There has been an abundance of new “best books” over the past few days, among them: Time magazine’s top 10 works of fiction and nonfiction, as well as: Huffington Post Best Fiction Seattle Times critics’ picks Boston Globe St. Louis Post Dispatch Globe and Mail Among retailers, lists were issued by: Kobo Amazon Canada And Canada’s National Post finished their countdown, naming Ta-Nehisi Coates‘ Between the World and Me as their number one pick for the year.
Archives for December 2015
Barnes & Noble Finishes Down Close to 17 Percent
Barnes & Noble stock rebounded a little from its morning low on Friday to finish at just above $10 a share — still down $17 percent on the day (with Barnes & Noble Education falling over 7 percent as people sold anything either Barnes or Noble). In a down market overall, Barnes & Noble is declining again Monday morning, down over 7 percent so far. In the company’s quarterly SEC filing, they detailed the components of the recent period’s sales decline. The problematic relaunch of the BN.com website decreased online sales by $17.5 million — or 22 percent, which is significant […]
Barnes & Noble Selloff Worse Than Expected After Disappointing Quarter, Poor Explanation
It seemed grim enough when Barnes & Noble’s stock fell 4.5 percent before they announced fiscal second quarter earnings after the close of the market Thursday and then dropped another 12 percent in after-hours trading when they failed to meet investors modest expectations. A tone-deaf planted piece in Friday’s NYT didn’t help, as new ceo Ronald Boire tried to pitch BN as some kind of broader “lifestyle brand” — and in the first hour of regular trading Friday morning BN shares declined over 20 percent, falling $2.50 a share to about $9.55 a share. (For perspective, right after spinning off BN College as a […]
Bivald’s Novel Tops Indie Next List for January
Katarina Bivald’s The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend is booksellers’ number one pick on the ABA’s January Indie Next list. The rest of the list features: Your Heart Is a Muscle the Size of a Fist, Sunil Yapa The Song of Hartgrove Hall, Natasha Solomons My Name Is Lucy Barton, Elizabeth Strout Rosalie Lightning, Tom Hart American Housewife, Helen Ellis And Again, Jessica Chiarella Fallen Land, Taylor Brown The Visitors, Simon Sylvester After the Crash, Michel Bussi The Past, Tessa Hadley The Expatriates, Janice Y.K. Lee The Guest Room, Chris Bohjalian Only Love Can Break Your Heart, Ed Tarkington The Sound of Grave, Ruth Wariner When Breath Becomes […]
Barnes & Noble Disappoints Low Expectations
Barnes & Noble reported fiscal second quarter earnings on Thursday afternoon after the close of the market, with sales through October 31 falling $42 million or 4.5 percent compared to a year ago, to $895 million. Though the charge due to the BN College spinoff was lower than expected — a $10.5 million executive severance payment, and investment banking fees of $7 million — EBITDA was negative, at a loss of $20.5 million. Worse, the net loss from continuing operations was $27.2 million or 36 cents per share, compared to a loss of $5.1 million, or 16 cents a share a year ago. […]
People: Archer Named President of HMH Trade
Ellen Archer has been hired as president of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Trade Publishing, reporting to ceo Linda Zecher, as of December 7. She takes over from Gary Gentel, “who will retire in 2016.” Archer will be “based primarily” in the New York office, but will also spend time in the company’s Boston headquarters. Archer was president and publisher of Hyperion for 5 years, prior to its sale to Hachette Book Group. Zecher says in the announcement, “For almost a decade, Gary Gentel has led HMH Trade Publishing, spearheading our transition into new media and channels, while building our legacy of award-winning […]