With the Frankfurt Book Fair looming, we have compiled our semi-annual look at the state of dealmaking, this time bolstered by some very pretty charts. Visualizing our data should make it easier for readers to draw their own conclusions from the statistics, and it allows us to reveal more nuance to the figures as well. The first chart below looks at all US Publishers Marketplace deal reports from September. Deal volume among “comparable categories” continues to grow, up 7.5 percent over last year (when reports jumped almost 17 percent from the recession trough of 2009). But total deal volume is […]
Archives for October 2011
Borders Creates Liquidating Trust For Remaining Assets As Privacy Objections Continue
Now that Borders has sold its intellectual property and liquidated all remaining stores, the bankrupt retailer said in a court filing Tuesday that it intends to distribute remaining assets that have not been abandoned or sold already through a liquidating trust. “Holders of equity interests shall neither receive nor retain any property under the plan,” the company said in court papers, which means any remaining shareholders, whoever they are (stock traded at 2 cents on the pink sheets most recently) will end up with nothing. Creditors have until December 9 to approve or reject the plan, with a confirmation hearing […]
Awards: 5 Under 35, and the Nobel’s Scouts
The National Book Foundation’s new 5 Under 35 Honorees are: Shani Boianjiu, The People of Forever Are Not Afraid (Hogarth, 2013) Danielle Evans, Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self (Riverhead, 2010) Mary Beth Keane, The Walking People (Mariner, 2009) Melinda Moustakis, Bear Down, Bear North: Alaska Stories (The University of Georgia Press, 2011) John Corey Whaley, Where Things Come Back (Atheneum, 2011) Finally, don’t hold your breath for a recognizable Nobel Prize for Literature winner on Thursday, even though bettors have placed so much money on Bob Dylan in the last 24 hours that they cut his odds of winning […]
People, Etc.
Movable Type Literary Group and Artists and Artisans announced their merger over the summer, and they have formed two operating units: Movable Type Management, with Jason Allen Ashlock as president, and a performance division, Movable Type Media with Artists and Artisans’ Adam Chromy as president. The media division will develop in-house film, television, and digital. Jamie Brenner, Brianne Mulligan and Michele Matrisciani all serve as senior literary managers. Matt Weiland will join Norton as senior editor on October 24, reporting to editor-in-chief John Glusman. He has spent the past three years as senior editor for Ecco. Ethan Nosowsky has been named editorial director […]
Bookselling: New Stores in NE and OK; Last Newfoundland Indie May Close
Owner of The Sequel Bookshop in Kearny, NE Lisa Neuheisel plans to open a temporary bookstore in North Platte from October 22 through January 15, with plans to make it permanent if sales meet expectations. “It’s just a trial,” Neuheisel told the North Platte Telegraph about the shop, which is located in a mall that once housed a Waldenbooks. “We’ll see how it goes from there.” The shop will primarily carry overstock and discounted items, but not used books. North Platte Telegraph Half Price Books will open its third location in Edmond, OK, which will be its 114th store nationwide. […]
Still More Law Firms Want A Piece of Class-Action Agency Suits, As Pretrial Conferences Loom
There have been some new developments since we reported in August on the growing number of class action-seeking lawsuits launched against Apple and the six largest trade publishing houses on the grounds that the agency model violates antitrust laws. Between August 12 and September 23, at least a dozen additional suits were filed in California’s Northern District and New York’s Southern District, each alleging “conspiracy” and “collusion” to fix ebook prices against Apple and the publishers. Of greater importance now than the volume of suits is process by which the California and New York cases are slowly towards consolidation. In […]