News and opinion on the changing world of book publishing
November 2009
PEOPLE ROUNDUP Steve Rubin, former Doubleday Broadway President and Publisher, who began at Bantam Books in 1984 and was most recently Random House Publisher-at-Large, has been named President and Publisher of Henry Holt, reporting to Macmillan CEO John Sargent. Dan Farley will now focus exclusively on his other job as President and Publisher of the [...]
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Laura Hazard Owen | July 2009
Colin Robinson, former Publisher, Verso Press and The New Press, and Scribner senior editor; John Oakes, former Grove Press Editor and founder of 4 Walls, 8 Windows ORBooks The Model Sell books directly to the customer, or through independent bookstores, in either print-on-demand format or as e-books. No returns, so selling and buying on a [...]
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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, [...]
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February 2009
PEOPLE There are so many changes to report this month that we are highlighting only some of the moves and, where available, contact information. Rebecca (Becky) Saletan has been appointed Editorial Director of Riverhead, reporting to Publisher Geoff Kloske. She was most recently SVP and Publisher of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Her appointment is effective March [...]
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June 2007
The distribution terrain underwent a few sizeable rumbles last year, not to mention the major quake of the AMS bankruptcy that sent PGW flying to Perseus after a tussle with NBN, resulting in Perseus’ coopting of the indie publisher distribution biz. As the dust settles, smaller distributors are poised to grab the trickle down of [...]
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Yes, Random House is still aggressive and aggressively seeking new clients. And, yes, this year continued the increased competition that has come to define the distribution biz. Yet, open warring and panic has died down, making 2005 a steady and (gasp) successful year for many. With the exception of pro-growth Ingram, Consortium and RH, many [...]
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November 2005
Publishers and Booksellers Re-Assess Their Backlists, Stocking Deeper, While Printing Less, Plus: Looking Beyond the Shelf Backlist has always been a cash cow for those willing to milk it. Publishers have long tried enticing booksellers with annual promotions, Buy-Now-Pay-Later deals, Just In Time Inventory and the like – all with the hope of boosting their [...]
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August 2005
The Rise and Fall and Rise of the Publishing Convention, Seminar, and Summit In the golden years of the publishing conference, 400 people clamoring for access to a panel, summit or seminar, wasn’t unheard of. Some frequenters admit to going to upwards of 10 conferences a year in the late 1990′s techno boom, while others [...]
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July 2005
Specialty Distributors Dominate Markets Publishers Can’t Touch Last month’s profile of distributors into the traditional book market only revealed the tip of the sales iceberg, as publishers expand their special sales departments in hopes of reaching a broader (read non-bookstore) array of consumers. Enter the specialty distributor. In a retail landscape where books are accessories [...]
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April 2005
PEOPLE The latest changes under PW’s new management include the departures of Jeff Zaleski, John Mutter, and two other staffers. This follows the arrival of Karen Holt as Deputy Editor mid-month. Ivan Held has been named President of Putnam. Held, who was most recently VP Associate Publisher of Warner Books, will begin his new position [...]
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