“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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Crowdfunding publishing initiative Britain’s Next Bestseller has offered publishing deals to three British women for books inspired by their own struggles in life. Britain’s Next Bestseller published Ria Frances’ Inflicted in paperback for £8.99 and as an ebook in September 2014 and Cath... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-11-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Master and Commander author’s early nautical stories – Noughts and Crosses, Two’s Company and No Pirates Nowadays – return to print after 80 yearsThree virtually unknown short stories by Patrick O’Brian of derring-do on the high seas, featuring everything from shark fishing on the Great Barrier... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-11-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Movellas is actively looking to find more books written by community members that it can take to the market, c.e.o. Joe Cohen told the FutureBook Conference today (14th November). Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-11-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In a recent survey by industry newsletter Shelf Awareness, the novel 'We Have Always Lived in the Castle' by Shirley Jackson was booksellers' top pick for a great spooky tale. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2014-11-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Oscar-winning actor Tom Hanks is to publish a book of short stories inspired by his personal collection of vintage typewriters. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2014-11-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In a novel take on the dangers of book burning, up to four libraries in Hertfordshire could be relocated into the area’s part-time fire stations. Hertfordshire County Council has received £700,000 of government funding for the scheme, which it called “pioneering”. The funding will see up to... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-10-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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With Port Harcourt, Nigeria serving as UNESCO World Book Capital 2014, African book publishers consider the future for Africa's writers. The post “The West is Running Out of Stories,” say Africans appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-10-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Leicester-based writer Mahsuda Snaith has won the 2014 Bristol Short Story Prize for her work "The Art of Flood Survival". Snaith, announced as the winner of the £1,000 prize on Saturday (25th October), beat almost 2,500 other entrants from more than 60 countries to win the competition. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-10-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A short story collection by Kuwaiti author Mai Al-Nakib has won the 2014 Edinburgh International Book Festival’s First Book Award. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-10-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The popular Canadian radio host, and planned host of this year's Giller awards, has filed a lawsuit against the media company over wrongful termination. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-10-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Guardian Faber has acquired a non-fiction book covering the experience of the Greenpeace protestors who endured two months in a Russian prison. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-10-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bloomberg has placed video at the center of its digital efforts, a strategy that is beginning to pay off for the business publisher. The post Inside Bloomberg Media’s digital video business appeared first on Digiday. Continue reading at Digiday
[ Digiday | 2014-10-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Walker Books has acquired a new collection of short stories based on a character from Cassandra Clare’s The Mortal Instruments series. Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy is a group of 10 stories centred around the character Simon Lewis as he enters training to become a Shadowhunter. The... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-10-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Author Emily Perkins about imaginary worlds, acting and the ebooks v print debate. Continue reading at Stuff
[ Stuff | 2014-10-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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When you start a small business, it's hard to know what success--or failure--looks like.In 2011, I started a book business with my best friend called Emily Books. We were qualified to start a business in some ways, not so much in others. We had some expertise in our field: We'd both worked at... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2014-10-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Novelist Lauraine Snelling has authored 80 books since she began her writing career in 1982, has more than two million books in print, and has just published the first in her fifth historical series set among Norwegian immigrants to North Dakota, where her mother was born and raised: “Strong... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-10-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Lionel Shriver has won the BBC National Short Story Award 2014 for her story “Kilifi Creek... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-09-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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If you've been following the protracted war between Amazon and Hachette, you know that Amazon's been stymieing sales of certain books by making it impossible to pre-order them, and pushing back delivery of others all over a ebook contract dispute.... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2014-09-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Author and critic Nicolette Jones says shes never seen a picture-book app doing something a book cant do betterLots of developers and publishers are exploring the potential of interactive picture book-apps for children, but can they ever hope to deliver a reading experience comparable to books?... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-09-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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