NPR is laying off 64 people and eliminating 21 other open positions while cutting expenses, including the elimination of two shows, Day to Day and News and Notes, both of which are produced by NPR West. The two shows, which regularly feature authors and books, will go off the air on March 20.NPR
People, Award News, and More
In the marketing and publicity departments at Tor and Forge; Phyllis Azar has bee promoted to executive director of marketing; Patty Garcia has been promoted to director of publicity; Brian Vaughan moves up to the new position of director of publishing operations; Joseph Bendel takes the new position of manager of publishing operations; and Jennifer Kaufler has been promoted to marketing manager. In the UK, Pan Macmillan non-fiction publisher Richard Milner will leave at the end of next week to explore “new opportunities.” In awards, the American Library Association has announced nominees for their new YA debut award for books […]
Layoffs at Chronicle
Chronicle Books reduced its staff by five percent on Monday, citing the economic environment and a planned cutback in new adult titles for 2010. The company’s children’s book line is growing, PW reports, though backlist sales have been in steady decline.
UK Book Chains Fare Worse than Trade
Revenue from sales at UK High Street booksellers (like Waterstone’s and WH Smith) fell 12.7 percent in the week ending December 6–almost five points worse than the overall decline in sales tracked by Nielsen BookScan. The Telegraph says “high street book sales are plummeting as discounting, the growth of internet operators such as Amazon and dwindling consumer spending hits retailers.” As a result, “Discounting is becoming more aggressive as retailers fight to win customers with consumer spending dwindling in the wake of the economic downturn.”Telegraph
All the News, All the Time: The Publishers Lunch Automat
That new feature we’ve been working on at PublishersMarketplace.com is live today. The Publishers Lunch Automat takes us back to our very roots of finding news stories from all over of interest and relevance to the publishing business. But the whole idea of news and where it comes from has changed dramatically since the first Lunch was baked in 2000, and the Automat is a way of navigating literally hundreds of sources, comprising industry news, commentary, financial updates, blog posts and more. Organized pages present hundreds of the latest headlines for trade news, blogs from people who work in the […]
It's Official: Reed Can't Sell Magazines
After nearly a year of trying almost anything to get someone to take their magazine unit, Reed Elsevier announced “it has terminated discussions with potential bidders,” saying the board “has judged it not possible to structure a transaction on acceptable terms at this time.” Keith Jones, who had run RBI UK, will serve as ceo. Reed reaffirms that it has no long-term interest in business, saying the company’s strategy “remains to divest RBI in the medium term when conditions are more favorable.”Announcement