David Fickling will leave Random House Children’s UK after more than 12 years in order to launch his existing children’s imprint, David Fickling Books, as an independent venture in July. Fickling will be chairman of the new company, and author and editor Simon Mason will take on the role of managing director. The venture will continue to be based in its existing Oxford office and plans to publish 25-30 books a year. After a period of transition, DFB backlist titles, including Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time and John Boyne’s The Boy in the Striped […]
Archives for April 2013
Pearson Starts Well; Quarto Is Up In the US and Down Overall
In a short first quarter trading update ahead of their annual meeting–in the British style–Pearson said overall sales were £1.2 billion, up 3 percent at constant exchange rates and 4 percent overall (but down slightly on an underlying basis). Penguin “has had a good start to the year with market share gains in all key territories boosted by bestsellers from Harlan Coben, Nora Roberts, Jamie Oliver and John Green.” The FT “is facing weak trading conditions for advertising” and otherwise their performance is in line with their forecast from last month when they reported 2012 results. Pearson In another brief […]
Sales Rise 22 Percent At Amazon, Though International Media Stalls
Amazon’s sales grew 22 percent to $16.07 billion in their first quarter, as operating income fell to $181 million (down $11 million) and net income dropped more, down $48 million to $82 million in the quarter — for a margin of just over half of one percent. Though slim, those earnings were ahead of analysts’ expectations (but sales were slightly below estimates). The company forecast a likely loss for the next quarter (or a best a tiny margin of up to $10 million), and sees sales growing 13 percent to 26 percent. On that softer than expected outlook, shares fell […]
People: Sontz Takes Over As Powell’s CEO
Powell’s Books longtime chief operating officer Miriam Sontz will take over as the bookseller’s ceo, as Emily Powell relinquishes that title to “step fully into her role as the owner of Powell’s Books, focusing on the stewardship of Powell’s long-term future, health, and vitality.” She wrote in a memo to employees: “In Miriam’s 28 years at Powell’s she has held many roles — from Beaverton store manager to co-CEO. Powell’s owes much of its arc through life to Miriam — to her persistent, loving dedication to Powell’s, to bookselling, and to integrity.” Sontz says, “We are well-positioned to continue efficiencies […]
People: Maja Thomas to Leave HBG After 22 Years
Senior vice president of Hachette Digital & Audio Maja Thomas will leave her full-time position at the company after 22 years with Time Warner and then HBG, “for the next exciting chapter of her career.” As ceo Michael Pietsch notes, Thomas “has been a pioneer in the creation of HBG’s ebook and audiobook businesses. She has brought her vision, leadership, and entrepreneurial drive to the development of these key areas of our company and delivered enormously successful results and growth.” She has led Hachette Audio since 2000, and Hachette Digital since 2005, and “in the past three years Maja has […]
Digital Briefs: iPad Sales, and txtr Expansion
Apple reported second quarter earnings after the close of the market on Tuesday, saying they sold another 19.5 million iPads (in all sizes) during the quarter. That’s only slightly lower than the 22.9 million iPads sold in the previous holiday quarter–for a total of 143.4 million iPads sold worldwide since the device launched just over 3 years ago. Berlin-based txtr says they have rolled out local ebookstores across the world English landscape, adding new storefronts recently in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Ireland and Canada. The company has started selling their Beagle ereader directly to consumers in Europe online for […]