TODAY'S NEWS

Audio Sales Slipped 6% in 2008
by Jim Milliot
Total revenue from the 30 companies that report figures to the Audio Publishers Association fell 6.7% in 2008, to $331 million, the trade association said Tuesday. The sales figure compares to the $172 million sales estimates released by the AAP and the $229 million estimate of the PW/IPR sales index. This is the first time the APA has released actual sales figures from its members.

CDs continued to comprised the largest share of the spokenword market, although its share fell from 78% in 2007 to 72% in 2008, or about $238 million. Digital downloads accounted for 21% of sales last year--$69.5 million--compared to 17% of revenue in 2007. Sales of pre-loaded audio devices rose from 1% of sales in 2007 to 3% last year, the same percentage as accounted for by cassettes.

Barnes & Noble Appoints New Digital Executive
As Barnes & Noble works to grow its digital businesses, the country’s largest bookstore chain has hired an eBay executive to, in the words of B&N, “manag[e] various new business opportunities and other strategic initiatives.” Jamie Iannone has been appointed executive v-p, shopping, Barnes & Noble.com & Barnes & Noble Digital. In addition to overseeing business opportunities, Iannone will be responsible for meeting the buying needs of visitors to Barnes & Noble.com. Iannone will report directly to William Lynch, president of Barnes & Noble.com.

At eBay, Iannone was most recently the company’s v-p of global search; previously, he was the v-p of buyer experience. Read on »

NEA Awards Over $3 Million in Latest Round of Big Read Grants
The National Endowment for the Arts is giving out funds totaling over $3 million to 269 organizations as part of its latest Big Read initiative. The program, which launched as a pilot initiative in 2006, has grown exponentially since its inception; in its first Big Read push in 2006, the NEA gave $265,000 to 10 cities to start community reading programs. Read on »

Obituary: H.B. Gilmour Dead at 69
H.B. Gilmour, a veteran publishing professional and bestselling author, died suddenly on Sunday, June 21 at her home in Cornwallville, N.Y. She was 69. Born in Brooklyn in 1939, Gilmour’s first publishing job was at E.P. Dutton, and in 1964 she joined Bantam Books as an assistant to the publisher in Oscar Dystel's office. Over the next two decades, Gilmour moved up the Bantam ranks through the marketing and editorial departments as a copywriter, editor, and copy chief. Gilmour was serving as an associate director of marketing/mass market when she left the company in 1992 and joined the book division at Scholastic. She left Scholastic in 1995 to write full-time. Read on »

Comings and Goings
If you've been laid off recently, left your job or landed a new position and would like to pass along your contact information to others in the business, send details to pwletters@reedbusiness.com. Please include your full name and former title/company.

Cal Barksdale, former general manager and executive editor at Arcade Publishing, can be reached at cal.barksdale@gmail.com.

Nancy Fitzgerald, former executive editor at Church Publishing, can be reached at njfitzgerald@comcast.net.

Deborah Burleson, former territory manager for the Southeast region at Baker & Taylor, can be reached at burlesond123@hotmail.com.

In yesterday's Comings and Goings, Debra Mostow Zakarin, former publisher for Piggy Toes Press/Intervisual Books, was incorrectly listed as Debra Mostow.

You can find a full list of all those who have appeared in Comings and Goings here.

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MORE STORIES

The PW Morning Report
Eggers Takes Back ‘Wild’ Book; Wired Editor Steals 'Free' Content; New Hampshire School Pulls Stories from Course; Booksellers Fight Legal Threat; Cheney Memoir Sells for $2 Million. Read on »

AUTHORS ON THE AIR

Authors on the Air: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen; Lisa Lillien; Luis Alberto Urrea
Today, the movie Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen opens, directed by Michael Bay and starring Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox. Movie tie-ins include Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen: The Movie Universe by Simon Furman (DK, 978-0756651725, $17.99). Read on »

PICTURE OF THE DAY

Choosing the Color of Your Parachute
Last Thursday, Da Capo staffers and others got together for a launch party for The Artist’s Guide: How to Make a Living Doing What You Love, by Jackie Battenfield. Pictured (l. to r.), at the CUE Art Foundation in Manhattan, are: Laura Rosenbaum, author's assistant; Erin Hosier, literary agent at Dunow, Lerner & Carlson; Ben Schafer, executive editor at Da Capo; Battenfield; Callie Janoff, author's assistant; Carol Irving, developmental editor; and Mark Golden, president of the Sam and Adele Golden Foundation. Submit your pictures here »

JOB OF THE DAY

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