According to a message board populated by anonymous Borders employees, all store-based Paperchase merchandisers/managers in the over 337 in-store shops within Borders stores have been let go. Some posts on that same board suggest that regional managers are being given notice as well. One employee writes, “As I understood it, the entire Paperchase field team has been eliminated.” Borders spokesperson Mary Davis says that regional managers are not affected and will continue in their current roles. On the broader reductions, the company says: “Borders is always looking for opportunities to improve performance and profitability. The changes we have made in […]
DC's Politics and Prose Seeks New Owner
The news is now public that Washington, DC’s iconic Politics and Prose bookstore is up for sale. (At least one trade-related group has been in informal discussions with owners Carla Cohen and Barbara Meade recently.) Meade tells the Washington Post, “It’s time for us to stop and let somebody else take over for the future” as Cohen adds, “I just don’t have the energy like I used to.” Sadly, as the story quietly underscores, “Cohen is also seriously ill.” The store’s financials are said to be solid, though for some odd reason the newspaper chooses to cite recent sales number […]
Awards
Barbara Kingsolver‘s THE LACUNA finally overtook Hilary Mantel’s well-lauded WOLF HALL in winning the UK’s Orange Prize. Chair of the judges Daisy Goodwin said, “We had very different tastes on the panel, but in the end we went for passion not compromise. We chose ‘The Lacuna’ because it is a book of breathtaking scale and shattering moments of poignancy.”Irene Sabatini‘s THE BOY NEXT DOOR won the Orange Award for New Writers.Site Book-of-the-Month Club’s 2009 First Fiction Award has gone to Robert Goolrick‘s A RELIABLE WIFE (Algonquin), which they call “an astonishingly accomplished and intriguing historical fiction novel in which nothing […]
People, Etc.
At Penguin Children’s, Camilla Sanderson has been appointed to the new position of vp, digital business development. She’ll “establish relationships with app and other developers to create the newest products for the group’s key brands and titles” and “explore the growing field of digital to try to ascertain the next potential formats and markets available.” Helen Boomer will be return to the company as vp, director of sub rights for Penguin Children’s, taking over from Sanderson. All Penguin Children’s rights will now be under a single director. Boomer was in rights at Viking and Puffin for 11 years before, most […]
Authors Guild Objects to Wiley Proposal for Bloomberg Authors
The Authors Guild has posted what executive director Paul Aiken calls “probably the most strongly-worded alert we’ve sent out in years,” about a proposed contract amendment sent by Wiley to Bloomberg Press authors. Calling Wiley’s communication “deceptive,” the Guild’s objections include a proposal to turn list price royalties into net royalties and a POD clause that would “empower Wiley to keep an author’s book in print with a lowball print on demand royalty of 5% of net receipts,” a rate “as low as we’ve seen.”Post
People, Etc.
At Penguin Group USA, Heidi Graynor has been promoted to vp, sales administration. She has been with the company since 1983. At McClelland and Stewart, associate publisher for nonfiction Susan Renouf is retiring from the company as of June 30, though she will resume her consulting and editorial business. Christine Gillespie has been promoted to vp, associate publisher for Knopf, Pantheon and Schocken, continuing to report to Patricia Johnson. Sterling editor Alyssa Smith is reported to have lost her home to a fire in Union City, NJ that consumed three buildings. Rose Fox has a page with information, also seeking […]