The publisher of Reader’s Digest magazine said Monday it will file for bankruptcy protection in what they term a “pre-arranged” bankruptcy. Under the plan, the WSJ report, Reader’s Digest Association will cut its debt to about $550 million from $2.2 billion. An investment group led by private-equity firm Ripplewood Holdings, which bought the 87-year-old magazine in 2007 for $1.6 billion, will see its investment wiped out, and lenders led by JP Morgan & co., will take control of the company. The operations outside the U.S., which generate a majority of the company’s revenue, aren’t part of the proposed bankruptcy filing.WSJ
People and Announcements
Richard Poirier, founder of the Library of America and the literary journal Raritan: A Quarterly Review, died in Manhattan on Sunday at the age of 83 after a fall in his home. NYT obit Andy Ward has been named Vice President, Executive Editor of the Random House imprint of Random House Publishing Group, reporting to Susan Kamil, effective mid-September. He was most recently Executive Editor of GQ. Jessica Wiener has been named marketing director for HarperStudio, effective September 8. Previously she was with Hyperion. She replaces Sarah Burningham, who is leaving the company to concentrate on writing full-time. Angela James […]
Book Tour Experimentation: Margaret Atwood's Road Show, Twitter Book Tours
Margaret Atwood may have promoted previous books remotely via the LongPen, but for her upcoming novel THE YEAR OF THE FLOOD she’ll be a little more ever-present. The Toronto Star reports Atwood will tour the U.S., Europe and Canada “using a live performance with original music, local actors and the author herself as narrator.” Toronto Star Atwood is also starting a tour blog and using Twitter, as is Joseph Finder, who launches a Twitter Book Tour today for his new thriller VANISHED, running for the next three days. Finder website And Simon & Schuster’s worldwide publication of Philippa Gregory’s THE […]
Summer Reading Picks from Michelle Obama, Stephenie Meyer
O Magazine collates a list of books Michelle Obama has mentioned reading: The Life of Pi by Yann MartelAlexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr. The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss Olivia by Ian Falconer Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak While Stephenie Meyer shares her summer reading list: Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins and Dreamhunter & Dreamquake by Elizabeth Knox (a ” really wonderful” two-book series “like nothing else I’ve ever read”)
Lunch Weekly for Monday, August 17
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 Poet and FENCE editor Rebecca Wolff’s THE BEGINNERS, a coming-of-age story […]
Book Comps, Overall Results Fall for Hastings
Second quarter sales at Hastings fell $8.5 million, or 6.7 percent, to $117 million, while net earnings dropped to $396,000, compared to net earnings of $660,000 in last year’s second quarter. Same-store sales for books also fell 1.7 percent for the quarter, primarily as a result of lower sales of new hardcovers, new trade paperbacks, and magazines, partially offset by strong sales of used and value books. Release