The biggest worry of the year for book publishers has been answered, as Borders appears to have been granted another 12 months to sort itself. Leading shareholder and lender of last resort Pershing Square has extended their $42.5 million term loan to Borders until April 1, 2010. But Pershing has once again won big concessions for that extension: The “put” option to buy the Paperchase chain (which Pershing never wanted to own in the first place) will expire, and the big grants of 14.7 million warrants will be reset from the previous price to $7 a share down to today’s […]
Archives for March 2009
"Final" Robert Jordan Book to be Published in Thirds
Tor announced today that Brandon Sanderson’s much-anticipated completion of the late Robert Jordan’s unfinished final installment of the Wheel of Time series has expanded so much that it will be published in three (sizable) volumes. Having promised fans a book this year, the first part, comprising a manuscript of about 300,000 words, will be published as THE GATHERING STORM on November 3. (The next two volumes are tentatively titled SHIFTING WINDS and TARMON’GAIDON, though Sanderson notes on his blog the title of the first one changed rather quickly. Together the three installments comprise A MEMORY OF LIGHT.) Editor (and Jordan’s […]
Bloomsbury Says It Had A "Strong Performance"
Overall results were down sharply for fiscal 2008 at Bloomsbury due to comparisons to the launch of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, with sales falling by more than a third to 99.95 million pounds, with pre-tax profits of 11.63 million pounds. But the company offers itself long and hearty congratulations as “it re-balances its business in the wake of the Harry Potter phenomenon and of the demands of a global recession.” Units in both the US and Germany improved during the year, with US sales up 29.4 percent to 17.32 million (essentially all due to the decline of the […]
People
Todd McGarity has joined Hachette Book Group as vp, distribution sales & services, responsible for overseeing all relationships with existing distribution services clients. He will report to COO Ken Michaels. McGarity was most recently the director of client development at Random House. Alisha Sevigny has been promoted to associate agent at The Rights Factory.
CEO of Bonnier Publishing Higgins to Leave
Des Higgins, who has been head of Bonnier Publishing since 2005, will leave for “a fresh challenge.” Chief finance officer Richard Johnson will serve as interim CEO. He says, “Bonnier has been been on a considerable growth path in English speaking markets – the brief is just to continue with that growth strategy.”Bookseller
Lunch Weekly for Monday, March 30
Deal Reports Just e-mail to deals@PublishersMarketplace if you aren’t using the online form linked below. Report a deal using the online form The Key As usual, the handy key to our Lunch deal categories. While all reports are always welcome, those that include a category will generally receive a higher listing when it comes time to put them all together. “nice deal” $1 – $49,000 “very nice deal” $50,000 – $99,000 “good deal” $100,000 – $250,000 “significant deal” $251,000 – $499,000 “major deal” $500,000 and up FICTION Debut Kelly O’Connor McNees’s THE LOST SUMMER OF LOUISA MAY ALCOTT, imagining […]