Simon & Schuster announced Tuesday that Bob Woodward’s FEAR: Trump in the White House sold a total of more than 1,100,000 units in its first week on sale, inclusive of consumer orders “that are as yet unfulfilled due to extraordinary demand.” The company revised its count of opening day sales as well, now saying they…
Apple Relaunches Their Book Store and App
For readers who like mainstream ebooks more than discounted House Brand titles, the number two ebookseller has relaunched their store and reading app. “Apple Books” represents a major redesign, launched yesterday in 51 countries as part of Apple’s new iOS12 release. The company now incorporates audiobooks within the books app (and Book Store), though they…
Kaplan to Swallow Barron’s Test Books
Kaplan Test Prep has acquired key assets of longtime rival Barron’s Educational Series, including the test prep, study aid, and foreign language assets, as well as the Barron’s brand name. The acquisition comprises about 650 of Barron’s more than 2,000 titles, also including their reference, business, and law titles. As Newsday notes, “The purchase combines…
People, Etc.
Longtime New York Magazine contributing editor Boris Kachka has been named books editor as parent company New York Media aims to triple book coverage across the magazine and their various blogs. Kachka says, “We haven’t really had someone overseeing books and it fell between the cracks too often. Books aren’t like a lot of other media;…
Quarto Has Better Sales, Still with Big Loss; Bertelsmann to Buy OnCourse Learning
Quarto reported half-year results, with sales showing some improvement, as revenues rose $6 million to $56.2 million. Some of that gain reflects a shift in the “seasonal split of co-edition revenues, with a higher percentage than normal of expected full-year revenues achieved in the first half.” Their operating loss of ($7 million) was slightly improved…
Buzz Books Nominations
Please note that our seasonal email invitations have gone out to nominate titles for inclusion in the forthcoming Buzz Books 2019: Spring/Summer and Buzz Books 2019: Young Adult Spring/Summer samplers. If you haven’t received yours for any reason, or for more information, please contact Robin Dellabough, robin@publishersmarketplace.com. The deadline for nominations is October 12. (Meanwhile, you can continue to enjoy the…