50 percent of units sold on Amazon are sold by third-party sellers” (which includes publishers who sell ebooks on an agency basis). This year’s letter also speaks vaguely at length about “corporate cultures,” following criticism of Amazon’s work environment: “For better or for […]
Bestseller Share: Big Five Dominate NYT Lists In First Quarter
You may recall that we recently introduced tools to track “bestseller share” by house, looking at the “slots” on the NYT printed bestseller lists. In our January post, we established five-year benchmarks by publisher as well, to have some basis for comparison going forward. With the first quarter of 2016 completed, we are ready to start following the bestseller landscape through the year. By the first results, the five largest houses extended their dominance of the NYT’s charts to new levels in the beginning of the year. All other houses combined claimed under 6 percent of the NYT slots, with […]
People, Etc.
Random House will try to beat the celebrity imprint jinx in a new partnership with Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner for a Lenny imprint. Overseen by editor-in-chief Andy Ward and launching in late 2017, the line will feature the “emerging voices…that Lena and Jenni Konner are already attracting and publishing so successfully in their newsletter and on their popular site.” Ward says in the announcement, “Working with Lena, Jenni and the editors of Lenny, we plan to publish a select number of titles each year to build a varied, compelling, and voice-driven list.” Dunham adds, “Jenni and I are both voracious […]
People, Awards and More
Brett Collins has joined Open Road Media as svp, product development. Previously he was founder and digital strategist at Counterspace. Michael Gedonius has joined as vp, integrated national sales. Previously he was an account manager at Playboy Enterprises. Finally, Julie Blattberg has been promoted to vp, strategic operations. Jon M. Sweeney will join Ave Maria Press in late June as executive editor. Most recently, he was editorial director at Franciscan Media, and publisher of Paraclete Press. Sanj Kharbanda has left his position as senior vice president, digital markets at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Awards James Hannaham won the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction for […]