CEO of the Najafi Companies Jahm Najafi spoke briefly to the WSJ about his deal to purchase Direct Groug North America (DGNA) from Bertelsmann: “We’re very excited about this because we see great brands and excellent marketers. We have extensive experience in the online world and think we can change the nature of this business and grow it dramatically. We also think we can extend the club model to other products and services. We have never shied away from difficult businesses.”As the Journal notes, DGNA had sales last year of 900 million euros ($1.42 billion), with approximately 13 million members. […]
eBook Updates
Amazon announced a ramp-up in titles from Christian book publishers available for the Kindle, saying that Augsburg Fortress, Crossway Books & Bibles, David C. Cook, Gospel Light, Group Publishing, NavPress, Strang Communications, Thomas Nelson, Tyndale, Wm. B. Eerdmans and Zondervan “have committed to making the majority of their catalogs of books available to Kindle owners by the end of 2008.” VP of Kindle Ian Freed confirms last week’s new pseudo-stat: “Of the 135,000 books available on Amazon.com as a physical book and on Kindle, Kindle books already account for over 12 percent of units sold.”Amazon release Separately, UK chain Waterstone’s […]
Awards: Thriller Winners
On Friday night the International Thriller Writers (ITW) presented their Thriller Awards: Best NovelThe Ghost, by Robert Harris Best First NovelHeart-Shaped Box, by Joe Hill Best Paperback OriginalThe Midnight Road, by Tom Piccirilli
Baker & Taylor Changes Book Merchandise Buying
Baker & Taylor has announced a “paradigm shift to category buying” to serve customers better “and respond to market changes.” EVP of merchandising and president, retail markets David Cully says: “The Merchandise Buyer function focuses on leveraging category expertise as a sales advantage in the retail and library markets. Likewise, the Merchandise Planner function focuses on data mining and statistical modeling to improve forecasting and reduce friction in the supply chain.. SVP merchandising Jean Srnecz will supervise both the divisional Merchandising directors [Allen Johnson: basics (nonfiction), Sally Neher: fashion (key new releases and Speedstock), Rick Shalayda: children’s and small press, […]
Distribution News: Trafalgar Square Adds Nine
Trafalgar Square is now distributing the following well-known UK publishers in the US market: The History PressOneWorld Classics/Calder PublicationsPiatkus Books along with: Alma BooksAngry PenguinCadmos BooksCapuchin ClassicsPushkin PressSpy Publishing Previously, MBI distributed select imprint from The History Press, as did NBN, which also distributed Alma, OneWorld, Piatkus and Pushkin. The other four have not been distributed in North America before.
BN Moves and Expands A Rare Book Department
Barnes & Noble’s small rare- and out-of-print-book department at their recently-closed Chelsea store in NYC will relocate at the chain’s store on Broadway and 66th Street, “where it will soon be moved from the third floor to a more prominent location on the second floor.” The NYT adds: “Barnes & Noble says it does not plan to replicate the effort in other stores, it is also not taking its commitment lightly: it is spending a significant sum on the department, installing custom display cases with locked glass doors.”NYT