A reorganization of the “structure and staffing” of various weekly feature sections at the Washington Post will eliminate the position of Book World Editor entirely. That job is currently held by Rachel Shea, who has run the group for the past two and a half years. She has the option of applying for the few other jobs open at the newspaper. Most Book World staff, including fiction editor Ron Charles and the current assistant editors, will report to the paper’s Style section. But nonfiction editor Steve Levingston will report to Outlook, where the non-fiction reviews are published. Executive editor Marcus Brauchli writes in […]
Indigo Store Comps Fall and Net Losses Mount in FirstQuarter
For their fiscal first quarter ending July 2, Indigo reported sales of C$202 million, down 1.1 percent from a year ago, with an EBITDA loss of C$19.9 million (compared to a loss of just $800,000 a year ago). Physical book sales fell, as superstore comps dropped 5.4 per cent in the quarter, while their smaller-format stores were down 5.2 per cent. They also took a $3.2 million charge for their annual summer clearance sales of unsold books and other merchandise. The company’s digital business increased by 170 percent compared to last year, helped by the June launch of the Kobo Touch […]
Class-Action Law Firm Files Suit Against Publishers and Apple Over Agency Model
Class-action law specialists Hagens Berman filed suit in a San Francisco Federal Court against Apple, along with Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin and Simon & Schuster, over the agency model of ebook pricing. On behalf of two people who bought ebooks, the firm alleges that Apple and the publishers are “in violation of a variety of federal and state antitrust laws, the Sherman Act, the Cartwright Act and the Unfair Competition Act.” Aside from explaining the agency model in florid terms, the essence of the complaint appears for now to rest on twists of logic and reasoning–or tautologies–rather than […]
People: Welby and Martin to Run Putnam & Riverhead Publicity Departments
Alexis Welby will join Putnam as director of publicity and Jynne Martin has been named director of publicity for Riverhead, as part of “a new strategic publicity structure that focuses on the editorial strengths of each imprint” and creates two separate publicity teams. Welby was most recently associate director of publicity for Simon & Schuster, and Martin was associate director of publicity for the Random House Publishing Group. Both start on September 6, reporting to executive director of publicity Marilyn Ducksworth. Mih-Ho Cha will remain senior publicity director for both imprints, while Michael Barson will move into a new role as senior […]
Bookselling: Effect of London Riots; Another Books-A-Million Store Replaces Borders; and More
With the London riots entering their fourth day the effect on bookstores has not been widespread, but some have suffered damage and protective measures are being put in place for others. Gay’s the Word, the country’s only LGBT bookshop, was pelted with eggs and its windows were smashed in on Monday. Pages of Hackney opened for business Tuesday in the east London neighborhood despite the continuing violence, saying in a message on Twitter “Shop is open and all members of staff are undamaged and fit for bookselling….. just about.” Both Waterstone’s and WHSmith have closed stores in several affected neighborhoods, […]
Higher Ed: Free Food Trucks From Living Language; Nook-to-School Promotion; and More
This week Random House’s language learning program, Living Language, will launch its new Platinum Edition, a multi-platform solution that will allow users to engage with a variety of languages through course books and CDs, mobile apps, an online course, an online community, and individualized instruction from a native speaker e-tutor. The course will initially be offered for $179 in French, Spanish, Italian and German, with Chinese, Japanese, and Arabic editions to come. (The Platinum app is also available for separate purchase.) As part of the launch, coordinated by the ad agency Mullen (most recently responsible for a multi-million dollar campaign […]