Well, ain’t this a choice bit of news. The woman responsible for picking which books are sold by Tesco — which, being the UK equivalent of Wal-Mart or Costco, is a very powerful post — is leaving to join up with HarperCollins, effective May 1.
Reuters reports that Ridding, who could not be reached to explain her decision, will be given the task of boosting HarperCollins’ share of the market for general-interest books in the newly created role of director of special publishing projects. A spokeswoman for the publisher could not provide any more detail.
No replacement has been named, but the move strikes me as somewhat odd. Here’s someone who had publishers kowtowing to her in the hopes of getting any of their books stocked in Tesco…and now she’s left to join the other side? It kind of makes me wonder, especially if she’ll have to deal with her predecessor — and perhaps see her own projects get the smackdown.