Wall Street’s hate affair with Barnes & Noble‘s stock has continued. Shares fell more than a dollar yesterday, declining more than 9 percent, to finish at what was an all-time low. Until the market opened this morning, with prices down another 4 percent in early trading, standing at about $10.25 a share. (The overall market is down broadly today, with major indices down over 2 percent.) The company’s stock has fallen over 45 percent in less than a month. Two Chicago-area Borders book signings for former mobster Frank Calabrese Jr.‘s book Operation Family Secrets: How a Mobster’s Son and the […]
Archives for March 2011
Agent Ed Knappman Dies
Edward Knappman, 67, died last week of an infection of unknown origin that proved resistant to antibiotic. He was president of New England Publishing Associates, a literary agency specializing in non-fiction books, where he worked from for over twenty years with his wife, Elizabeth Frost-Knappman. They retired in 2010 after selling their business to Roger Williams, Managing Director of the Publish or Perish Agency. Prior to 1990, Knappman was publisher and executive vice president of Facts On File.. There he initiated, planned and executed that company’s move from subscription services into reference book publishing, personally acquiring some 400 reference titles. […]
A Redesigned Boston Globe Books Section, and More People News
The Boston Globe’s redesigned books section will make its debut on Sunday, March 20, with several additions and changes to its columns, editor Nicole Lamy tells us. Amanda Heller and Barbara Fisher will no longer co-write the “Short Takes” capsule review column; Heller’s last piece appeared on March 6 and Fisher’s on March 13. Replacing them is Kate Tuttle, a freelancer who has contributed to The Washington Post, The Boston Phoenix, Babble and Salon. The Shelf Life column, previously written by Katherine Powers, is now called Word on the Street with a new writer in place. Two new columns – […]
Lunch Weekly for Monday, March 14
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 Bianca Zander’s GHOST TEETH, in which an old WW2 air raid […]
eNews: Analysts Estimate iPad 2 Sold Out Within A Day
Based on phone calls to stores and interviews with people in line, two different analysts concluded that Apple sold out their inventory of iPad 2s in just over a day. Gene Munster at Piper Jaffray guesstimates that Apple sold 400,000 to 500,000 units, up from the 300,000 iPads sold over the launch weekend a year ago. In their customer interviews, 70 percent of the buyers were new iPad buyers, and 24 percent of those buyers already own a Kindle. Deutsche Bank also called about 100 stores and said, “Our checks pointed to a shocking 100% stock out rate across Apple/authorized […]
Borders Wants Normal Trade Terms–and Isn’t Getting Them
In a conference call with vendors on Friday, Borders executives reiterated the Pollyannish view that they have held since their “not a liquidity crisis” days, asking major suppliers to treat them like a normal business even though they are not. The company confirmed what’s been part of the plan since their bankruptcy filing: “the decision will be made early next week” (now this week) on how many additional stores to close. They are allowed a maximum of 75 additional store liquidations (though a Borders spokeswoman indicated that number is closer to 20 to 25 stores at the moment) and are […]