Harper UK ceo Victoria Barnsley gave a speech called Media’s Last Diehard? at the London School of Economics last night. Improbably, though it has taken 10 years for online sales of physical books to comprise 12 percent of sales at HarperCollins, she speculated that “within say 10 years more than half our sales will come from digital downloads.” She acknowledged that territorial rights will be “pretty hard to police” if ebooks become that prevalent and “also said it would be difficult to establish a profitable pricing model when most consumers are used to free digital content.”Bookseller
Archives for November 2008
Google Settlement: Expanding Public Access?
Since the announcement of the Google settlement, the Internet has abounded with fantasy suggestions for changes in the agreement. On his personal blog, executive director for the Digital Library Federation Peter Brantley offers a level-headed proposal on expanding access to the public in areas with “underprivileged populations.” Simply put: “I propose that public terminals be accessible on a tiered basis. If a certain percentage of a public library’s served population falls beneath the poverty level or a similar metric, the number of public access terminals is commensurately increased. At public libraries, internet access is a priority; so is access to […]
Stalking Steve
The NY Observer seems to think Doubleday group publisher Steve Rubin should just retire already, what with the “devastation” of Jon Krakauer’s cancelled manuscript, disappointing sales for Andrew Davidson’s The Gargoyle, and having the world’s most successful adult novelist not yet ready to give a delivery date for his new book. And they’re miffed that Rubin is canny enough not to play the game with them: “So far, Mr. Rubin has remained silent on the matter. When approached by Pub Crawl for a profile last week, the onetime publishing reporter declined repeatedly to be interviewed and took impressive measures to […]
When Retailers Go Under
When times are good, retailers thrive during the holidays and when times are hard, the holiday selling season can be the springboard to bankrupty. Bloomberg explains, “In the last quarter century, about a fifth of large retailers that went bankrupt, including RH Macy & Co. Inc. and FAO Schwarz, did so in January, using holiday sales cash to jump-start reorganizations or finance liquidations.” But “this bankruptcy season is different. Retailers with reduced revenue or bloated debt are closing down early because of a consumer spending slump linked to the credit crunch, dwindling inventory values and restrictive changes in the bankruptcy […]
People
Egmont USA announced new hires including Greg Ferguson as editor (he was at Harper Children’s) and Nico Medina as managing editor (he was at Viking Children’s). The company has acquired 15 titles for their launch list, starting in fall 2009. Elsewhere, Elda Rotor has been promoted to editorial Director of Penguin Classics.
Riggio: Prepare for A "Terrible Holiday Season"
The WSJ reproduced an in-house memo to Barnes & Noble employees sent last week bychairman Len Riggio: “Never in all of the years I’ve been in business have I seen a worse outlook for the economy. And never in all my years as a bookseller have I seen a retail climate as poor as the one we are in. Nothing even close.” He warns, “we are bracing for a terrible holiday season, and expect the trend to continue well into 2009, and perhaps beyond.” Riggio announces that “new store openings will be curtailed greatly, and discretionary expenditures will be cut […]