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 to find another generous private individual who would buy the company from Rea and let it carry on as it is.” In 2004, the unit had sales of 2.3 million pounds, and profits of 168,000 pounds. The magazine says Bloomsbury and Macmillan are among those […]

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 segment comprises most of the chain’s sales, $1.029 billion in all. CEO Steve Riggio says in the release, “The excitement generated by ‘Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince’ boosted our traffic both in stores and online. Our business is on track as we prepare for […]

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 36 upgraded Borders — now with coffee and stationery!) and low-margin Harry Potter sales are blamed for the plunge in net income, down to $1.3 million, from $7.9 million a year ago. Same-store US sales rose 1.8 percent at the superstores and 1.9 percent at […]

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 72 percent, though below the 240 percent increase in college tuition and fees. The GAO also finds that “there is a growing practice by publishers of including expensive new supplements and limiting the opportunity for students to purchase used textbooks,” the SF Chronicle reports. “In […]

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 daily deal posts and e-mails, job postings, review coverage and everything else will continue as usual. Personnel News Gotham Books founder Bill Shinker has been promoted from svp of the unit to president (as well as remaining publisher). Thomas Nelson has announced a promotion from […]

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 DA VINCI LEGACY, and declared the books have “no substantial similarity.” In summarizing Perdue’s specific claims of similarity, Judge Daniels says that “all of these similarities, however, are unprotectible ideas, historical facts, and general themes that do not represent any original elements of Perdue’s work.” […]