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Hub City Writers Project Implements Leadership Changes

Hub City Writers Project, a nonprofit literary organization in Spartanburg, South Carolina, is undergoing some changes in leadership, the Spartanburg Herald Journal reported.

Longtime executive director Betsy Teter will be scaling down some of her duties at the organization, which she co-founded in 1995. Today, Hub City Writers Project nurtures local writers through its independent press, nonprofit community bookstore, and literary programming. Teter will now serve as editor and director of development and will continue to head fundraising efforts for the organization.

As part of this change, Meg Reid has been promoted to director of Hub City Press, while bookstore manager Anne Waters will take on the job of director of operations.

NPD Sells Pubnet, PubEasy to MVB

The NPD Group, which acquired Pubnet and PubEasy as part of its purchase of Nielsen BookScan in December 2016, has sold the two ordering services to Germany-based book services provider MVB Marketing- und Verlagsservice des Buchhandels GmbH.

In a June 29 announcement, MVB reported that it would be acquiring Pubnet and PubEasy from NPD on July 1 and that Ted Hill of THA Consulting would serve as general manager going forward.

“Clients of Pubnet and PubEasy will benefit from MVB’s exceptional experience and focus on continued development of the commercial services,” said NPD CEO Karyn Schoenbart. “NPD will continue to build out NPD BookScan and related services within our core areas of expertise, including market measurement and analytic solutions.”

The current technology for Pubnet and PubEasy is licensed until the end of 2018. At that point, MVB will replace it with the company’s own platform.

Ingram Acquires National Book Network International Limited

Ingram Publisher Services has acquired the National Book Network International Limited (NBNi) from Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group.

The company, which has headquarters in Plymouth, England, was founded by the Maryland-based National Book Network and serves as the international book and e-book distribution arm of Rowman & Littlefield.

“Our plan is to build on this strong foundation and grow the business: our acquisition of NBNi is premised upon that strategy,” said David Taylor, senior vice president of content acquisition international at Ingram Content Group. “We think this is a marvelous opportunity to have a distribution center in the U.K. and one that complements our growing range of services that we provide to publishers in the United Kingdom market.”

PRH Completes Acquisition of Ediciones B

Penguin Random House has completed its acquisition of Ediciones B’s imprints from Barcelona-based Grupo Zeta, The Bookseller reported.

The Ediciones purchase was first announced in April. Now that the deal has gone through, the imprints will be merged into Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial (PRHGE). The new company, serving the Spanish-language trade-book markets in Spain and Latin America, will be comprised of more than 40 imprints, which will each retain their original character and autonomy, according to PRH.

Núria Cabutí Brull, who will continue on as Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial CEO, will lead Ediciones B.

Benjamin Steinberg Named Associate Publisher at Dey Street Books

Benjamin Steinberg will be leaving Penguin Random House to join HarperCollins’ Dey Street Books imprint in the newly created role of associate publisher, the company announced Wednesday.

Steinberg previously worked at Penguin Random House (PRH) as director of partnerships and imprint consumer marketing for Knopf Doubleday, where he helped market and position numerous bestsellers and facilitated successful partnerships including SubwayReads with the MTA, Amtrak’s on-board reader program, and a digital reading program with Ann Taylor. Prior to joining PRH’s corporate marketing team, Steinberg worked in editorial at Random House.

“Ben brings with him a wide range of skill sets, a high level of marketing and publishing expertise, and an abundance of creativity and energy — all of which will be a great asset to us as well as all of our authors,” said Lynn Grady, Dey Street Books’ senior vice president and publisher.

SIBA Announces 2017 Southern Book Prize Winners

The Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance (SIBA) has announced the winners of the organization’s 2017 Southern Book Prize.

All titles were nominated by booksellers and their customers and selected by a jury of Southern booksellers. In fiction, this year’s winners include Commonwealth by Ann Patchett (Harper) in the “Coming of Age” category and Chasing the North Star by Robert Morgan (Algonquin Books) in the “Historical” category. Nonfiction winners include Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J.D. Vance (Harper) in “Creative Nonfiction” and The Home Place: Memoirs of a Colored Man’s Love Affair With Nature by J. Drew Lanham (Milkweed) in the “Biography, Autobiography, and Memoir” category.

In 2016, the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance permanently changed the name of the SIBA Book Awards to The Pat Conroy Southern Book Prize. The new prize features an expanded list of categories. See all of the winners here.

Goddard Riverside to Honor B&T President David Cully, Mary Higgins Clark

Baker & Taylor president David Cully will be honored at the Goddard Riverside Community Center’s Annual Book Fair Gala on November 1, Publishers Weekly reported.

The inaugural Goddard Riverside Stephan Russo Book Prize for Social Justice will also be awarded at the New York City event. The prize was named for outgoing executive director Stephan Russo and will be awarded annually to a book that deals exceptionally with social issues.

In addition, mystery author Mary Higgins Clark will be honored at the event for her philanthropic work.