Agent Mary Ann Naples, co-owner of The Creative Culture, has joined startup OpenSky (www.theopenskyproject.com) as vp of development, representing the voices of authors and brands at the company. Former Scholastic UK managing director (and then briefly chief executive of the Headline publishing group) Kate Wilson is starting a children’s book publisher, Nosy Crow, launching in January 2011. The company is focusing on both traditional printed books as well as books as electronic apps. Ralph Munsen joins Hachette Book Group today as svp, chief information officer. He was most recently vp, technology at Clear Channel..He will lead HBG’s technology group, and […]
Lunch Weekly for Monday, February 22
Deal Reports Just e-mail to deals@PublishersMarketplace if you aren’t using the online form linked below. Report a deal using the online form The Key As usual, the handy key to our Lunch deal categories. While all reports are always welcome, those that include a category will generally receive a higher listing when it comes time to put them all together. “nice deal” $1 – $49,000 “very nice deal” $50,000 – $99,000 “good deal” $100,000 – $250,000 “significant deal” $251,000 – $499,000 “major deal” $500,000 and up FICTION Debut Amor Towles’ RULES OF CIVILITY, the story of a tenacious and […]
People and Announcements
At Random House, Cyrus Kheradi will become svp, director of international sales & marketing, reporting to Madeline McIntosh, starting March 8. He has been vp, group director of international sales at Simon & Schuster. McIntosh writes in a memo, “the international channel will be increasingly critical to Random House as we seek new markets for growth, and so I am very much looking forward to having someone with Cyrus’s deep experience and stellar global reputation lead us forward. Pam Roman has been named vp, director of sales, special markets, reporting to svp, children’s sales special markets and proprietary publishing Joan […]
What's Next, and More Factoids
So what happens next in the Google case? Everyone waits for the judge, which could be weeks, or months. The outside boundary is likely the scheduling of his Senate confirmation hearing on his nomination to move up to the Court of Appeals. A couple more interesting statistics that were mentioned in the afternoon’s presentations. Michael Boni said that so far, “620,000 books that are out-of-print that we would call orphan works” have been claimed by 40,000 authors. While the effective monopoly over unclaimed works is an important issue in the case, Google may have defused that in part with this […]
Google Judge: "Both Sides Say the Answer Is Clear!"
Judge Denny Chin ended yesterday’s daylong hearing on the Google Books Settlement hearing the same way he started it, telling the audience, “I will reserve decision. There is a lot to think about.” Earlier in the afternoon the judge wryly uttered the line we quote in our headline, and it was the best and most concise summation of the day’s arguments. Alas this second account of the Google Olympics will be less whimsical than our first installment (you’ve been warned). For close watchers of the case, there’s little need or interest in rehashing the presentations of all those who spoke, […]
Simon & Schuster Finishes Down in 2009
Simon & Schuster had a weak finish to a difficult year, as sales fell over 20 percent in their fourth quarter ending December 31, down more than 10 percent (or $25 million) to $220 million, blamed on a “soft market.” For the full fiscal year, sales of $793.5 million were down 7.5 percent compared to a year ago. That sales number is also behind their 2007 sales (of $886 million) and 2006 sales (of $807 million). Profits fells further, with adjusted OIBDA of just $13.6 million this quarter, less than half of last year’s earnings of $28.3 million. For the […]