Harlequin record a strong fourth quarter, with sales of $126 million (CA) up over 18 percent from a year ago, and ebitda of $18.4 million up more than 30 percent. Good results were made even stronger by the decline of the Canadian dollar against the US dollar, and they say that “Harlequin’s revenues, to date, have not been significantly affected by the global, and in particular, U.S. economic situation.” But parent Torstar suffered overall, with writedowns producing a net loss of $211 million for the quarter. They are cutting their dividend in half, and “as part of a planned transition,” […]
Archives for February 2009
People and Announcements
Agents Jill Marsal and Kevan Lyon have left the Sandra Dijkstra Agency to form the Marsal Lyon Literary Agency. Marsal was at the Dijkstra agency for eight years and practice as an attorney representing authors prior to that. Lyon spent four years at Dijkstra and worked in the wholesale and distribution side of the publishing business for over 17 years before becoming an agent. Well-known indie publishing spark plug Richard Nash is leaving Counterpoint, where he is currently executive editor, as well as editorial director of Soft Skull Press, on March 10. CEO Charlie Winton indicates the company will maintain […]
Lonely Planet to Shrink Staff by 10 Percent
With travel (and travel publishing) in a slump due to the recession, Lonely Planet is eliminating approximately 50 jobs worldwide, or about 10 percent of their workforce, with up to 40 of the layoffs in Australia. Spokesperson Adam Bennett says “it represents the decline of the guidebook market in tough times.” Some reductions will come through not renewing employment contracts, and others from direct layoffs. (There will be modest cuts in the UK and US offices as well.) Acting chief executive Stephen Palmer notes, “Even the most optimistic forecasts do not predict any sustained recovery until 2010 at the earliest, […]
The Next Time the NYT Whines About Fact-Checking in Books
The newspaper has corrected a January piece “about women who commiserated over dating Wall Street bankers caught in the financial crisis” who claimed they had formed a support group, Dating a Banker Anonymous, with about 30 women participating. It’s just a blog, and a joke at that. If published in a book the Times would call it a hoax; as published in their pages it is “a satire that embellishes true experiences for effect.” The paper blames those featured for not having made “the nature of the blog…clear at the outset.” As Newsweek notes, the women behind the blog have […]
Agent Weisfeld Sues Faber and Author Lowe
Jarred Weisfeld at Objective Entertainment filed suit in a New York state court yesterday against FSG’s Faber imprint and Jamie Lowe, author of DIGGING FOR DIRT: The Life and Death of ODB (aka Ol’ Dirty Bastard, aka the late Russell Jones), alleging “malicious, false, defamatory and anti-semitic statements” and seeking damags of at least $10 million. The complaint says that Weisfeld is depicted “as a money hungry Jewish manager who was financially invested in ODB’s very soul,” and alleges that the basis of that description comes not from an actual press conference but rather from a parody depiction of that […]
Paid Is a Lot More Complicated than You Think–So Is the Truth
Savvy readers will note this headline is lifted from Tim O’Reilly’s wise presentation from a year ago on why “free is more complicated than you think.” There have been a number of interesting posts and discussions online recently about pricing questions, both from the publisher’s perspective (wondering about how to structure successful business models if average ebook prices are significantly lower than print prices and retailers like Amazon no longer subsidize those low prices) and the consumer’s (generally reaffirming that readers believe ebooks are less valuable than print books, come with fewer privileges, and should increasingly cost less). There’s much […]