March 12, 2008
Lunch for Wednesday, March 12

Bloomsbury USA Promotes Dickerman, Puts Charkin at Top
Following the departure of Karen Rinaldi, Bloomsbury USA has announced the promotion of editorial director Colin Dickerman to publisher for adult trade books and he will report to Bloomsbury's executive director Richard Charkin, who will serve as president for Bloomsbury USA (still based in the company's London headquarters).
 
Dickerman joined Bloomsbury USA in 2000, and his acquisitions have included books by Alan Hollinghurst, David Leavitt, Ben Schott, Chelsea Handler, Roz Chast, and Sloane Tanen.
 
Additionally, Sabrina Farber adds the title of associate publisher for adult trade and Diana Blough adds the title of associate publisher for children's books. Both remain sales and marketing director in their respective divisions as well.

More Personnel News
In Germany, Luebbe Verlag owner Stefan Luebbe surprised some with the announcement that longtime publishing executive Lothar Menne has been named as his "personal advisor" in a three-year contract. 
 
At Holt's Children's division, Jennifer Abbots has been promoted to associate director of publicity. She has been there for two years.
 
At McGraw-Hill Education, Angelle Haney Gullett has been named an executive editor in the Woodland Hills, California office. She will oversee the 6-12 Fine Art books published under the Glencoe imprint and the K-5 Health books published by the company's Macmillan division. She was the assistant managing editor for Mazer Corporation, a textbook developer.
 
Borders Faces Up to More Face Out
At the recent AAP meeting Borders CEO George Jones reported that in the first few weeks at their new concept store in Ann Arbor, more face-out and a smaller title selection than a typical superstore were producing a "dramatic" increase in sales. Now the chain is quickly spreading those changes throughout their stores. The WSJ says "customers throughout the country should be able to see the difference in displays within six weeks. While books shown face-out will still be in the overall minority, as many as three times the titles as in the past will be shelved with covers showing."
 
SVP Anne Kubek tells the paper, "We always had face-out titles on the shelves and on tables, but they were used as punctuation and tended to focus on popular titles. Today we're showing the front of books even when we only have two or three copies."
 
The Journal says the standard Borders superstore will now stock about 85,000 to 90,000 titles. Despite the reduced count, "Borders says customers visiting its prototype store said their impression was that more books were available."
WSJ

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New Indie for New York?
How Sourcebooks Grows and Succeeds
Connery's Confusing Deal
Harper Says Post Misquoted Manuscript
A Clue to How Many Kindles?
 
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But Lead Borders ANZ Bidder Drops Out

Australia and New Zealand's biggest bookselling chain, the Angus & Robertson Whitcoulls Group, "confirmed that negotiations with fellow bookstore chain Borders Group regarding a potential acquisition of the Borders Australian and New Zealand assets had ceased. As a result, it is unlikely that a transaction between the two companies will proceed."
 
Borders had wanted to "take a substantial share in A&R Whitcoulls" as part of the sale, but "the parties were unable to agree terms on a basis that would have been acceptable to A&R Whitcoulls shareholders." A&R spokesperson Lauren Thompson tells The Age "the complexity of reaching a shareholder agreement meant the deal couldn't go ahead" adding that
"both sides had a similar sentiment."
 
A&R Whitcoulls says they are "open to considering a 100 percent acquisition" but acknowledge that "it seems unlikely that such a deal will occur." Borders theoretically had interest from a number of other parties, including A&R competitor Paper Plus. The roughly $100 million valuation for the 23 stores is equal to about 20 percent of battered Borders entire market capitalization.
A&R statement
 
In other international retailing news, bankrupt UK discount bookseller The Works announced that they will close 85 of their 317 stores next week as part of their reorganization and layoff 450 workers

Bezos Returns to BEA
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos will be interviewed by Wired editor-in-chief Chris Anderson as part of BEA's "Upfront and Unscripted" seminar conversations, scheduled for 3 PM on Friday afternoon (May 30).

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HarperCollins Publishers (New York, NY)
   
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Springer Science & Business Media (New York, NY)
 
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