Conspicuously absent–and oddly unthanked and unmentioned–at last week’s Knopf Doubleday party for Dan Brown, Random House evp and publisher-at-large Steve Rubin is leaving the company. He said in a brief announcement: “I leave Random House after 25 years with a great sense of accomplishment and pride, as well as a bit of sadness. It has been a tremendous ride. I have had the privilege of publishing and working closely with some of the greatest authors in the world. There are too many to name, but I must mention John Grisham, Dan Brown, Pat Conroy, Bill Moyers, Bill O’Reilly and Tina […]
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John Wicker has decided to leave his position as evp of Klopotek North America and restart his consulting business, and he will continue to consult for Klopotek. Over the past four years, Klopotek’s revenue in this region grew tenfold. Karen Tiesling will take over Wicker’s responsibilities as evp sales of Klopotek North America (where she is also evp of product development). She joined the company when Klopotek acquired Global Turnkey Systems in 2006. Amy King will join Rodale Books as executive director, art & design on October 5, reporting to Karen Rinaldi. She has been creative director for Bloomsbury USA. […]
Judge Chin Orders Google Case Parties to Oct. 7 Status Conference
The judge has agreed to the request to not hold a full hearing on the proposed settlement on October 7 “as it does not appear that the current settlement will be the operative one.” But he doesn’t want to wait another month to learn the status of negotiations, as the Authors Guild and AAP had asked. At the October conference he wants “to determine how to proceed with the case as expeditiously as possible, as this case has now been pending for over four years.” While Chin will not hear from any other petitioners at the hearing, “they are free […]
Trade and Education Sales Have Big Gains for Scholastic
Scholastic reported a 14 percent increase in sales from continuing operations for their fiscal first quarter, at $315.6 million, with an improved net loss of $23 million (compared to a loss of $49.1 million a year ago.) The company says revenues were boosted by “higher sales of educational technology to schools and of children’s books in retail channels during the quarter.” CEO Dick Robinson cites “the arrival of Federal stimulus funds in local districts” as one factor in boosting education sales. In their children’s book publishing and distribution division, sales rose almost $15 million, to $76.2 million, though they had […]
Distribution News
Microsoft Press announced a “strategic relationship” with O’Reilly Media under which O’Reilly will distribute Microsoft’s titles in the North America (with more territories to come) and they will jointly develop new titles for the Microsoft line. Tim O’Reilly says on the company’s Radar blog, “that they chose to work with us is a testament to three advantages we bring to the business: O’Reilly is more than a book publisher. We are an advocate, a connector, and a community builder…. O’Reilly plays a unique role in the technology ecosystem…. O’Reilly has been a pioneer in the new world of ebooks.” In […]
People
Boston Globe books editor for the past seven years Jim Concannon is leaving the paper to work as news editor at Harvard’s public affairs office.Phoenix In the UK, publishing director at Chatto & Windus for the past 12 years Alison Samuel announced that she will retire at the end of the year. Editorial director Clara Farmer will move up to publishing director in January. Samuel says in the announcement: “I wanted to go out on a high. How could I possibly better the last 18 months in which Rose Tremain won the Orange Prize, Alice Munro was awarded the Man […]