Barnes & Noble has solidified its plans to expand NOOK beyond the US and the UK with the appointment of Patrick Rouvillois as vp, managing director for international, reporting to Jamie Iannone. Rouvillois, who will work out of Luxembourg, was most recently global cmo and head of eCommerce for Carrefour. “We’re thrilled to have Patrick join the team as we embark on our international expansion of the NOOK brand into the UK and beyond,” Iannone said in a statement. “Patrick brings strong leadership to the role, and his vast background in the retail, consulting, telecom and media sectors will be […]
People
At Bloomsbury USA, Pete Beatty has been promoted to senior editor–the position recently vacated by Benjamin Adams, moving over to the Bloomsbury imprint from Bloomsbury Press, where he’s been working with Peter Ginna since 2008. He’ll acquire nonfiction list for the Bloomsbury imprint while continuing to acquire for Bloomsbury. Lea Beresford is being promoted to Editor at the Bloomsbury imprint. In the UK, Faber announced a number of hirings and promotions. Julian Loose moves up to publisher for nonfiction and arts; Hannah Griffiths is promoted to both publisher for crime and paperbacks and associate publisher for fiction; and Lee Brackstone […]
Aspiring Quarto Director Criticizes Company As Vote Nears
The special meeting called for in July by two large shareholders in Quarto Group will be announced shortly, Sky News reports. They have been “leaked” a letter from Tim Chadwick, who the two dissenting owners–confirmed to include The Wellcome Trust (and 9.7 percent owner), and thus by elimination J.O. Hambro Capital Management (a 9.5 percent owner)–want to appoint to the board while removing chairman and ceo Laurence Orbach. Chadwick is said to insist that Quarto sell or close “all loss-making, relatively risky, or unproven activities and [use] the net proceeds to accelerate debt repayment.” He laments that the publishers’ “results […]
eNews: Google Brings eBooks to Japan; Kobo Adds Portugal; Nook Launches Video; and UK to Appoint eLending Review Panel
After launching Google Play, including ebooks, in Korea, Google will open the service and sell their Nexus 7 tablet in Japan as of October 2, with the device retailing for 19,800 yen ($250.) Reuters reported that executive chairman Eric Schmidt attended the launch, telling a briefing that the continuing growth of the smartphone market would set up a battleground among companies getting into the online shopping space: “It is the defining platform and the defining battle in our industry.” Google Play in Japan will include Japanese-language ebooks. Elsewhere in international expansion, Kobo is extending its partnership with FNAC in France […]
eNews: Google Launches in Korea, and More
Apparently Google launched an ebook venture in Korea earlier this month, with participation from publishers including Woongjin, Ridibooks and Munhakdongne Publishing. An unnamed official told The Korea Herald (found via The Digital Reader), “We picked Korea since the adoption rate of smart devices, including smartphones, are one of the highest among other nations.” Korea Herald Yale University Press announced that they have received a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation “to launch extensive market research and development of a new electronic model for illustrated books.” The award and subsequent work is intriguing since so far illustrated books have lagged […]
Awards: New Prize Will Support Both Writing and Marketing/Promotion
Tonight, Jewish philanthropic foundation The Natan Fund will announce a new award to support the writing, marketing and publicity of a new nonfiction book on Jewish themes, introducing what they position as a “new literary philanthropy model.” Rather than honoring an already published book, the prize supports both the creation and marketing of new work. Awarded in two stages, the prize provides up to $15,000 to “support the writing process,” and up to another $35,000 “to craft a customized digital and in-person marketing and publicity strategy for the book at the time of its publication.” That promotional stage will also […]