Kate Elton has been formally appointed CEO, HarperCollins UK; she had been serving as interim CEO following the departure of Charlie Redmayne earlier this month. She will sit on the global executive committee and report to Brian Murray, president and CEO, HarperCollins Publishers.
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"I have had the pleasure of working closely with Kate on our global publishing projects and have seen personally her thoughtful approach and steady hand," Murray said. "Under her leadership, the U.K. Adult Commercial divisions have achieved tremendous success, transforming HarperFiction into a powerhouse of bestsellers and driving significant revenue growth. A passionate advocate for our authors and books, Kate combines exceptional business acumen with the ability to build collaborative teams, while consistently driving innovation through digital, audio, and publishing initiatives. I look forward to working with her in her new role and congratulate her on this achievement."
Elton commented: "HarperCollins has been my home for the last 14 years, and it's been an enormous pleasure and privilege to play a part in connecting the extraordinary work of our wonderful authors and illustrators with readers. The HarperCollins team is second to none--their creativity, passion, and dedication are genuinely inspiring--and I'm deeply honored to now be asked to lead the team as CEO. The role reading plays in the world--to educate, to inform, to entertain, and to escape--has never been more important, and I look forward to working with all my fantastic colleagues across the business to bring more books than ever into the hands of readers around the world."
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Independent booksellers, cultural product chains, and newsagents in France released a joint statement condemning the announcement by Amazon France of a 5% discount on the retail price of new books delivered to more than 3,000 collection points across France, the Bookseller reported
In the statement, they said they are "extremely worried" by the online retailer's decision to offer the discount on books delivered to "eligible collection points," notably lockers. This initiative, following the start of free deliveries to 2,500 points last November, noting that it "is a commercial maneuver that violates the single book law and distorts competition among book retailers."
The signatories are the French Booksellers Association (Syndicat de la Librairie Française, SLF,) which represents 3,200 indies, the French Association of Distributors of Cultural and Leisure Goods (Syndicat des Distributeurs de Loisirs Culturels, SDLC), which represents 117 Cultura shops and 1,200 Maison de la Presse newsagents, and France's largest cultural product chain FNAC, which has more than 230 outlets in France.
Amazon has disputed the mediator's opinion about lockers, the Bookseller noted.
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The latest installment of BookNet Canada's ongoing "5 Questions With" series featured Robyn York, co-owner of Beach Reads Bookshop in Port Dover, Ont., which "carries new & used books, vinyl records, music, vintage paperbacks, picture books, art supplies, and gifts for book nerds and bibliophiles." Among the highlights:
What attracted you to bookselling?
I've been a bookstore kid for as long as I could read.... Publishing obscure art books throughout my 30s and seeing things from the creator/publisher side gave me an interesting perspective on bookselling, and before we opened Beach Reads, my only experience selling books was tabling at Art Book fairs--a VERY different selling experience. That said, the same basic goal overrides all bookselling: to find the right book for someone is magical.
What is the most pressing issue facing bookselling today?
Resisting the evil empire continues to be a big issue and trying to help customers understand why we need to keep this resistance up, without coming across as angry bitter paper pushers, can be a tricky line to toe. Also AI. I'm very happy/relieved every time I see a large group protesting the use of AI. Everyone needs to read Dog Man: The Scarlet Shedder and take heed from the wacky and wise Dav.