Riccardo Cavellero is leaving Random House’s Spanish-language joint venture Random House Mondadori after eights years as ceo at the end of this year. Next January he will become general manager of Mondadori’s trade-book business worldwide, based in Milan. Markus Dohle and Mondadori ceo Maurizio Costa write that “we are committed to appointing a new ceo who will build upon our strengths as print-book publishers and also will lead us to become the No. 1 Spanish-language digital-book publisher. Kate Travers has joined powerHouse Books as marketing director. Most recently she was strategic marketing director at the Literary Ventures Fund and marketing […]
Announcements
Puffin UK has launched a WeMakeStories.com web site “for children to create, print and share a variety of innovative story forms,” calling it their “biggest digital initiative for children to date.” It’s a paid site, charging £5.99/$9.99 for access to those tools. “Members will be able to create pop-up books, customize audiobooks, design their own comics, produce exciting treasure maps and learn how to create a variety of entertaining adventures.” FiledBy has added “pre-publication” web pages to help authors build promotional awareness in advance of the release of their books.Announcement
The Other Side of the Larsson Dispute–And No Fourth Book
While there are number of issues of contention between the late Stieg Larsson’s heirs (his father Erland and his brother Joakim) and his partner of thirty years Eva Gabrielsson, one matter has unfortunately been resolved. Joakim Larsson tells us “we have an agreement not to publish” the 200 pages of unfinished manuscript for a fourth book in The Girl… series. Eva Gedin, fiction publisher at Norstedts–which bought world rights to the first three books directly from the author–confirms her understanding that the Larssons and Gabrielsson “mutually decided that a fourth novel will not be published.” Joakim Larsson notes that he […]
Waterstone's Makes Year's Drop in Sales and Profits Sound Strong
Waterstone’s parent has updated the sparse sales statistics provided in late April with their “preliminary results” for the fiscal year. The basic numbers are the same (comp sales still fell 3.8 percent), though they add actual sales for the year–548.3 million pounds–and profits, at 10 million pounds down 38.5 percent from the previous year. The decline in earnings is attributed to “the sales decline, a 10 basis points reduction in gross margin due to the higher mix of online sales, and £2.0m of book hub start-up costs, partially offset by cost control measures, including bonus savings.” They also too “exceptional […]
People: Weisbach Gets Three New Associates
Rob Weisbach Creative Management announced a relationship with three new senior associates, Erin Cox, David Groff, and Jake Bauman, who are becoming part of the company’s “virtual team.” (They work collaboratively–“operating independently but in collaboration”–though not from the same physical office space.) Cox will represent authors, offer publicity expertise, and provide publicity and promotion services for outside clients, and work with corporate clients including Conde Nast Digital and the Frankfurt Book Fair. She was most recently book publishing director at the New Yorker. Independent editor Groff will develop a client list and provide editorial guidance, while offering editorial services to […]
Go Ask Alice: Author Hoffman Shows Authors Not to Tweet In Anger, Apologizes
With one angry electronic outburst novelist Alice Hoffman may have changed how many readers view her. After novelist and longtime critic Roberta Silman wrote a mildly critical review of Hoffman’s THE STORY SISTERS in the Boston Globe, Hoffman reacted with a series of angry tweets. Not just a grumpy post or two, but 27 in all, according to NY Magazine (they have now been deleted, along with the corresponding Twitter account.) The series of 140-character-or-less insults also included Silman’s phone number and e-mail address (with a typo) and a rallying cry to “Tell her what u think of snarky critics.” […]