Douglas Holding, the parent company of Germany’s struggling bookstore chain Thalia, has arranged a buyout that might take the company private, and at the least it will increase the stake of the founding Kreke family. US private equity firm Advent International is leading the bid, which values the company at 1.5 billion euros. Douglas Holding includes successful a perfume and cosmetics chain, a jewellery seller, clothing stores and candy stores. The company’s results have suffered mainly due to the continuing restructuring at Thalia, recording a group net loss of 73 million euros in the first nine months of their most […]
Archives for October 2012
People, Etc.
Zondervan and Thomas Nelson will merge its fiction divisions into a single unit overseen by vp, publisher Daisy Hutton. Though fiction acquisitions will be “managed centrally,” with editors working across both Thomas Nelson and Zondervan, the publishers will keep separate offices in Grand Rapids, MI and Nashville, TN respectively. Hutton said in a statement: “This is an era of unprecedented challenge and opportunity for Fiction publishing. The Thomas Nelson and Zondervan brands each have a rich heritage. We intend to build on that heritage by developing more distinctive, stronger identities for each brand. We will use the assets that both […]
June AAP Trade eBook and Paperback Numbers Stay 50 Shades Strong
The AAP reported strong trade sales again for the month of June, as you can see the big contribution of the 50 Shades series (which was in its second month of republication in June) and the diminishing sales boost from The Hunger Games. eBook sales remained at their highest levels yet, at $137.6 million–though month-to-month that was only $3.6 million higher than June, and children’s ebooks went from $27.7 million in May to $17.7 million (probably due to Hunger Games). With Random House having sold 9.6 million EL James ebooks in the first three months on sale, 50 Shades is […]
WIMPY KID Goes Digital, With eBooks Available on October 30
The first six books in Jeff Kinney’s DIARY OF A WIMPY KID series, which have sold more than 75 million copies worldwide, will finally be available in ebook format as of October 30, while the newly arriving seventh volume, DIARY OF A WIMPY KID: THE THIRD WHEEL, will be published simultaneously in print and digital on November 13. “The decision came after a lot of thought and deliberation,” Kinney told the AP. “I am very excited about this. It feels like the time is right.” Published under a new banner of Wimp-E-Books, the digital editions will list for $13.95, at […]
Briefs: FBF Trade Attendance Declines Slightly; Retailers Send Mail On eBook Settlement Credits
The Frankfurt Book Fair said that trade attendance decline 1.6 percent–while total visitors including the German public rose slightly, by 0.6 percent. FBF said in their release that “the fact that the number of visitors declined only marginally during the trade visitors’ days reflects the fact that the industry remains optimistic and is well equipped to face its challenges.” As previously announced, major ebook retailers started notifying qualifying customers by email that they will be entitled to unspecified store credits as part of the settlement of the suit by state attorneys general and the three Settlers. Amazon’s mail landed first, […]
Dijkstra Agency Asserts Representation of Nobel Winner Mo Yan’s Backlist
New winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature Mo Yan is listed on The Wylie Agency’s website as a current client and, as we reported yesterday, when contacted for comment Andrew Wylie said by e-mail that the agency was “in discussions with publishers in all territories” about Yan’s work. (This was confirmed by some publishers reporting from Frankfurt.) But Sandra Dijkstra at the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency reports that “we were Mo Yan’s American and international agents from the beginning. Starting with his classic novel RED SORGHUM, we sold his first 6 books worldwide.” She notes that “we are very […]