BTW News Briefs

Kobo’s Tamblyn Named Chief Content Officer

This week, Kobo announced Michael Tamblyn as the company’s chief content officer, responsible for content acquisition and sales, publisher and industry relations, and localized merchandising experiences across all of Kobo’s online and mobile services.

“Our goal at Kobo is to revolutionize eReading by providing people with the best experience and most comprehensive content offering. We achieve this by hiring the most talented and enthusiastic people, building a strong, passionate culture,” said Kobo CEO Michael Serbinis. “Michael Tamblyn’s leadership in the industry and his hands-on approach to working with publishers and authors has been instrumental to Kobo’s success. In his new role, he will continue to grow our existing catalogue and drive Kobo’s expansion into new content categories.”

Prior to joining Kobo, Tamblyn was the founding CEO of the supply chain agency BookNet Canada, where he launched the national sales reporting service BNC SalesData and authored the publishing technology call-to-arms, “Six Projects That Could Change Publishing for the Better.” He also co-founded Canada’s first online bookstore, Bookshelf.ca, which was purchased by Indigo Books & Music in 1998. At Indigo, he launched Indigo.ca and served as vice president of online operations.

Midwest Independent Booksellers Association Hires Executive Assistant

Robert Martin, a writer and editor with a professional background in business writing and a Master of Arts in English from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, is the Midwest Independent Booksellers Association’s new part-time executive assistant.  In addition to his role as MIBA executive assistant, Martin is the editorial assistant at Rain Taxi Review of Books, where he supports the daily operations of the literary magazine and coordinates the exhibits for the Twin Cities Book Festival.

Martin will work on all of MIBA’s projects, with a special emphasis on creating the association’s newsletters, managing the marketing program Midwest Connections, and expanding social networking outreach.