The AAP reported StatShot monthly sales statistics for January. Total trade sales of $455.7 million were virtually flat compared to the same month a year ago (down just $3.2 million), though adult sales of $355.4 million were up 8.4 percent from the same point last year thanks to gains in trade paperbacks (up 10.6 percent) and hardcovers (up 8.3 perecent). Adult ebook sales of $110.1 million were up only 10.1 percent compared to January 2012, but were just $7 million off the month’s reported trade paperback sales, now comprising the second-largest segment for adult books. The small ebook increase also […]
Archives for June 2013
People, Etc.
Editor-in-chief at School Library Journal Rebecca Miller has been promoted to editorial director of Library Journals, with added responsibility of LJ as well. Current editor-in-chief of LJ Michael Kelley is leaving the company. At Morrow/Avon, Emily Krump has been promoted to editor. At the Gernert Company, Anna Worrall has been promoted to the newly created position of Marketing & Social Media Manager. Israeli author Yoram Kaniuk, 83, died Saturday in Tel Aviv. Kaniuk wrote more than 30 books, including THE ACROPHILE (1960), ADAM RESURRECTED (1968), adapted into the 2008 movie of the same name, and 1948 (2010), published in the […]
Back in Court: Soft Memories and “Alien” Conversations
Even Macmillan ceo John Sargent wears a suit and tie to court, we discovered on Monday as the Federal government’s trial against Apple resumed. We also learned that Rupert Murdoch called HarperCollins ceo Brian Murray to complain about Amazon’s press release announcing their 70% royalty for KDP authors – “Rupert [who] is still pissed at Amazon…. He wants to screw Amazon,” Murray wrote – and Barnes & Noble “first brought to our attention…the term agency model,” according to Murray. (Sargent’s written interpretation of the KDP announcement was that Amazon was “going to use the same model [as agency] to chase […]
People, Etc.
Co-founder and ceo of Figment.com Jacob Lewis will join the Crown group on July 8 in the new position of vp, publishing director for Crown, Hogarth, and Broadway Books, reporting to Molly Stern. He will “partner” with Stern on “the day-to-day strategy and business development of the lists, with particular focus on the publishing of our nonfiction titles and marketing initiatives in the digital space.” Prior to launching the online reading and writing community for teens in 2009, Lewis had worked for 12 years at the New Yorker and then was managing editor at Condé Nast Portfolio. Founder of Bloomsbury […]
Bookselling: Word Up Finds NY Space; Marcus Books in SF Faces Eviction
Word Up Community Bookshop, the “completely implausible store” in Washington Heights, aka “upstate Manhattan,” has successfully raised $60,000 on IndieGoGo from over 800 supporters. The store has signed a lease for a new storefront location at 2113 Amsterdam Avenue, by 165 Street. The reopening has not been scheduled yet. San Francisco’s Marcus Books, said to be the country’s oldest black bookstore, is due to be evicted from the space they have occupied since 1960 by June 18. The building was sold at a bankruptcy auction in April after the store’s owners defaulted on a loan they say was “predatory.” (They […]
Canada’s McArthur & Company to Close; Founder Creates New Agency
Another independent Canadian publisher is exiting the business. McArthur & Company, which has been facing financial problems, announced Friday it will close. (Their last reported deal at PM was in mid-2011.) Founder Kim McArthur is partnering with Miron Blumental (who was an attorney and film/tv producer for the late Maeve Binchy) to create a literary and creative agency, McArthur Blumental Creative, the Toronto Star reports. McArthur called her time as an independent publisher “a mostly grand 15-year run.” She told the newspaper, “We are hoping to make this as seamless a transition for the authors as possible, as we did […]