In the lead up to next week’s tenth annual Winter Institute, the ABA noted that they tabulated 54 new member stores selling new books in 2014: 45 new bookstores, and 9 new branches or satellites of existing members (plus another 5 stores primarily selling used books). Perhaps more significantly, they also charted sales of 28 ABA member businesses to new owners. (The story includes a complete list of new stores and new owners.) At their dedicated WI mini-site the ABA lists all of the many authors who will appear at next week’s event, and we have already run our seasonal […]
Archives for February 2015
Introducing the World to Grove/Atlantic’s Forthcoming LitHub.com
LitHub.com, the literary web site backed by Grove/Atlantic that is scheduled to debut on April 8, pulls back the curtain a little bit ahead of time, with an article in the WSJ and a press release. (The pre-announcement is apparently because of a “sneak peek” session they will convene on Monday at the ABA’s Winter Institute.) Founding editor of L Magazine Jonny Diamond is editor-in-chief, with John Freeman as executive editor. Electric Literature has partnered to design and develop the web site, and Grove/Atlantic’s Morgan Entrekin conceived of the site in conjunction with veteran magazine editor Terry McDonell. The paradigm is […]
Harper Has Flat Quarter Before Harlequin Gain
HarperCollins’ parent company News Corp. reported second quarter fiscal year sales for the period ending December 31 after the close of the market on Thursday. On an adjusted basis, before adding in the recently-acquired Harlequin, Harper’s sales were flat at $392 million, with EBITDA down 4 percent to $65 million — but pretty much a win for the publisher since it compares to the period a year ago when Veronica Roth’s Divergent trilogy was taking off. The company cites “strong performances in children’s and general books resulting from higher backlist sales during the holiday season, which largely offset the lower revenues […]
Donnelley’s Higher Bid For Courier Wins Out
As expected, RR Donnelley has bested Quad/Graphics in acquiring Courier Corp. after making a higher bid. The two companies announced they have entered into a material agreement for Donnelley to buy Courier at $23 a share — or about $15 million more than Quad/Graphics offered last month. The new agreement, which is set to close in the middle of the year, “represents a mix of approximately 49 percent cash and 51 percent stock, and a total transaction value of approximately $261 million, plus the assumption of Courier’s net debt and payout of outstanding equity awards,” according to the joint announcement. Donnelley president and […]
Waterstones’ Sales Continuing Falling, But Daunt Expects Operating Profit Soon
Following the results of Waterstones in the UK is confusing, for two reasons. The first is that the privately-held company releases data on a delayed basis; in late January or early February, they file a government document that shows sales for the fiscal year ending the previous April. (So their results for the year ending April 2014 have just been filed.) The other reason is that the UK media is continuously eager to focus on how Waterstones is being saved, and managing director James Daunt is always ready with provocative quotes to fill the stories. Looking just at the numbers, […]
Buzz Books for Spring/Summer, and Winter Institute: Fiction
As usual, our free adult spring/summer Buzz Books ebook sampler opens with Sarah Weinman’s broader surveys of over 100 notable books from the forthcoming season. This is the second portion of those overviews, which we are running in advance of the ABA’s annual Winter Institute next week in Asheville, NC. (Added to the Winter Institute mix this year is genuine early interest in and promotion for two fall titles, debut fiction from Garth Risk Halberg and Bill Clegg. Both will be shared as WI galleys, which will make things interesting when they are positioned as hot BEA titles later this year.) You can […]