There are a variety of indications that sales of dedicated ereading devices as well as tablets (or at least non-Apple tablets) were weak over the holiday period — perhaps because those who want them already have them, and the devices are all solid enough that they do not require continuous replacement cycles. Apple announced in a press release that “the first week of January set a new record for billings from the App Store with customers around the world spending nearly half a billion dollars on apps and in-app purchases, and New Year’s Day 2015 marked the single biggest day […]
Archives for January 2015
Hannah Leads February Indie Next List; Tyler Tops Library Reads List
The preview version of the February Indie Next List has The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah as indie booksellers’ No. 1 selection for the month. The rest of the list features: Etta and Otto and Russell and James, by Emma Hooper A Spool of Blue Thread, by Anne Tyler Of Things Gone Astray, by Janina Mathewson Get in Trouble, by Kelly Link Sweetland, by Michael Crummey Leaving Before the Rains Come, by Alexandra Fuller The Jaguar’s Children, by John Vaillant First Frost, by Sarah Addison Allen Wolf Winter, by Cecilia Ekbäck The Swimmer, by Joakim Zander Mort(e), by Robert Repino Migratory […]
Barnes & Noble Happily Flat for Holiday Sales
Barnes & Noble reported a not-terrible nine-week holiday sales period: Total sales at the division comprising the BN stores and BN.com were basically flat at $1.1 billion (up 0.2 percent), though that result was helped by “favorable timing of the fiscal nine-week period, which ended on January 3 this year as compared to December 28 last year,” which made up for some of the sales lost due to store closures. Sales would have been down 1.6 percent absent the schedule gain. Bookstore comp sales declined 0.6 percent because of Nook declines; “core” store sales, leaving aside Nook devices and accessories, rose […]
People, Etc.
Hachette Book Group has completed its acquisition of Black Dog & Leventhal. Workman will continue to distribute the line through June of this year, and Black Dog staff will relocate to HBG’s offices in mid-April. Taylor Sperry has joined Melville House as editor. Previously she was assistant editor at FSG. At St. Martin’s, Hannah Braaten, Laura Chasen, Silissa Kenney, and Elizabeth Lacks have all been promoted to associate editor. At Tor/Forge, Kristin Sevick has been promoted to senior editor, while Sarah Romeo moves up to designer. Cassandra Ammerman has been promoted to senior marketing manager, and Alex Cameron moves up to […]
FSG, Heinemann To Publish Houellebecq’s SUBMISSION In Wake of Charlie Hebdo Massacre
Wednesday morning’s attack on the offices of French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, which left 12 dead, including four cartoonists and the economist and author Bernard Maris, took place on the French publication date of Michel Houellebecq‘s new novel SUBMISSION, already subject to controversy for its depiction of France under Islamic rule in 2022 (and featured on the cover of Charlie Hebdo’s most recent issue, also published Wednesday). An armed police guard is currently stationed at the headquarters of Houellebecq’s publisher Flammarion, while “a large sign said visitors must request permission by phone and get an escort before entering.” The company’s […]
More January Picks, and Beyond
New lists highlight the iBooks Store’s top 20 titles for January, as well as USA Today’s 10-title winter preview. A consensus pick among those two lists as well as the January Indie Next list, the Library Reads list, and Amazon’s picks is Paula Hawkins’ THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN, which publishes January 13. Most of the rest of the USA Today’s list focuses on well-known authors with releases due over the next four months, including books by Nick Hornby, David Duchovny, Kazuo Ishiguro, Erik Larson, Dennis Lehane, Sara Gruen, Candace Bergen, Toni Morrison and Peter Slevin (on Michelle Obama). Apple’s other January picks are: Fiction […]