Expanding a pilot program begun last fall, Barnes & Noble College will let students rent textbooks online from their campus bookstore’s e-commerce site as well as through their stores. They will accept “any form of tender, including campus debit cards and student financial aid” as payment. Now featured in 25 of the 636 campus bookstores they operate, “in the coming months [the company] will dedicate significant resources to expanding its rental program to more of the colleges and universities it serves.”Release
Random House Publisher Services Repeats as Amazon's Distributor of the Year
For the second year in a row, Amazon has honored RH Publisher Services, the company’s third-party distribution service, “for its exemplary work in helping Amazon.com build a world-class customer experience through operational excellence.” The selection criteria listed include “short and consistent receive lead times to make tens of thousands of books available to ship within 24 hours; increasing the percentage of books available in digital format to Amazon Kindle customers; leveraging print-on-demand technology; and providing high-quality and authoritative ONIX data.”Release
People
Alicia Condon will leave Dorchester, where she has worked for the past 24 years, to become editorial director of Brava Books, taking over for the late Kate Duffy. She will report to Kensington editor-in-chief John Scognamiglio. Penguin Books publishing coordinator Tom Roberge has added the title of associate editor, Penguin Books. At Harper Canada, Jim Gifford has been promoted to Executive Editor. At Simon & Schuster’s Children’s, Annette Pollert has been promoted to associate editor at the Pulse imprint. Julie Doebler will add responsibility for production management for Simon Pulse, now joined by Sara Saidlower, who has switched to production […]
Bookseller Correct Aitken Alexander Results
The Bookseller has amended their article on UK agencies having trouble making profits. The 850,000-pound loss they reported for Aitken Alexander was incorrect; the agency made a post-tax profit of 62,000 pounds.Note at the end of article
People
Ami Greko is leaving Macmillan and will join AdaptiveBlue on January 18 as director of business development. Chris Kahn will join the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) to manage vendor relations, advertising, sponsorship and media partnership opportunities. He takes over from Andrea Nathan, who leaves the organization at the end of January for “a new career path.” Kahn was formerly western advertising director for Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and School Library Journal. The Taryn Fagerness Agency will now handle subsidiary rights for P.S. Literary Agency. At Viking UK, Will Hammond has been promoted to commissioning editor.
Bookscan Adds to Data Pool
New for 2010, Nielsen Bookscan now includes point-of-sale data from BJ’s Wholesale Club (over 180 stores); Meijer (with 190 supercenters); and The Paradies Shops (with over 500 stores in more than 70 airports and hotels).