When reporting on the recent AAP trade publishing statistics for January, we raised the question of why AAP data was so out of alignment with Nielsen Bookscan data for the same month. The AAP report looked like terrible news. Even leaving aside declining ebook sales and looking at “print only” AAP data, they showed “net” trade sales (in dollars) as down 14.9 percent for the month. New print book shipments on their own, on a “gross” basis without counting returns, declined 9.4 percent. Meanwhile, Nielsen Bookscan painted a very different picture of January in the consumer marketplace, showing print sell-through […]
Archives for July 2016
Senate Confirms Hayden As Librarian of Congress, and More
In a turnabout from the reported delay we wrote about Wednesday morning, by a substantial vote of 74 to 18, on Wednesday afternoon the US Senate confirmed Carla Hayden for a 10-year term as Librarian of Congress in a roll call vote. She is the fourteenth person to hold the post. In other personnel news, Graywolf Press publisher Fiona McCrae will join the National Book Foundation board of directors, the third new member announced this year. “Fiona is widely respected in both the publishing and nonprofit worlds, and we are honored to have someone with Fiona’s deep expertise as both […]
IPG Buys eBook Distributor INscribe Digital
eBook distribution company INscribe Digital has been sold by parent company Isolation Network to book publishing distributor Independent Publishers Group (IPG), with staff and clients having been informed of the news, as we reported Wednesday afternoon ahead of the official announcement. In the release, IPG ceo Joe Matthews says, “We are delighted to welcome INscribe Digital to the IPG family of businesses. IPG is focused on providing state-of-the- art services for its entire client base, including unparalleled eBook distribution expertise. The INscribe digital platforms and staff will help position us as a technology leader in the distribution marketplace.” The sale builds on a relationship […]
A Big Shift for the NEA’s Big Read: Contemporary Books
After beginning with “obvious American classics” a decade ago, the NEA’s Big Read program is marking their anniversary with “a new focus…on contemporary authors and books written since the founding of the NEA 50 years ago.” The new booklist available for community programming starting in fall 2017 features 28 titles, 13 of which are new to the program. The NEA says the revised selection “represents a range of ages and ethnicities, with more than half of the books by female authors. The list also features a range of genres, including novels, short stories, memoirs, poetry, and books in translation.” They add, “These works were […]
UK Briefs: Hachette UK to Close Littlehampton Warehouse in 2019; Lost My Name Lays Off 10; and More
Hachette UK will close its Littlehampton Book Services warehouse and offices in 2019 as part of a bigger plan to consolidate and modernize their distribution operations. They will build a new distribution center in Didcot, Oxfordshire, about a mile away from the existing Bookpoint distribution facility, starting in late 2016. “It is intended that Hachette Distribution and its client publishers will begin a carefully phased transition to the new site in 2018,” the company said, and the current Bookpoint warehouse will be maintained for “bulk storage.” Hachette UK coo Chris Emerson said in the announcement: “The retail landscape has changed; people buy […]
People: Senate Stalls Vote on Hayden’s LOC Nomination, and More
After winning unanimous support from the Senate Rules Committee, Carla Hayden‘s nomination to serve as Librarian of Congress has been held up by one or more Republicans. The Washington Post notes, “There has been no public explanation for the five-week delay, although privately some conservatives have been critical of the positions Hayden took as head of the American Library Association, including her opposition to a federal law requiring libraries to install Internet filters to block pornography. Others decry her lack of academic heft, saying the position is a scholarly one.” (She has a PhD from the University of Chicago, however, and […]