Similar to the performance of the big US booksellers, the UK’s Waterstone’s “performance remains weak” according to parent company HMV, though “the recent administration of Borders UK may benefit the Group in the medium and long term.” Or not, since they admit to “continued market share gains by supermarket and online competitors.” For the first half of the fiscal year, sales of 225 million pounds were down 4.3 percent compared to a year ago, but down 5.1 percent on a same-store basis. And that was with sales growth from “related product ranges, such as gift stationery and technology, including the […]
Archives for December 2009
WSJ Gives UK Indie Publishers Some Love
The WSJ covers the resilience and success of some of the UK’s best independent publishers, giving Jamie Byng’s Canongate in particular the kind of press he gets all the time in the UK. In each case, one big author or book has lifted the entire house. Barack Obama the author has taken Canongate to new heights financially; Atlantic Books’ sales “more than doubled…thanks largely” to The White Tiger; and Steig Larsson has rescued the otherwise-overextended Quercus. Faber and Faber sales director Will Atkinson quips, “There are some big publishers who can’t go to the toilet without looking at BookScan. They […]
Barnes & Noble Bought Children's Self-Publisher Tikatok
BN disclosed for the first time in its quarterly SEC filing that on September 24 the company bought Tikatok for $2.3 million. Tikatok.com lets parents and their children write, illustrate, and publish stories into hardcover and paperback books. Barnes & Noble says it “plans to use Tikatok as part of its overall digital strategy, expanding the company’s reach to additional parents, educators and librarians.”Filing
Nielsen to Close Kirkus Reviews
The publishing world’s concerns about declining review space will only become more severe with this morning’s news that Nielsen Business Media has “made the decision to cease operations” at Kirkus Reviews (as well as Editor & Publisher.) The news came as the company announced the sale of the Hollywood Reporter, Billboard, and six other media brands to Guggenheim Partners and Pluribus Capital Management. Nielsen is retaining ownership of The Bookseller in the UK. The memo from Nielsen Business Media president Greg Farrar does not indicate what will become of the Kirkus archives, and whether there will be any effort to […]
A New Alliance for Weldon Owen; Goodreads Raises $2 Mil
File this one under press releases gone astray: a number of outlets have looked at a vaguely-worded announcement that “Weldon Owen Publishing has joined Bonnier Corp.” and concluded that Bonnier bought the packager/publisher. True enough–but the Bonnier Group has owned Weldon Owen since early 2006. What they mean to announce is that Weldon Owen has moved from the company’s book publishing division (where co-founder of the packager John Owen has been group publisher) over to their US magazine division, which is called Bonnier Corp. That group is run by Terry Snow, and was created by merging Snow’s group of enthusiast […]
Bookselling: Now Official, Elliott Bay Is Relocating; Author Solutions Partners with Espresso
Seattle’s Elliott Bay Book Co. has now confirmed that they will leave their 36-year-old location in Pioneer Square and move to the city’s Capitol Hill neighborhood “as early as March” of next year. Owner Peter Aaron tells the Seattle Times, “Here are the factors I’m looking at: parking, population, daytime and nighttime vitality and foot traffic, the absence of stadiums and conflicts with parking and crowding,” he said. “It’s the attractiveness and safety and vibrancy of the location.” Aaron says “our financing is in place going forward” and “is thrilled about 85 parking spaces for the new location that will […]