The Inside Story Behind SouthComm’s Rapid-Fire Breakup

“The single hardest thing to do in business is to make a deal, whether you’re buying or selling.” Former SouthComm, Inc. COO Blair Johnson knew the magnitude of the task before him when, in November 2017, the company’s equity backer Solidus ousted CEO Chris Ferrell and indicated its desire to exit the publishing business within eight months. “At that time, Solidus had decided they wanted to liquidate their position and get out of SouthComm,” Johnson tells Folio:. “[Managing partner] Vic Gatto and the board made a decision that we needed to do it, and do it quickly, and that Chris was probably not the right person to do it. He likes to buy and build, and it’s a different strategy when you have to liquidate.” And so Solidus handed the company reins to Johnson—who took over as CEO—and CFO Bob Mahoney, and the pair immediately began the process of selling off a company that comprised alt-weeklies serving five different cities, a robust b2b media business, and hundreds of employees, among other assets. In a b2b-media space characterized by frequent mergers and acquisitions, the circumstances may have felt a bit like déjà vu all over again for Johnson, who had arrived at SouthComm from Cygnus Business Media in 2015 after four years helping transition that company from bankruptcy to breakup. “We essentially had eight different entities that we had to find a new home for,” Johnson continues. “Clearly, the biggest of these was the b2b assets from legacy Cygnus.” The relative... Continue reading at 'Folio Magazine'

[ Folio Magazine | 2018-08-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Rollout of Scholastic Book Fairs' New Diversity Offering Comes Under Fire

Scholastic said that it created its new "Share Every Story, Celebrate Every Voice" offering as a way to protect librarians and school officials dealing with restrictive new state laws and policies, but critics say that the program invites censorship. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-10-17 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Patience, Perspective, and the Power of Story: An Interview with Toni Ann Johnson, by Scott LaMascus

Patience, Perspective, and the Power of Story: An Interview with Toni Ann Johnson, by Scott LaMascus Interviews [email protected] Mon, 10/16/2023 - 13:46 Storyteller Toni Ann Johnson uses her skills as an actor, playwright, and fiction writer to... Continue reading at World Literature Today

[ World Literature Today | 2023-10-16 18:46:19 UTC ]
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Halloween Short Fiction: 9 Short Stories to Get You Ready for Spooky Season

These Halloween short stories are free to read online! They're deliciously unsettling, genre-bending, emotional, and even humorous. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2023-10-16 10:33:00 UTC ]
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Book Review: ‘Joanna Russ: Novels & Stories’

A new collection of her novels and stories is a showcase for a science fiction pioneer. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2023-10-08 09:00:34 UTC ]
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Pratchett power: from lost stories to new adaptations, how the late Discworld author lives on

It’s 40 years since The Colour of Magic hit the shelves. As newly unearthed short stories are published, fans and friends celebrate the late author’s enduring legacy“Of all the dead authors in the world, Terry Pratchett is the most alive,” said John Lloyd at the author’s memorial in 2015. This... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2023-10-07 10:00:09 UTC ]
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Amazon's Fire HD 8 tablet drops to $60 in early October Prime Day sale

Amazon has kicked off a new Fire tablet sale ahead of its Prime Big Deal Days event later this month. The discounts include the Fire HD 8 down to $60, the Fire HD 8 Plus for $70, the Fire Max 11 for $150, the previous-generation Fire HD 10 for $75 and the Fire 7 for $40,... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2023-10-02 07:45:36 UTC ]
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Children’s Books Edition: L’École des Loisirs’ New ‘House of Stories’

The Paris bookstore Chantelivre, owned by publisher L’École des Loisirs, has opened a 'House of Stories' where kids engage with narratives. The post Children’s Books Edition: L’École des Loisirs’ New ‘House of Stories’ appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2023-09-29 12:25:13 UTC ]
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You Too? Kim DeRose on Telling and Retelling Stories of Sexual Assault

