FICTION Debut Laurie Viera Rigler’s CONFESSIONS OF A JANE AUSTEN ADDICT, a literary homage, comedy, and exploration of identity, destiny, and the nature of time, that tells the story of a contemporary thirty-something LA woman and Jane Austen fan who wakes up inside the body of an Englishwoman in Austen’s time, to Trena Keating at Dutton, in a significant deal, at auction, for two books, by Marly Rusoff of Marly Rusoff & Associates (NA). Bestselling author Nathan McCall’s fiction debut THEM, about gentrification in Atlanta, to Malaika Adero at Atria, in a significant deal, by Faith Childs at Faith Childs […]

As Expected, Ostrowski will Lead Bertelsmann Arvato division head Hartmut Ostrowski has been selected as the new chief executive of Bertelsmann, taking over at the end of the year from Gunther Thielen. Thielen will remain with the company as chairman of the company’s supervisory board. The FT notes, “the elevation of the two confidants of Ms Mohn has been an open secret in Gütersloh, Bertelsmann’s home town, as she has worked to increase her family’s influence and focus the print-to-TV group on its old strengths.” The appointment is seen as reinforcing a conservative strategy for the company. The FT quotes […]

Deal News Among the many new reports: Laurie Viera Rigler’s debut CONFESSIONS OF A JANE AUSTEN ADDICT; India’s Minister of Commerce and Industry on the country’s economic rise; Adam Langer’s memoir; Backspace founder Karen Dionne’s thriller; and still dozens more. At PublishersMarketplace.com, members can get complete access to deal news and deal searching all the time: live every day as reports come in; nightly in an optional e-mail; complete and organized in full round-ups every week; and searchable anytime in all kinds of powerful ways (members run about 1,500 deal searches daily), through a unique database tracking over 21,000 transactions […]

Woolworths Buys Bertram Woolworths — yet another troubled UK retailer — is buying book wholesaler Bertram for 29 million pounds. They will add it to their Entertainment UK division, their home entertainment and book wholesaling unit that acquired Total Home Entertainment last fall for 20 million pounds. They say it will “significantly enhance EUK’s book wholesale capabilities and will enable the company to further develop its retail and online customer base.” Announcement Borders Reorg, Now Available on DVD Greg Josefowicz had limited success after filling the Borders executive suite with his grocery store colleagues from Jewel Osco, but now new […]

Bertelsmann Prepares to Pick New CEO Bertelsmann is expected to select its new CEO at a meeting later this week. The favorite, the NYT reports, is Hartmut Ostrowski, 48, who runs the company’s powerhouse Arvato division and guides employees to candor with such maxims as, “Put your fish on the table.” One rival is Ewald Walgenbach, 47, who has led the attempted recussitation of the troubled Direct Group. “In a well-timed leak last week, Handelsblatt, the German newspaper, cited anonymous company sources as saying that Mr. Walgenbach’s book club had reaped its first profit before taxes in eight years. But […]

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 Daniel Serrano’s GUNMETAL BLACK, following a recently paroled gangster who returns to […]