For the second straight quarter, Barnes & Noble beat Wall Street’s diminished expectations, with a reduced net loss of 4 cents a share (or $7 million) versus the predicted loss of 6 cents to 11 cents. EBITDA rose as well at $64.8 million, a 16 percent increase compared to a year ago, and while retail bookstore sales declined, those profits doubled. Though full holiday results won’t be reported until January 3, BN said Nook device sales “doubled over the four-day Black Friday weekend, across all channels” as compared to last year. The biggest likely concern–that we have pointed to before–is […]
Archives for November 2012
Sagalyn Agency Joins with ICM In “Strategic Alliance”
As publishers pair up, so will some literary agencies–evidenced in mild form by a Wednesday announcement that Washington, DC-based The Sagalyn Agency has entered into a “strategic alliance” with ICM Partners. Rafe Sagalyn’s agency will be renamed ICM/Sagalyn, and “agents from ICM Partners and Sagalyn will co-sign authors and journalists.” The alliance also gives ICM Partners entree into the Washington world of journalists and politicians, for whom a book deal is sometimes just one piece of their representation needs. Additionally, ICM Partners will represent film, TV and media rights as well as foreign rights to the library of properties already […]
Amazon Publishing to Open European Branch Under Griffith
While Amazon did not respond directly to our request for information for Kindle sales information for THE FOUR-HOUR CHEF, company publishing vp Jeff Belle claims in a letter (posted in full by PaidContent) that their total sale is over 60,000 units so far (or roughly 30,000 of those $4.99 ebooks in addition to the print sales we reported on Wednesday morning; the December 9 NYT bestseller lists show FOUR-HOUR CHEF at No. 4 on the advice, how-to and misc. list). Belle says the Ferriss book was the bestselling nonfiction title for the week, though their own list for all of […]
Best of 2012: NYT Notables; Slate Staff Selections; Q&Q’s 10 Best
The New York Times Book Review named their annual 100 Notable Books in fiction, poetry, and nonfiction (which will run in this Sunday’s print edition) with their 10 Best list to follow next week. Slate compiled their best books of 2012 list by polling their staff (including their human resources director, who chose Esi Edugyan’s HALF BLOOD BLUES.) The most popular choice was Katherine Boo’s BEHIND THE BEAUTIFUL FOREVERS. From earlier this week, Canada’s Quill & Quire chose their top 5 fiction and nonfiction choices: Fiction Tamara Faith Berger, MAIDENHEAD Tamas Dobozy, SIEGE 13 Alice Munro, DEAR LIFE Alix Ohlin, […]
Ferriss Falls Short of Sales Goal So Far, Behind Garten (and Others)
Despite his well-covered persecution publicity pitch, it looks as if Tim Ferriss will come up short of his proclaimed goal for THE FOUR-HOUR CHEF of “hit[ting] #1 on BookScan to send a message to the incumbent world of publishing, to those who want everything to remain in the 1900’s.” For the week ending November 25, its first week on sale, the hardcover edition sold approximately 29,000 copies as tracked by Nielsen Bookscan. (Since nearly all sales were likely via Amazon and BN.com, the service likely captures nearly all of the print sales.) That puts the book at No. 3 on […]
People and Remembrances
At Berrett-Koehler, Zoe Mackey has been promoted to online marketing and international sales manager. Samantha Dighton has joined D4EO Literary Agency as an agent, based in Washington, D.C. She worked The Sagalyn Agency. Christina (Kit) Ward, 59, founder of the Christina Ward Literary Agency, most recently co-owner of The Ward and Balkin Agency, and formerly an acquiring editor at Little, Brown in Boston, passed away November 19 after a brief illness. Her colleague writes: “Kit was a brilliant editor and champion for her authors whose work ranged from bestselling literary fiction to gardening books and nature writing, to poetry. She was a […]