Overall results were down sharply for fiscal 2008 at Bloomsbury due to comparisons to the launch of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, with sales falling by more than a third to 99.95 million pounds, with pre-tax profits of 11.63 million pounds. But the company offers itself long and hearty congratulations as “it re-balances its business in the wake of the Harry Potter phenomenon and of the demands of a global recession.” Units in both the US and Germany improved during the year, with US sales up 29.4 percent to 17.32 million (essentially all due to the decline of the […]
People
Todd McGarity has joined Hachette Book Group as vp, distribution sales & services, responsible for overseeing all relationships with existing distribution services clients. He will report to COO Ken Michaels. McGarity was most recently the director of client development at Random House. Alisha Sevigny has been promoted to associate agent at The Rights Factory.
CEO of Bonnier Publishing Higgins to Leave
Des Higgins, who has been head of Bonnier Publishing since 2005, will leave for “a fresh challenge.” Chief finance officer Richard Johnson will serve as interim CEO. He says, “Bonnier has been been on a considerable growth path in English speaking markets – the brief is just to continue with that growth strategy.”Bookseller
Lunch Weekly for Monday, March 30
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 Kelly O’Connor McNees’s THE LOST SUMMER OF LOUISA MAY ALCOTT, imagining […]
Children's Booksellers Organization Considers Relationship with ABA
The Association of Booksellers for Children told members via e-mail that at a recent planning retreat the board decided to take “proactive” steps to ensure the organization’s long-term survival that may include “pool[ing] our resources with our sister association, the American Booksellers Association.” The options “include becoming a division of ABA, a department of ABA, or another configuration that we haven’t determined yet. This would have the advantage of giving ABC the resources of a larger organization while expanding the programming available to all ABA members.” ABA board president Gayle Shanks writes that “the ABA Board is excited about exploring […]
Heim to Leave Nelson
EVP and chief publishing officer Tami Heim is leaving Thomas Nelson after four years, as part of an executive organization. Designed to “more tightly align sales, marketing, and publishing, while placing product development directly under [the] oversight” of ceo Michael Hyatt, chief sales officer Mark Schoenwald moves up to president a chief operating officer. Schoenwald’s focus on day-to-day operations will allow Hyatt “to concentrate on the publishing products” and “be more intimately involved with author acquisitions, author relations, and product development.” Hyatt explains further on his blog. Separately, Boston Globe books reporter Dave Mehegan discussed with The Phoenix his decision […]