Two independent UK publishers have reported difficult sales results (following the drop over at Quercus as well). Canongate’s 2011 sales fell 19 percent, to £10.8 million, and pre-tax profit was a meager £300,000, down 70 percent, with an operating loss after taxes. And that margin was boosted by £660,000 from the sale of their 70 percent share in Australia’s Text Publishing. The company blamed “Julian Assange’s failure to deliver the book he had contracted to produce,” without mentioning their decision to publish an unauthorized and ultimately unsuccessful version of his manuscript anyway. Faber and Faber said sales fell 8.4 percent, […]
Archives for October 2012
Shapiro’s THE ART FORGER Leads November Indie Next List
The ABA has announced its November Indie Next List, which includes three titles — FLIGHT BEHAVIOR by Barbara Kingsolver, CONSIDER THE FORK by Bee Wilson, and THIS IS HOW YOU LOSE HER by newly-minted MacArthur fellow Junot Diaz — among the featured excerpts in our popular free ebook anthology of selections from over 30 big forthcoming books, BEA BUZZ BOOKS. With many of the excerpted titles still yet to release, if you haven’t checked BEA BUZZ BOOKS out yet, it’s as relevant now as it was when we released it before BEA. Pick up the “trade version” at the link […]
People: Digital Hires at Harper
HarperCollins has hired Adrianna Dufay and Brian Perrin, both serving as executive director, digital product development, reporting to Carrie Bloxson. They will “help conceptualize and develop new digital platforms and products for individual genres and titles,” across apps, e-books, social gaming, and video products, along with helping to harness “emerging product technology and capabilities in support of the imprints.” Dufay has been at JPMorgan Chase and AOL; she will work with Avon, William Morrow, Morrow trade paperbacks, Voyager, and HarperOne. Perrin was part of the start-up team at NBC Publishing most recently and will work with Amistad, Ecco, Harper, Harper […]
Barnes & Noble and Microsoft Finalize Partnership, Now Called Nook Media
Barnes & Noble announced Thursday that it has formally closed its strategic partnership with Microsoft. The new BN subsidiary comprising the Nook and College business, is formally called Nook Media LLC (until now it was simply known by the placeholder NewCo). As originally specified, Microsoft now has an approximately 17.6 percent equity stake in Nook Media, valuing the subsidiary at $1.7 billion (but the stock market still gives Nook Media’s parent company Barnes & Noble a market capitalization of $800 million, even with a bump in shares today after realizing that the investment the market forget about had gone through.) […]
Google and Publishers Settle Long-Running Library Scan Lawsuit
Publisher plaintiffs (and AAP members) Pearson, Penguin, Simon & Schuster, Wiley and McGraw-Hill have agreed to settle their seven-year legal battle with Google over the search giant’s library scanning project. “The settlement acknowledges the rights and interests of copyright-holders. US publishers can choose to make available or choose to remove their books and journals digitized by Google for its Library Project. Those deciding not to remove their works will have the option to receive a digital copy for their use.” The agreement broadly “covers US publishers who can be identified as belonging to one of several publisher associations,” AAP head […]
Market Warms to New Era At Pearson
Yesterday’s investor reaction to the coming executive change at Pearson, with John Fallon taking over from Marjorie Scardino at the beginning of 2013, was rather opaque, but today shares traded in the US jumped 2.5 percent at the opening bell, near an all-time high at more than $20 a share. At a news conference, Mr. Fallon said supportive things about Penguin and the Financial Times, calling them “highly successful businesses in their own right” that integrate well with the “strategic grain of what we are trying to do across Pearson.” He called FT in particular a “valued and valuable” part […]