Barnes & Noble’s third quarter results, reported this morning, show the trickiness of navigating this transitional retailing (and etailing) climate. Following their best holiday period in years, sales rose 7 percent and profits were within the company’s own guidance. Both measures were below analysts’ expectations, though, with profits down from a year ago, and the company is suspending its quarterly dividend of twenty-five cents per share. The dividend reduction was expected long ago, since the company is investing in its digital strategy and has financing the dividend through borrowings rather than earnings. But the combination of lower earnings and no […]
Archives for February 2011
Bookselling: Albuquerque’s Page One Files for Chapter 11
Page One in Albuquerque, N.M. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on February 11 after 30 years in business, citing assets of $799,183 and liabilities of $1,371,258, of which $474,885 are unsecured claims. In addition, “amounts unknown” are due to more than 50 creditors. Court documents filed by owner Steven Morado Stout indicate that “after any exempt property is excluded, and administrative expenses paid, there will be no funds available for distribution to unsecured creditors.” Several publishers are among those unsecured creditors, including the University of Mexico Press, reportedly owed $12,000. In a subsequent email to customers, Stout added “in […]
People, Awards, and More
At Rizzoli, Susan Masry has been promoted to international sales manager, overseeing sales to Asia, the Indian subcontinent, Latin America,,the Middle East, and South Africa, as well as Rizzoli’s domestic export accounts. Media and intellectual property lawyer Kevin Goering has joined Norwick & Schad, which has been renamed Norwick, Schad & Goering. In their third week of listing ebook bestsellers, the NYT has purged that self-published title we identified last week and–like USA Today–allowed Lisa Gardner’s 99-cent ebook to rise to No 1. (and No. 2 on the combined list). The LA Times announced nominees for its annual book prizes […]
Lunch Weekly for Monday, February 21
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 Michael Garriga’s THE HISTORY OF DUELS, a collection of short shorts […]
Leak of Unsold Palin Tell-All By Former Aide Draws Attention
On Friday a manuscript of a tell-all by former Sarah Palin chief of staff Frank Bailey was leaked widely. Originally called Renegade: Sarah Palin’s Hatchet Man, the 456-page manuscript is now called Blind Allegiance to Sarah Palin: A Memoir of Our Tumultuous Years. (By one account, Bailey first tried to sell a book in 2009 after Palin resigned as governor of Alaska.) It’s co-written with Jeanne Devon and Ken Morris, who says the leaked version is an “unauthorized draft” that is still being revised. He claims the release was “an unethical breach and I’m disgusted by it.” The pitch letter […]
More On eBook Bestsellers, and An Interesting Precedent
Continuing–and expanding on–the trend since Christmas, 19 of the top 50 titles on the USA Today bestseller list sold more units as ebooks than in print. And that was true for five of the top six titles. Among them, Lisa Gardner’s 99-cent ebook ALONE finally gets a ranking to match its position on etailers’ charts. Which will only spark further discussions among publishers about ebook bestseller strategies and standards. In a different taboo-breaker, you know how the big houses all declare they will never buy print rights only to a new book, while others have believed print buyers will emerge […]