New B&N Investor
The investment firm Aletheia Research & Management has accumulated a 10.8% stake in Barnes & Noble, paying $137 million for 6.2 million shares. According to its filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, Aletheia has acquired the shares “for investment purposes.” In November, Yucaipa Companies acquired a 17.8% stake in B&N, an action that prompted the company to adopt a poison pill provision.
New Name, Date for CBA Conference
The Canadian Booksellers Association has chosen a new name, time, and location for its annual conference. The CBA National Conference will take place May 28—30, 2010, at the Toronto Delta Airport West hotel. Last year's event, the CBA Summer Conference, was hastily organized for June 20 and 21 following the demise of Reed Exhibition's BookExpo Canada. Many of the details about the shape of this year's national conference are still being worked out, and there is no indication yet of what publisher participation will be like.
Kroupa to Cavendish
Melanie Kroupa, who had had her own imprint at FSG Books for Young Readers until the unit was closed last December, has joined Marshall Cavendish Children's Books as an editor-at-large, reporting to publisher Margery Cuyler. Kroupa will acquire and edit approximately six books a year for Cavendish. In addition, she will continue to edit a select number of titles for other houses.
Le Guin Resigns from Authors Guild
Bestselling author Ursula K. Le Guin, whose membership in the Authors Guild dates back to 1972, has resigned from the organization, citing her unhappiness with the role the Guild played in the Google Book settlement. “You decided to deal with the devil, as it were, and have presented your arguments for doing so. I wish I could accept them. I can't,” Le Guin wrote in her letter of resignation. Le Guin said she was disappointed the Guild had abandoned copyright in doing the Google deal.
The Guild said it was sorry that Le Guin resigned, but said the agreement was a good one for all authors, and noted the deal came after the lawsuit it brought against Google to defend authors' copyrights.
CPSIA Extended
The Consumer Product Safety Commission voted four to one to extend the stay of enforcement on the independent lead testing and certification provisions of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act for one more year. The provisions will go into effect on February 10, 2011, and give publishers more time to adapt to its requirements.
While many children's books printed after 1985 do not have to be tested, those featuring foils, laminates, spiral bindings, and other components outside of paper and ink currently do, although the AAP continues to lobby to have “ordinary” books exempted altogether. Toylike novelty and book-plus titles also need to be tested. Although enforcement will not occur until 2011, the products still must contain lead levels under the current 300—parts-per-million limit set forth by the act.
Gates Memorial
A memorial service for FSG/Holt sales rep Mark Gates, 57, who died of lung cancer on December 11, has been scheduled for Saturday, January 16, 2010, noon—1 p.m. at the First Unitarian Society, 900 University Bay Drive, in Madison, Wis. Those planning to attend are asked to e-mail Abrams sales rep Sandra Bartels a nonbinding RSVP (sandra.bartels@gmail.com).
Obituary: Joyce Engelson
Joyce Engelson, whose career as a book editor spanned 40 years, died on Christmas Day of pneumonia. She was 81. After graduating from Smith College, she went on to be executive editor of the Dial Press, and served as editor-in-chief of Richard Marek Publishers at St. Martin's Press, as well as at Richard Marek Publishers at G.P. Putnam's Sons, and at E.P. Dutton. Engelson, who was also editor-at-large for Crown Publishers, wrote several novels and was the first woman to have her short stories published in Playboy. Twelve years ago she cofounded the Independent Editors Group.
