News Corp’s annual report provided a few more nonspecific clues about HarperCollins’ performance in the 2011 fiscal year, following on last week’s release highlighting the strength of its children’s book division and how ebooks accounted for approximately 12 percent of total sales. A 10-K filing released Monday showed that HarperCollins sales fell from the previous fiscal year (when the division’s earnings increased by approximately $128 million, or 11 percent, on fiscal 2009) due to lower book sales due to fewer new releases and lower licensing fees resulting from a settlement received at HarperCollins in fiscal 2010.” HarperCollins also had 166 […]
Archives for August 2011
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Rachel Mannheimer has been promoted to associate editor at Bloomsbury USA. Michael Bowles will join Random House Canada as director, eBooks and eProduct development on August 29. Previously he was a content development manager at Kobo. Anne Born, translator of more than 50 Scandinavian novels and poetry collections, died on July 27 in Devon at age 87. Among the authors she translated were Carsten Jensen, Isak Dinesen and Per Petterson, including his IMPAC-Award winning novel OUT STEALING HORSES. Guardian obit
eNews: IndieBound Partners With BlueFire on eReading Software; Amazon Cracks Down On PLR eBooks; and More
The ABA announced last week that it is working with BlueFire to create a version of the company’s Reader app, which will be called the IndieBound Reader, for IndieCommerce stores selling Google eBooks. The app is scheduled to launch in the next 60 days. The Android version of the app will link back to indie bookstores, while the iOS version will not because of Apple’s rules about in-app purchases and links to outbound e-commerce stores. Users will be able to buy books using their Google ID instead of having to active an account with Adobe Digital Editions (as is the […]
Hachette UK Changes Pension Contribution Plan As of September 30
With a shortfall of about £36m to overcome, Hachette UK will stop making contributions to Orion and Hodder pension funds as of September 30. Ceo Tim Hely Hutchinson gave two months notice to affected staffers in May that they will be switched over to Hachette’s “defined contribution pension scheme”, but 36 Orion employees are in talks as to what that entails – and whether Hachette’s offer fulfills the terms of the original contract. (Only company employees who have been with Hachette since 2003 are affected, since the company dropped the option for new staffers that year.) A strangely-worded piece in […]
Losses Widen For Hastings In Second Quarter
Hastings Entertainment reported results for its second quarter early Monday morning and the losses continue to mount. The company reported a net loss of $4.1 million (or 47 cents a share) compared to a loss of just $100,000 a year ago, with a negative EBITDA of almost $500,000 for the quarter (compared to a positive EBITDA of $4.3 million at this time last year.) Overall book comps decreased 9.4 percent for the quarter, affected by “a weaker slate of titles released during the current quarter and the increasing popularity of e-readers”; new book sales fell 8.1 percent and used book […]
Briefs: Pearson Gets Go-Ahead To Buy REDGroup Online Business; Sharing Google Books in Google+; and More
Some of the news that’s accumulated on a Friday in August: The Australian Competition Commission announced it “would not oppose” Pearson’s acquisition of the bankrupt REDGroup Retail’s online business, including the websites for Borders Australia and Angus & Robertson. saying it “will provide a summary of the reasons for its decision in due course.” Administrators Ferrier Hodgson also said that creditors must lodge any last claims against REDGroup by September 1, with final dividends due to be paid out in October. In addition, any customers still holding Angus & Robertson and Borders gift cards who file claims with administrators will […]