Workman Buys HighBridge
Workman Publishing has teamed up with Garrison Keillor and HighBridge general manager Sallie Neall to acquire the audio publisher from Target Corp. The purchase gives Workman a fully dedicated audio publishing unit. HighBridge will remain in Minneapolis under Neall's direction.
September Sales Slip
Bookstore sales fell 0.9%, to $1.50 billion in September, according to preliminary estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. Through the first nine months of 2006, bookstore sales were off 1.6%, to $12.06 billion. For all of retail, September sales were up 4.8% and increased 6.7% for the January through September period.
Dalkey Move Canned
Citing "unexpected circumstances," Dalkey Archive Press has canceled its plans to relocate to the University of Rochester (N.Y.) from its current location on the Normal, Ill., campus of Illinois State University. Although at press time Dalkey did not know where its future home might be, the company said all of its current titles remain on schedule.
Hampton Succeeds Merkh
Brian Hampton has been named to succeed Jonathan Merkh as head of Thomas Nelson's Nelson Books and Nelson Business imprints. Merkh is leaving the company after more than 12 years, due in part to his unhappiness over the creation of Nelson's Strategic Publishing Unit model, announced last month (Foreword, Oct. 23). On April 1, 2007, when the new SPU model kicks in officially, Hampton will move as planned to become senior v-p and publisher for corporate brands.
Alibris U.K. Opens
Alibris has launched a retail site in the U.K. Alibris U.K. (www.alibris.co.uk) offers more than 60 million titles for sale to English-speaking customers in Great Britain and 16 other countries in Europe. The site will accept payment in 13 currencies, including the pound and the euro. New sites aimed at non-English-speaking readers are in the works, Alibris said.
Tobar Leaves CBP
Ruth Tobar, publisher and executive director of Children's Book Press, has resigned. Tobar had been with the company, a nonprofit publisher of multicultural books, since 2002. A search has begun for a replacement.
Dual Editions For McCourt
Frank McCourt has signed with Simon & Schuster to write a Christmas book that will be released simultaneously by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers and by Scribner, his long-time publisher. Angela and the Baby Jesus will be published next fall. The two editions will contain the same content, but will be illustrated by different artists.
NAIBA Revamps Show
The New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association plans to revamp its fall trade show and rename it the Booksellers Sales Conference. The reorganization will transform the trade show from a gathering oriented toward order-taking for a wide range of fall titles to a booksellers' convention focusing on selected books. Publishers will be urged to take selected books and to tell booksellers how to sell them, why to sell them and every piece of information they need to know.
