Wiley reported second quarter sales through October 31 on Wednesday morning, continuing the pattern from the first quarter of fiscal 2017. Sales of $425.6 million were down $7.8 million (or 2 percent) from a year ago, with a net loss of -$11.45 million (compared to a profit of $43.6 million a year ago). “Adjusted” net income — if you adjust out all of the bad things that actually happened during the quarter — rose slightly on a per share basis. Special charges included $48 million for losing on an unfavorable tax ruling in Germany; $6.8 million on their recurring restructuring […]
Archives for December 2016
Bestsellers and More Best Ofs: Amazon and Apple
Amazon released their annual package of bestseller lists, and as the etailer continues to gain market share on their competitors, those list take on ever greater significance. As usual, the list that they promote only features new books published in 2016, and it combines print and ebook sales. To see the actual overall bestsellers this year, you need to look at their separate print and ebook charts. Amazon’s top 20 new books are: 1. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts 1 & 2, Special Rehearsal Edition Script by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany 2. When Breath Becomes […]
Mondadori Sells Bompiani
In keeping with the conditions imposed as part of Mondadori’s acquisition of Rizzoli’s book publishing assets this spring, the company sold Bompiani to Giunti. The deal closed December 1, at a total prize of 16.5 million euros (“5.3 million euro of which related to assets transferred to the buyer”). It’s the second sale made to satisfy antitrust regulators; in July, Mondadori sold their 51 percent stake in Marsilio/Sonzogno to the De Michelis family’s Gem — which owned a stake in the publisher since 1985 — for 8.9 million euros.
People, Bookselling, Etc.
Adriana Stimola has joined the Stimola Literary Studio as agent, representing cookbooks, lifestyle, and health and wellness books. She was formerly content manager at Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture. Chris Francis has joined Sourcebooks as assistant editor. Elizabeth Scarpelli has been hired as director of the new University of Cincinnati Press, which aims to be “an innovative 21st century academic press.” She was director of publisher services at Baker & Taylor and Bookmasters, prior to which she was assistant press director and sales and marketing director for Rutgers University Press. At Ingram Publisher Services, Bonnie Dailey joins the company based […]
The Best of the Best of 2016, to Start
For the ninth year, we’re tracking selective “best books of 2016” lists from all over to provide a comprehensive, aggregated view of the consensus picks for the year’s very best titles. As usual, we’re drawing on newspaper, magazine and online publications and critics, but also count lists from booksellers, librarians, major awards nominees and more. With today’s GoodReads picks and other highlighted lists included, we have almost 35 “votes” in so far — which is a little more than half the expected total, and this is usually right around when we start issuing our semi-weekly aggregations. As we have already mentioned informally, […]
Goodreads Winners and More 2016 Picks
Goodreads announced the winners of their annual Choice Awards, based on online voting, across 20 categories in all. Here is a selection of the category winners, sorted by vote totals: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child – Parts One and Two, by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne, John Tiffany (Fantasy: 128,543 votes) A Court of Mist and Fury, by Sarah J. Maas (YA Fantasy/Science Fiction: 57,776 votes) Hamilton, by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Jeremy McCarter (Nonfiction: 52,925 votes) The Hidden Oracle, by Rick Riordan (Middle Grade: 46,348 votes) Morning Star, by Pierce Brown (Science Fiction: 45,353 votes) It Ends with Us, by Colleen […]