Bertelsmann issued a brief third quarter trading report (in the European style), indicating that sales for the first nine months of the year rose 4.3 percent to €11.82 billion — “their highest level in seven years” — but profits have declined sharply, due in large part to recent rearrangements of their portfolio of assets. “An impairment loss on RTL Group’s TV activities in Hungary, where the parliament passed a special tax on advertising in the summer, negatively impacted the 2014 figure,” the company explained. “There were also losses from the sale of the Be Printers’ Italian printing plants and the Club businesses in […]
Archives for November 2014
Amazon Resumes Limited Hachette Pre-Orders and Restores Some Discounts
For the first time since late May, Amazon customers can pre-order at least some titles from Hachette Book Group — principally Little, Brown books, set for imminent release (such as Kevin Pietersen’s AUTOBIOGRAPHY, publishing December 1) as well as books not scheduled until spring 2015 (including Cathy by John Carder Bush in April, and books by Susanna Gregory in February and March). From our searches Wednesday morning the restored pre-orders apply only to Little, Brown and have not been extended to Grand Central, FaithWords, Orbit or other HBG divisions. In addition, all of the prominent forthcoming releases highlighted on HBG’s own web site (James Patterson’s November Hope to Die and […]
Cutbacks At Nook Include Executive Ranks
Barnes & Noble’s Nook division has eliminated an unspecified number of jobs as the company continues to manage costs in anticipation of a spinoff of Nook Media (or parts thereof) some time next year. The layoffs include three executives: Longtime team member Theresa Horner, vp, digital content and general manager of Nook Press, and one of the founding executives of Nook after joining Barnes & Noble in 2008; David Rowland, vp, ecommerce and Nook.com; and Jonathan Shar, vp, new media, who oversaw newsstand and video. Responding to our query on Wednesday, Barnes & Noble spokesperson Mary Ellen Keating confirmed by email: “We made […]
Barnes & Noble Launches Bundling Promo (“Sync Up”), and Adds POD to Nook Press
After a number of quiet experiments over the years bundling print books and ebooks together, Barnes & Noble has launched an extensive holiday bundling promotion under the banner “Sync Up,” letting in-store customers add an ebook version of eligible titles for $4.99 when purchasing the print editions. Seventy “select paperbacks” are eligible, including Stephen King’s Doctor Sleep, Sue Monk Kidd’s The Secret Life of Bees, Christina Baker Kline’s Orphan Train and Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander. The savings on the bundle vary by title — with the King ebook selling regularly for $14.99, while the Kline and Gabaldon ebooks already sell for […]
Amazon Wins .Book Domain Auction
Amazon’s Luxembourg subsidiary has won the auction for the .book domain. The company prevailed over nine competitors, including Google and Bowker, the latter reportedly the last to drop out, according to the Register. Terms of the auction were not disclosed but it is understood to have been “between $5 million and $10 million.” Though not reported elsewhere, according to the ICANN database, Amazon also appears to be the only contender for the .author domain as well, listed as “in contracting” (which has its own peculiar meaning for ICANN). When Amazon first applied for the .book domain in early 2013, the company said it would run it […]
People, Etc.
Becky Nesbitt has resigned from Howard Books, where she was vp, editor-in-chief, “to spend more time with her family as well as pursue opportunities as a freelance editor,” according to the publisher’s announcement. Nesbitt, who will stay with Howard Books through the end of the year as a search for her replacement begins, joined the company in 2009. Katherine Tiernan McCahill has joined Penguin Random House as senior director, digital development. In addition, James Johnston has been promoted to svp, worldwide and US financial reporting, planning, and accounting. Alexis Gargagliano has joined Regan Arts as executive editor, working on fiction and […]