Encyclopedia Britannica will no longer publish print editions after more than 244 years of doing so, the NYT first reported Tuesday with an advance look at the press release, with the 32-volume set published in 2010 deemed to be its last-ever. (That edition has sold just 8,000 copies, a far cry from Britannica’s peak in 1990, when 120,000 sets sold; there are another 4,000 copies of the 2010 edition still sitting in the company’s warehouse.) Instead Britannica will concentrate on its online business and a wide range of editorial products, including several different digital versions of Encyclopedia that has, to […]
Archives for March 2012
Holiday Comps Decline Yet Again at Books-a-Million
Books-a-Million reported yet another weak holiday quarter, with same-store sales down 5.7 percent (compared to an ever lower-bar). Sales rose 10.7 percent, to $166.9 million, based on the net addition of 20 stores. While Barnes & Noble had one of their best holiday sales seasons in years, BAM has had at least six consecutive years of negative comps in the quarter. Net income from continuing operations was $7.6 million, up $0.9 million compared to a year ago–but they incurred costs for the quarter of $1.6 million related to the closing of 21 underperforming locations and the opening of 41 new […]
Dorchester Says It’s Entertaining Offers From “Reputable” Houses
Following up on our report last week on the Dorchester’s deep financial woes and foreclosure by its owner John Backe, company ceo Robert Anthony sent a letter to authors and agents, obtained by Kristin Nelson and republished on her blog, with further information about the sale process and the status of their office. In the letter Anthony said that Dorchester “has not closed” but due to “challenging economic conditions” they are vacating their offices at 200 Madison Avenue to “become a virtual business,” with a delivery box on East 34 Street. “Though the transition was not as seamless as we […]
People, Etc.
At today’s annual meeting of the Association of American Publishers (AAP), Macmillan ceo John Sargent relinquished the position of organization treasurer after 10 years of service. Sargent will remain on the board, and Norton president Drake McFeely becomes treasurer. Association officers will now rotate annually. Outoing AAP chair David Young thanked Sargent for his years of service, including his “great leadership” in the Google book search efforts (along with “the altruistic efforts of Richard Sarnoff, who has continued to work on our behalf since leaving the industry.”) Young said “we continue to make progress in resolving the differences between publishers and Google.” […]
A Little More On Agency, and Justice
Last week everyone was off to the races with speculation about what a settlement between big agency ebook publishers and the Justice Department might look like, but a measure of caution and patience is recommended on a number of fronts. Washington Post columnist Steve Pearlstein said over the weekend that settlement discussions “largely focus on two provisions of the publishers’ contract with Apple: one that prohibits the publishers from entering into ‘wholesale’ arrangements with Amazon or any other major distributor, and a second that guarantees that no other distributor will be allowed to sell books for less than Apple. It […]
Google and Amazon Finish Playing with Each Other
It appears that Google Play’s 25-cent media offers were an introductory promotion rather than a standing feature, as the site tells visitors “today is the last day of our 7 Days to Play!” In ebooks, the promotion has been a boon to the selected titles, most because Kindle has matched the 25-cent pricing. Each of the designated ebooks took a turn in Kindle’s posted hourly top ten, and all five eligible ebooks appear on Kindle’s weekly bestseller list for the week ending 3/12, in this order: 3. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, by Jonathan Safran Foer 10. Fight Club, by […]