One of our quiet New Year’s resolutions was to take this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in moderate stride, since experience has shown a lot of what will be presented there is either overhyped, coming later, or not coming at all (as you enjoy your many oversized eInk readers and 3-D television sets). So we’ll try to keep our focus on things that belong on book publishing radar. In brief, Kobo trumpets non-specific “relationships with over a dozen partners” that they estimate will result in Kobo apps “preloaded on 20 million devices this year.” Those partners include tablet-makers (such as the […]
Archives for January 2011
People, Etc.
Joanne Wyckoff has joined the Carol Mann Agency as an agent, continuing to represents a wide array of nonfiction and selected fiction. Since 2005, she has been an agent with Zachary Shuster Harmsworth, in their Boston office. The peripatetic Adam Korn is leaving literary agency DeFiore and Company to return to the editorial side, rejoining HarperCollins–this time as executive editor for William Morrow, starting January 18. Penguin UK Children’s managing director Stephanie Barton is leaving to “embark upon a new challenge” after 26 years with the company, the Bookseller reports. Puffin managing director Francesca Dow moves up to fill Barton’s […]
2010’s Top Bestsellers
Nielsen BookScan published today point-of-sales data for the week ending January 2, 2010, and updated their corresponding year-to-date bestseller lists to cover all 52 selling weeks of 2010. You will find below the top 15 print books as tracked by Nielsen BookScan in the outlets they cover for adult nonfiction, adult fiction, and overall juvenile titles. Former president George W. Bush and former first lady Laura Bush both make an otherwise eclectic nonfiction list, as Mr. Bush’s chart-topping book well outsold last year’s No. 1 nonfiction title by Sarah Palin. As expected, Stieg Larsson dominates the fiction list, with the […]
The Latest On Borders, As More Executives Leave
Per our report yesterday that additional executives were leaving Borders beyond the two names disclosed in Monday’s SEC filing, the WSJ reports that the recent high-level job reductions also include svp for business development Larry Norton, svp for marketing Bill Dandy, and vp of real estate Tony Grant. Separately, anonymous Borders employees say via an online message board that three of five regional vice presidents were also let go. They report that in a conference call among general managers, employees were told the store network has been rezoned into just two regions. The NYT adds that publishers indicate Borders executives […]
19 of Top 50 USA Today Bestsellers Sold More eBooks than Print Versions
USA Today has analyzed the bestseller list they will publish in the paper tomorrow, reflecting sales in the unusual post-Christmas week. Launched by millions of newly-gifted devices with e-reading capability and assisted by lousy weather in many parts of the country, all six of top bestsellers for the week sold more ebooks than print books, as did 19 of the top 50 titles. USA Today notes that “tt’s the first time the top-50 list has had more than two titles in which the e-version outsold print.” (Many publishers have indicated that their biggest titles were already selling anywhere from 20 […]
Waterstone’s Parent HMV Reports Terrible Holiday Following UK Snow
Snowstorms in the UK dampened holiday sales at many outlets, and the HMV was the first of the big retailers to warn markets. Their Waterstone’s unit did well on a relative basis, with same-store sales for the 10-week holiday period declining 2.1 percent. (As we noted in December, Waterstone’s comps were down 3.2 percent for the first six months of the year, and the chain has been in “turnaround” mode since at least 2005.) HMV stores fared far worse, falling 13.6 percent on a same-store basis, and 11.9 percent overall in the 10-week period. HMV warned markets that it will […]