Led by strong sales of The Hunger Games trilogy, Scholastic reported sharply higher sales for the third quarter of $467 million, up 22 percent from a year ago, and a much smaller seasonal loss of $3.2 million, or 10 cents per share, compared to 81 cents a share (or $25.1 million) a year ago. The publisher’s stock jumped over 20 percent (or more than $7 a share) in early trading on Thursday on the improved results and increased full-year guidance. If sustained, it will be the highest Scholastic’s shares have traded since 2002. Besides Hunger Games, for which “sales of […]
Archives for March 2012
Malcolm Gladwell Celebrates The Editor As “King”
After an issues-focused morning at Wednesday’s AAP annual meeting in New York, the closing speaker, bestselling author Malcolm Gladwell said, “I took a look at the lineup and it’s pretty clear to me, I’m the party tape.” But what Gladwell provided, to substitute a different metaphor, was red meat to this roomful of publishers: Through a variety of anecdotes that had little to do with books, Gladwell suggested that the world needs great editors, and so does publishing. Along the way Gladwell–whose next book, about power, is coming from Little, Brown in 2013–provided heartfelt recommendations of two very different books. […]
ALA President Raphael Continues Dialog with Publishers
Before the pointed address by the NYPL’s Anthony Marx at this morning’s AAP annual meeting, president of the American Library Association Molly Raphael spoke to the organization with prepared remarks. In a respectful address that acknowledged the two organization’s mutual goals and needs, she said, “We must be allies in this new environment; we must understand that we are all part of the same ecosystem.” Much of Raphael’s message was in between the lines, taking note of recent discussions between her association and publishers. It’s clear they understand that publishers are not allowed (and also not likely) to discuss a […]
NYPL President Urges Publishers to Propose Pilot Models
In an impassioned address at the Association of American Publishers’ annual meeting, president and CEO of the New York Public Library Dr. Anthony Marx told publishers: “We’re eager to be promoting your books. We are trusted by our patrons to have views about quality. We help to sell your books.” He noted, “on the library site now, if you come in looking for a book and it’s out, the first thing we ask you is whether you want to buy a copy. Our patrons buy books and we buy books. We bring in speakers thorough NYPL live and we hope […]
Publishers Acknowledge Legislative and Educational Challenges
As this morning’s annual meeting of the Association of American Publishers (AAP) in New York underscored, in today’s complicated and changing times the organization has more legislative and policy issues on its hands than it has in some time. Association president Tom Allen emphasized how much has changed since he joined the organization in 2009. As many of the morning’s speakers underscored, “we have a lot to talk to our publics about.” Allen noted he is “struck by the fact that when you pick up a book…it’s very hard for members of the public to see the contribution made by […]
Puzo Estate Says Sequel Rights Were Reserved, and Countersues Paramount
Executor of the Mario Puzo estate Anthony Puzo replied to Paramount’s suit seeking to block publication by Grand Central of a new Godfather-related book, THE FAMILY CORLEONE, and countersued, looking to terminate Paramount’s original contract for The Godfather and asking for at least $10 million in damages. Like Paramount’s original suit, the filing cites a small portion of language from the original agreement and–like Paramount–the defendant does not attach the actual contracts as evidence. Underneath the claims and counterclaims, however, the dispute appears to be more about the future of The Godfather film franchise than anything else. Attorney Bert Fields, one […]