Hastings Entertainment reported a drop in net income for its first quarter, down to $400,000 (or 5 cents per share) compared to $1 million (or 11 cents per share) a year ago. Total sales declined by 3.8 percent, to $124.1 million. Overall book comps decreased 9.1 percent for the quarter; new book sales fell 8.6 percent in the period, used books sales declined 19.6 percent, and value books gained by 8.7 percent. Publishers are blamed for a “weaker slate of new book releases.” The retailer says there was a 22 percent drop in “titles for which we purchase more than 1,000 copies.” […]
Archives for May 2011
Technology and Treats (Part One: Appiness)
Last year we happily experimented with creating web apps to organize and inform the BEA experience, and now we are back with new and improved versions. Two new features come directly from user feedback: 1. The iOS and Android versions use some HTML 5 magic to work offline as well as online. That means that when the mysterious Javits Center electromagnetic force field renders you unable to connect to either a cell tower or wifi at 21st-century speeds, the Publishers Lunch BEA to Go app will still let you search the events schedule and exhibitor directory. Just make sure that […]
Technology and Treats (Part Two: Bloginess)
We’re also unveiling another months-in-the-making upgrade to PublishersMarketplace.com and Publishers Lunch today. The Publishers Lunch news page and archive has left behind the 10-year-old platform we’ve been working with and moved to WordPress, with a new design and a number of new features. For now the change in your daily mail is simple: click any headline and it will take you to the site-based permalink, where we welcome your comments. Also, readers are so accustomed to getting Lunch by e-mail that they often didn’t know how to find the story links to share via blogs, Facebook, Twitter, etc. In the […]
Technology and Treats (Part Three)
The updated Publishers Lunch Deluxe and the improved BEA apps are our biggest technology launches since the quiet introduction of Nielsen Publishers Marketplace BookScan at the end of last year, which gives agents access to unlimited use of Nielsen BookScan’s “industry standard” sales data (and comprehensive bestseller lists) right through the familiar and intuitive PM interface. We are now allowed to consider applications for service from other industry professionals as well. Visit this page for more info and to apply. On the digital front, we’re continuing to enroll a wonderfully diverse group for our Publishers Launch Conference at BEA: eBooks […]
People: Davidar Starts New Publishing House in India, and More
Former Penguin Canada publisher David Davidar, who left the company and the country under a cloud of controversy after sexual harassment allegations, has joined forces with Rupa Publications India to start a new publishing house, the Aleph Book Company. The new venture will begin with a small and select group of fiction and non-fiction titles (evidently mirroring Faber and Faber in the UK.) Said Davidar in a statement: “I am thrilled to join hands with Rupa to launch this venture. We will be looking be ensure that each book we publish makes its mark and to that any title that […]
No Buyer for All of Borders; Edwards Previews Kobo Plans
It will surprise no one (except perhaps some PW readers) that there were no bids to buy Borders in its entirety as a going concern by the “soft deadline” of May 6. Giving you some idea of a savvy bookselling appraisal of what’s left that’s worth buying, Barnes & Noble is said by Bloomberg and the WSJ to have placed a modest bid: To buy about 10 locations, the booksellers’ web site, and the Borders Rewards customer databases. (A BN spokesperson would neither confirm nor deny the report to the WSJ.) Practically speaking, the chain still has another month or […]