Germany’s Eichborn Verlag, which has endured a year of troubles and transition, is being sold to privately-owned Bastei Luebbe. Owner and publisher Stefan Luebbe says in the announcement, “Eichborn also has great authors and a strong reputation for unconventional, off the beaten track iconic books. Both companies share a belief in the creative power of authors, editors and marketing. Together, we will be in an enviable position to face future challenges as a major independent media force.” Luebbe sold 30 million euros of bonds recently, though the publisher said the borrowings were unrelated to any acquisitions. Die Welt says that […]
Archives for October 2011
AAP eBook Sales Stay At Around 20%
The AAP has caught up on their monthly reports, issuing sales totals for August. eBooks were still the second-largest trade segment, behind adult paperbacks, registering $88.8 million. Per the trend for most of the year, ebooks are still running at about 20 percent of reported trade sales. We’ve straightened out some things that have confused us in the past few months, so we’re going to take a different approach to our explanations and disclaimers this month. Currently, 18 publishers report ebook sales to the AAP; the only company of scale that reports print sales but not ebook sales is WW […]
The Lists Begin, As Hudson Booksellers Picks Books of the Year
Hudson Booksellers, which operates 70 bookstores and sells books through another 400 newsstands, has picked Jonathan Evison’s novel WEST OF HERE as their book of the year. Here are their full Top 10 lists: Nonfiction Townie, Andre Dubus III Bossypants, Tina Fey Granta 116: Ten Years Later, Granta, Ed. John Freeman Swerve, Stephen Greenblatt The Heart and the Fist, Eric Greitens Arguably, Christopher Hitchens In the Garden of Beasts, Erik Larson Sex on the Moon, Ben Mezrich What It Is Like to Go to War, Karl Marlantes The Psychopath Test, Jon Ronson Best Fiction Ready Player One, Ernest Cline The […]
People: Johnson to Retire from Knopf
Knopf and Pantheon publishing director Pat Johnson has decided to “take early retirement, and pursue some long-held dreams,” Knopf president Tony Chirico writes in a staff memo. He notes: “Often Pat will describe her job to colleagues in this way: ‘I do the work Sonny and Tony like to avoid.’ And to be honest, she’s right. Because there are some things we do tend to avoid, even though they are essential to keeping a company running smoothly. So you could say that Pat has kept our company running smoothly for the last sixteen years…. It is a job she has […]
Kobo Prepares Self-Publishing and Color Digital Exclusives
Kobo has been saying for a while now they would launch an ebook self-publishing service along the lines of Amazon’s KDP and Barnes & Noble’s PubIt. Canada’s CBC News has a report that Kobo will develop an in-house publishing division akin to Amazon’s efforts, though we’re told the CBC might have interpreted the company’s plans a bit liberally. The broadcast report has one very brief sound bite from Kobo ceo Michael Serbinis, who says, “It’s part of the new market and if you expect to be a No. 1 player in that market globally it’s table stakes — you have […]
Acquisitions and eBooks Lift Bloomsbury Sales
Sales at Bloomsbury rose more than 16 percent, to £44.9 million for the six months ending August 31, driven by recent acquisitions and ebook sales that grew more than six-fold from a year ago, now at £2.5 million for the period. Like-for-like sales with the Continuum acquisition were still up 11.9 percent, but pre-tax profit declined to just £0.3, from £0.8 a year ago, due to restructuring costs and their relocation to new offices in London. With recent purchases, Bloomsbury’s Harry Potter cash stash is down to just under £9.5 million. UK sales were £30.8 million and US sales were […]