Turner Headed to Sterling
Philip Turner, editor-in-chief of the Carroll & Graf, Thunder's Mouth Press and Philip Turner Books imprints at Avalon, will join Sterling Publishing January 15 as head of Union Square Press. The new imprint marks a new direction for Sterling, best known for its how-to titles. Turner expects to publish about 40 titles annually under Union Square, covering such narrative nonfiction areas as adventure, biography, culture, current affairs, politics and sports.
New HC Large-Print Unit
HarperCollins has relaunched its line of large-print titles under the new HarperLuxe imprint. The books have been redesigned in an attempt to broaden the appeal of large-print works, particularly to baby boomers. Michael Crichton's Next, released last week, was the imprint's first book to be published with the new design elements. The large-print edition of Next was published simultaneously with the regular hardcover, as will all HarperLuxe books. The HarperLux editions will be the same price as the regular editions ($27.95 for Next). HarperLuxe plans to do 100 titles annually.
Hastings Sales Up
Comparable-store sales of books rose 2.1% in the third quarter at Hastings Entertainment. Total revenue for the multimedia chain increased 4.3% in the period, to $119.6 million, and the company's net loss was cut to $2.2 million from $2.7 million. Hastings cited improved sales of hardcover bestsellers as a reason for the improvement, as well as higher sales of new and used paperbacks.
New S&S Kids Imprint
Little Simon Inspirations, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, is teaming up with Howard Books to create Howard Kids/LSI. The imprint will be headed by Valerie Garfield, v-p and publisher of Little Simon, Simon Spotlight, Little Simon Inspirations and Libros para niños, and its first titles will be published in 2008. Dee Ann Grand, formerly with Tommy Nelson, has been named editor-at-large for Howard Kids/LSI.
ODMC Appeal Rejected
The U.S. Supreme Court has denied a request by Bruce Baebler, president of the On Demand Machine Corp., to hear an appeal in ODMC's lawsuit against Lightning Source, charging that the company's print-on-demand operations infringed patents held by ODMC. In April 2004, a St. Louis jury ruled that Lightning had infringed ODMC's patents and awarded the company $15 million. That verdict was overturned this spring.
Sturrock Exits Continuum
Philip Sturrock, chairman of the Continuum International Publishing Group, has stepped down after seven years of leading the company he founded in 1999. A statement from Continuum cited "a clear difference of strategy" between Sturrock and Nova Capital Management, which acquired the company in June 2005. Patrick Austen, a Nova director and nonexecutive director of Continuum, will serve as chairman and CEO until a replacement can be found.
New AMS Directors
Robert Robotti, who has a 7% stake in Advanced Marketing Services, has been named to the company board along with CEO Gary Rautenstrauch. Robotti's appointment heads off a possible proxy battle; Robotti had threatened to nominate alternate candidates to run for AMS director spots.
AMS will hold its first annual meeting in several years January 24 in San Diego, Calif.
Editor’s Note
Our article last week about S&S’s cancellation of Pumpkins stirred up some controversy. See our Web site (www.publishersweekly.com/ richter) for a response by S&S; Children’s Publishing president Rick Richter.
