Scribner announced the passing of Frank McCourt on Sunday afternoon, as a result of metastatic melanoma. Simon & Schuster ceo Carolyn Reidy said, “Frank will be deeply missed, both as an author and as a warm and welcome presence in our lives. He was as skilled at storytelling in person as in print, with the ability to engage his audience through his abundant wit, humility and ability to extract humor and pathos from life’s setbacks and tragedies. He served as an ambassador for both his own books and reading itself, remaining a champion of teachers and an enthusiast for the […]
Barnes & Noble Shifts Buying Team, Consolidates Proprietary Publishing at Sterling
Barnes & Noble announced two reorganizations internally earlier this week, one affecting the book chain’s buying team and the other related to their proprietary publishing programs. The buying/merchandising group has been realigned following the promotion of Jaime Carey in May to the position of chief merchandising officer. The company’s “supply chain czar,” vp of inventory management & vendor relations Joe Gonnella, now moves up to vp, adult trade, reporting to Carey, while continuing to oversee vendor relations. Antoinette Ercolano, who has held the buying position now being taken by Gonnella, moves over to a new job supervising regional buying and […]
Despite Steep Q3 Drops, Courier Stays Optimistic About Future
For the quarter ending June 27, Courier Corporation’s consolidated third-quarter revenues were $61.4 million, down from $73.4 million. Book publishing sales declined, but “less so than earlier in the year,” with an 8 percent drop at the Dover unit. “While Creative Homeowner sales were down 38%, most of that decline was the result of the winding-down of its book distribution services earlier in the year.” Total publishing sales of $11.3 million were down 15.7 percent from $13.4 million a year ago. Operating loss for the division improvted to $624,000, versus a loss of $2.5 million last year. Company CEO James […]
Springer Science Gets Three Bidders to Try Again
Springer Science & Business Media has succeeded in getting three private equity companies to bid again for a share of their business after the previous round of offers was too low. With a 3.1 billion euro debt load, Springer hopes to sell a stake up to 49% to raise 500 million euros in order to alleviate the burden. A decision on the bids from TPG, Sweden’s EQT and a consortium comprising Carlyle Group and Providence Equity Partners (with Apax said to be in discussions, but not formally bidding) is not expected for weeks. UBS and Goldman Sachs have been hired […]
As Tipped, Valco Buys Borders UK
As first indicated by the Independent earlier this week, claims that Borders UK wasn’t for sale were blatantly false, and restructuring company Hilco’s private equity arm Valco Capital Partners is indeed buying the chain from Luke Johnson, the Bookseller reports. Current chief executive Philip Downer will continue to lead the company after a management buyout in tandem with finance director Mark Little. No figures are included in the report, though it was thought that the ailing group would be unloaded for a nominal sum. Downer told the Bookseller in a follow-up story that among their immediate plans are a working […]
Dagger Awards to be Televised; ITN Creates Book Club Video Portal
After handing out a slew of Dagger Awards Thursday, the Crime Writers’ Association announced it is joining forces with Cactus TV to televise the remaining awards – now branded the Crime Thriller Dagger Awards – on October 21. In other TV-related book news, ITN has teamed up with various publishers, including Faber, Penguin and Random House, on a YouTube-housed portal of book-related video content called Beyond Books. Guardian