“If you see me struggling with language, and being tentative, it’s because I’m going to be called to testify next week in court,” Macmillan ceo John Sargent said near the beginning of his ABA keynote conversation with outgoing president Becky Anderson. He’d already cautioned the audience that he was nervous to “step out of the background” as, someone generally reticent to comment publicly. Despite those caveats, Sargent ended up having quite a bit to say about the Department of Justice (though not as much about Macmillan’s settlement), self-publishing, Amazon, and other publishing matters. Sargent felt the need to speak out […]
Archives for May 2013
Digital: Harper Launches eGalley Platform, and More
At BEA, HarperCollins announced their new in-house program to provide and manage digital galleys as well as promotional copies of their ebooks (including providing authors with multiple ebook “copies” of their books). Called the e-Insider Program, it works from a new website — e.hc.com — and uses Adobe Digital Editions (and thus requires a free Adobe ID to read the ebooks). Authors will be given a set of one-time use of codes, each good for a single ebook download. For trade shows, like this one, “rather than distributing physical copies of books, HarperCollins can now provide a code that will […]
Apple Won’t Settle
Apple ceo Tim Cook addressed the ebook lawsuits briefly in a long interview on Tuesday as part of the D11 conference. By his account, the government is requiring that Apple admit guilt as part of any settlement, even though none of the settling publishers did so (and in fact, out of court, they have all continued to proclaim their innocence). Cook said, “The e-book case is bizarre. We’re not going to sign a settlement that says we did something we didn’t do. So we’re going to fight.” The trial is scheduled to begin June 3. As we noted previously, Judge […]
ABA Membership Ranks Rise for Fourth Year In A Row
If three is a trend is four a pattern? As the industry prepares for BEA — which includes the American Booksellers Association’s annual meeting — the organization announced to the AP that ABA member stores have increased for the fourth straight year. CEO Oren Teicher says the ABA now has 1,632 members, a gain of 65 from a year ago. Total member locations rose by 71, to 1971 in all. The previous year the organization added 55 members, and the year before that they picked up 102 members — though that gain was driven by the merger with the Association of Booksellers […]
Sales, Comps and Earnings Fall at BAM with No Big Hits; Sales and Profits Drop for Indigo
Following the expansion of their store footprint over a year ago, Books-a-Million has returned to sales declines on both an overall as well as a comparable store basis. For their first quarter, ending March 4, overall sales fell 7.4 percent to $104.5 million (down from $112.8 million a year ago), and same-store sales dropped 6.8 percent. As a result, their net loss from continuing operations increased — up to $3.7 million, 25 cents per share, almost double the $1.9 million loss recorded a year ago. CEO Terrance Finley said in the announcement, “Our first quarter results were slightly below our […]
Miller to Start Nonfiction Division for Macmillan, and More
Bob Miller will launch a new, standalone nonfiction division for Macmillan. He will start July 8, and hire “a small editorial staff” (he tells the WSJ he will have two editors), and aims to publish 36 books a year starting in early 2015. Miller says in the announcement, “I couldn’t be happier to return to my roots on 23rd Street, where I learned so many of the publishing values I’ve aspired to ever since. I’m very grateful to John and my Macmillan colleagues–new and old–for this chance to do what I love with such enthusiastic support.” Macmillan ceo John Sargent […]