Changes Are Coming To HarperCollins Canada
Plenty of people are confused about what the recent announcements regarding HarperCollins Canada mean, but Publisher’s Weekly has done a fine job at explaining. Two major things have happened:
- President and CEO, David Kent, will be leaving HarperCollins Canada by the end of the year;
- HarperCollins will be closing its HC Canada warehouse and transferring the distribution responsibilities of Canadian titles to R.R. Donnelley.
Why does number one matter and what does number two mean? Kent stepped into the role of president and CEO of HarperCollins Canada in 2001 and has spent more than a decade in shaping the Canadian publishing program at the company. According to many many in the publishing industry, Kent is well respected and will be sorely missed in Canada and outside it. President and CEO, Brian Murray, over at plain old HarperCollins commented on Kent’s departure.
When we looked at the changes in the role of the CEO of HarperCollins Canada, without the warehouse and without the back offices . . . the role just doesn’t fit in the plans going forward.
Iris Tupholme (publisher) will be promoted to “senior vice president and executive publisher” while Leo MacDonald (vice president of sales and marketing) will be promoted to “senior vice president, marketing, and sales”.
The question on everybody’s minds is: what happens to Canadian content at HarperCollins Canada after this move? Well, Publisher’s Weekly explains that HarperCollins has already closed some of its warehouses in the U.S. to move responsibilities of distribution elsewhere in 2011. The same is being done in Canada where the responsibilities of distribution no longer belong to HarperCollins Canada but that doesn’t mean the publication/acquirement of Canadian lit stops or that books acquired/published over at HarperCollins proper will cease to come into Canada as some feared. All this means is that getting books printed and sent to bookstores will be handled by a third party company versus HarperCollins Canada themselves. This, however, is still sad news since it means that a lot of jobs will be lost as a result of this move.
I bet you’re all wondering: What about Harlequin? The Canadian company was bought by HarperCollins this year but won’t be affected by this change since their titles are distributed by the Harlequin warehouses in New York.
Penguin Random House Saying Goodbye to Jian Ghomeshi
Former CBC radio host, Jian Ghomeshi, was dropped by Penguin Random House (called Random Penguin in my head) after sexual assault allegations started popping up. He had a second book set to come out with the publisher following his first, 1982. Great decision, PRH.
J.K. Rowling Writes A Tale About Dolores Umbridge For Halloween
Enjoy.
“A Series Of Unfortunate Events” Will Be A Netflix Series
Search is underway for a director to help re-create Snicket’s visual world on TV. Netflix is producing the project, which is being fast-tracked, with Paramount Television. Paramount was behind the 2004 movie starring Jim Carrey, which grossed $209 million worldwide.
I was never into the series as a kid so I guess this is neat.