It occurred at, of all places, a local tapas bar. I was sitting with a group of other Brooklyn moms when someone mentioned that my debut novel was going to be published soon. Everyone congratulated me and asked what the book was about, so I gave them a brief rundown: a group of teenage girls […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-09-28 08:55:40 UTC ]
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Bestselling author Naomi Wood wins 2023 BBC national short story award

The UEA creative writing lecturer won for Comorbidities, which judging chair Reeta Chakrabarti called a ‘sparkling gem’ that tackles serious issues with a ‘light and wry touch’• Read the story belowNaomi Wood has won the 2023 BBC national short story award for Comorbidities, a story about a... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2023-09-26 19:00:36 UTC ]
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An AI Game of Thrones prequel? No wonder George RR Martin’s raining ice and fire on ChatGPT | Tim Adams

Authors have entered a war over words with OpenAI for using their books as ‘training’ feedstockBattles between human and artificial intelligence are no longer science fiction. The strikes in Hollywood led by the united guilds of actors and screenwriters have a common, intangible enemy: the... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2023-09-23 15:03:31 UTC ]
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Cassidy Hutchinson Reappears. She Has More Trump Stories to Tell.

“I would like not to be a hermit,” the former White House aide says upon the publication of a memoir about her journey down a political rabbit hole. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2023-09-23 12:54:00 UTC ]
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Read the Winners of American Short Fiction’s 2023 Insider Prize, Selected by Nickolas Butler

Last spring, I approached Nickolas Butler, internationally bestselling author of the novels Shotgun Lovesongs, The Hearts of Men, and Godspeed, to be the judge for this year’s Insider Prize, American Short Fiction’s annual literary award for incarcerated writers in Texas. He’d worked with... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-09-22 08:15:30 UTC ]
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PNBA's Fall Tradeshow Wraps Up with Stories and Candid Advice

The Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association concluded its Fall Tradeshow in Portland, Ore., with an author breakfast and bookseller education programming. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-09-22 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Panel Mania: 'Toussaint Louverture: The Story of the Only Successful Slave Revolt in History'

A 12-page excerpt of the new graphic adaptation of historian C.L.R. James’s 1934 play about the Haitian Revolution by Nic Watts and Sakina Karimjee. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-09-20 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Match These Famous Spaceships to Their Stories

A great spaceship can make a science fiction story soar. See if you can guess which stories these famous spaceships belong to. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2023-09-05 10:36:00 UTC ]
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Claire Keegan: ‘I can’t explain my work. I just write stories’

The much-acclaimed Irish author of Small Things Like These on her quietly devastating new story and why George Saunders wouldn’t read it aloud for a podcastClaire Keegan’s five books to date run to just 700 pages and some 140,000 words. “I love to see prose being written economically,” she tells... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2023-09-02 17:00:10 UTC ]
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A Trans Woman’s Shapeshifting Love Story

Aurora Mattia’s debut novel The Fifth Wound is a fantastical journey through the formulation of one trans woman’s truth. Mattia’s own recapitulation as protagonist Aurora aka @silicone_angel bridges the gap between ancient Greece, Covid-era Brooklyn, and the rolling fields of Iowa searching to... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2023-09-01 11:00:00 UTC ]
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‘Jesus Calling’ Author Sarah Young’s Health is ‘Rapidly Failing’

Sarah Young, author of ‘Jesus Calling—’one of the most successful devotionals of all time—is experiencing a health crisis, as confirmed by her publisher, Thomas Nelson. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-08-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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This course examines the dark realities behind your favorite children's stories

A lecturer in English literature gets her students to examine children’s books through the lens of race, class and sexuality. Continue reading at The Conversation

[ The Conversation | 2023-08-29 12:24:41 UTC ]
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Inside the women-led printmaking collective that influenced generations of designers

In the 1950s, a group of women known as the Folly Cove Designers made prints that still capture the imagination today. A simple Yankee swap in 1938 between neighbors in the quaint neighborhood of Folly Cove, in Gloucester, Massachusetts—design lessons in exchange for music instruction—became... Continue reading at Fast Company

[ Fast Company | 2023-08-29 04:00:00 UTC ]
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