People in book publishing are accustomed to trading a relatively flat market for a relatively stable financial environment, in good times and bad. But 2015 saw two dramatic financial changes that will clearly carry over into 2016. Everyone knows the price of oil fell substantially last year, but another timeless investment did even worse: the stock of Pearson, the international educational publishing giant (and still owner of 47 percent of Penguin Random House). Since announcing a small drop in sales and modestly reduced earnings expectations in October investors, have abandoned Pearson’s shares. Down 42 percent in 2015, the company shed $6.4 […]
Archives for January 2016
Barnes & Noble “Pleased” with Flattish Holiday Sales
Barnes & Noble celebrated a happily mediocre holiday sales season, in a press release reporting on the nine weeks sales of through January 2. Total sales of $1.1 billion were slightly lower, down 0.8 percent, “due to lower online sales and store closures.” Same-store sales inched up, rising 0.6% over the holidays. Nook sales continue their fade, per the year’s pattern, down 25.8 percent to $41.2 million. Though the bungled summer relaunch of their web site clearly continued to cause problems, new ceo Ronald Boire says in the release, “We were also encouraged by the improved performance of BN.com during December, as the […]
Benjamin’s The Swans of Fifth Avenue Leads February Indie Next List; Sepetys Tops LibraryReads List
Melanie Benjamin’s newest historical novel The Swans of Fifth Avenue is booksellers’ number one pick on the ABA’s February Indie Next list. The rest of the list features: Be Frank With Me, by Julia Claiborne Johnson The Yid, by Paul Goldberg Breaking Wild, by Diane Les Becquets Orphan X, by Gregg Hurwitz The Portable Velben, by Elizabeth McKenzie The Forgetting Time, by Sharon Guskin All the Birds in the Sky, by Charlie Jane Anders The Things We Keep, by Sally Hepworth The Arrangement, by Ashley Warlick Sweetgirl, by Travis Mulhauser Georgia: A Novel of Georgia O’Keeffe, by Dawn Tripp My […]
People
Dutton Children’s vp, publisher Julie Strauss-Gabel has been promoted to president and publisher of the imprint, reporting to Jen Loja, who said in the announcement: “Julie does not only publish books, she publishes authors, and for that we are immensely grateful. She brings important voices and stories to readers each and every day, and she continues to grow Dutton into a house with not only a terrific legacy, but also a spectacular future. I know I speak for the entire Penguin Young Readers group when I say we are very galvanized to accomplish this alongside her.” Denise Oswald will move […]
Another Lens on 2015: Bestseller Share
As noted a couple of months ago, we have been experimenting with putting filters on top on our big database of national bestseller lists (now over 12 years deep) to extract some comparison info over time. With the year complete, we thought it would be interesting to generate a calculation of NYT “bestseller share” by major publishers. To simplifyy things, the figures below are based on the printed lists only, and calculate total “slots.” (A single title can capture multiple slots on NYT lists in a given week; we track by both titles and slots, but it’s easiest to keep the lens […]
People
Renee Sedliar has been promoted to the new role of editorial director for Da Capo Lifelong Books. She is charged with “bringing Lifelong to the next level, further growing this crucial part of the Perseus publishing program by exploring new subject categories and taking the lead in charting Lifelong’s editorial course.” At Kobo, Pieter Swinkels has been promoted to evp, publisher relations and content, while Dave Anderson moves up to evp, content sales. Elizabeth Evans has left the Jean V. Naggar Agency, where she was an agent for the past five years, to launch Elizabeth Evans Editorial, providing freelance editorial and publishing […]