News and opinion on the changing world of book publishing
December 2009
PEOPLE ROUNDUP Madeline McIntosh has returned to Random House in the newly created position of President, Sales, Operations, and Digital. Her direct reports include Andrew Weber, SVP, Ops & Technology; Jaci Updike, SVP, Director, Random House Adult Sales; Joan DeMayo, SVP, Director, Children’s Sales and Director, Special Markets Sales; and Bonnie Ammer, EVP, International Sales. [...]
{ 0 comments }
September 2009
PEOPLE ROUNDUP As summer wanes, change remains the constant: Former Simon & Schuster President of Sales and Distribution Larry Norton has joined Borders as SVP, Merchandising and Distribution, reporting to EVP Anne Kubek. Norton will lead the merchandising team and will work out of his Connecticut home. Earlier it was announced that Dave Marsico has [...]
{ 1 comment }
July 2009
PEOPLE ROUNDUP Seven people have been laid off from Kaplan, including Director of National Accounts, Bill Huelster (who may be reached at bhuelster [at] gmail.com) and Yulia Borodyanskaya, International Sales and Subsidiary Rights (yborodyanskaya [at] yahoo.com). Kaplan is moving the selling responsibility to its distributor, Simon & Schuster, and Mary Dolan, Executive Director of Sales, [...]
{ 0 comments }
March 2006
Has Online Syndication Killed the Goose That Laid the Golden Egg? Back in the day, syndication not only sold papers, but was a booming business that built up audiences for everything from columnists’ and comic strip-pers’ books (with excerpts) to television audiences (with Gemstar numbers and listings). And, of course, the syndicated columns and strips [...]
{ 0 comments }
March 2004
PEOPLE Changes in the far-flung HarperCollins realm: Carl Raymond has left ReganBooks to go to DK as Director of Marketing. Claudia Riemer Boutote has joined HarperSanFrancisco as Senior Director of Publicity. She was most recently at Workman as Marketing and Publicity Director. In New York, Mimi Kayden has been named Marketing Consultant at HarperCollins Children’s [...]
{ 0 comments }
January 2003
Two New Surveys Suggest That Book Price-Elasticity Is Getting All Stretched Out Among the persnickety trends of 2002 was continued brow-furrowing from industry observers and surveyors about the perception that book prices are disastrously high (see article). Some have cited the ruinous effect of “increasingly ubiquitous remainders” on the one hand, and stunningly deep discounts [...]
{ 0 comments }
December 2002
Despite being ritually deemed “the bane of the publishing industry” and “one of the costliest aspects of the business,” the problem of book returns remains an estimated $7 billion thorn in the industry’s side. Last year, BISG figures show, the average adult trade hardcover return rate was 37.5%, up 3% from the year before. Publishing’s [...]
{ 0 comments }
October 2002
PEOPLE Two major magazine publishers announce new hires: Linda Cunningham, most recently Publisher of Questia Media, has been named Editor-in-Chief of Meredith Books in Des Moines. . . Sara Levinson has been named to the newly created position of President of the Women’s Group at Rodale. She will oversee magazines, books, and websites in this [...]
{ 0 comments }
August 2002
Targeted Sales to Enthusiasts Turn the Off-Beat Into Big Bucks Looking for the bestselling art books in America? Sniffing around the Ansel Adams shelves, perhaps? Nope, not there. Taking a peek at Taschen’s Fetish Girls? Nice try. According to numbers from Nielsen BookScan, you’d better swing by the cartoon section. Because the top art titles [...]
{ 0 comments }
July 2002
The DMD Marketing Conference & Expo, officially a “forum of new ideas and technological advances” that proffers “information in ecommerce, technology, media, database, and creative services,” pulled a surprisingly large group of attendees to the Javits Center during its direct marketing mêlée on June 17-19, many of whom were lured by the promise of hearing [...]
{ 0 comments }
