Archives for August 2005

Ownership Change Likely for Granta Owner of Granta Books and Granta Magazine Rea Hederman (who also owns the NY Review of Books) is contemplating retirement and talking to potential buyers for the properties. Granta Books publisher Gail Lynch tells PN, “He is looking either for a buyer or an investor. The ideal scenario would be […]

BN Hits Targets Barnes & Noble’s second quarter earnings report met projections, with sales of $1.171 billion and net earnings of $13.5 million. The Harry Potter effect was felt throughout the company, as same-store sales at the superstores rose 4.3 percent. (For the year, comparable sales are still expected to rise about 3 percent.) That […]

Bad News at Borders Despite the peppy language of their earnings release, Borders stumbled in their fiscal second quarter, caught by rising expenses and lower sales in the UK, even as US sales were on target. Investment in rebranding ailing Waldenbooks locations as Borders Express stores (44 outlets were reopened in the quarter, along with […]

GAO Study Looks At Rise In Textbook Prices The Government Accountability Office is releasing a study today that says the average college student spends about $900 annually on textbooks and supplies. The study also finds that textbook prices have risen 186 percent since 1986 — well over double the rise in general consumer prices of […]

Please Note It’s a quieter day — and just in time, as we prepare to take a few summer days with the family. Barring any pressing need, no Lunch will be served for the rest of this week. We’ll post selected news and links to the home page, and all other PublishersMarketplace features — including […]

Judge Rules in Favor of Brown in Copyright Infringment Suit In a 26-page decision that grants summary judgment and keeps the case from moving to a jury trial, Judge George B. Daniels has ruled that Dan Brown’s THE DA VINCI CODE does not infringe Lewis Perdue’s copyrights in his novels DAUGHTER OF GOD and THE […]