While the industry celebrates the arrival of a book that is driving the national agenda and sending customers to stores all over, Barnes & Noble continues to suffer from underperformance, low store traffic, and sluggish online sales. The chain disclosed holiday sales in contrast to industry trends after the close of the market on Thursday. Perhaps more importantly, those poor holiday sales will impact earnings: BN reduced their earnings guidance from EBITDA of $180 million — the minimum chairman Len Riggio had said BN needs to ensure “a future” — down to a range of $140 million to $160 million. […]
Archives for January 2018
Fast and Furious Sales: Book Out of Stock
Michael Wolff’s FIRE AND FURY looks to have sold out available stock more or less immediately at major accounts and others following the accelerated release of the title. Kramerbooks in Washington, DC stayed open late and put their 75 copies on sale after midnight Thursday — technically ahead of the 9:00 AM release, but no publishing police were on hand to stop them. A sales clerk said, “We sold out in less than 20 minutes.” Online, most major accounts — including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Walmart and Target — show the title as temporarily out of stock. (Books-a-Million may have […]
People, Etc.: Jordan and Eakin Join the NYTBR, and More
The New York Times Book Review announced personnel changes, with Greg Cowles moving up to senior editor for the Books desk. Previously he was a preview editor for fiction and poetry. Two new hires will replace Cowles and Jennifer Szalai, who was recently named nonfiction book critic. Tina Jordan, formerly the books editor for Entertainment Weekly, will become a fiction preview editor and Inside the List bestseller columnist. She will “work on literary fiction, as well as science fiction and fantasy, horror, thrillers and romance coverage.” Emily Eakin has joined as preview editor, covering fiction and nonfiction reviews and editing essays for the Book Review. She previously […]
Holiday Book Sales Were Fine, But Not At Barnes & Noble; Chain Reduces Earnings Guidance
Unfortunately Barnes & Noble continues to underperform the book business as a whole, disclosing holiday sales in contrast to the industry trend. Sales for the nine weeks ending December 30 were $953 million, down 6.4 percent compared to the prior year, and down the same percentage on a same-store business. Book sales on their own were down 4.5 percent, consistent with the company’s report at the end of November that their non-book product was performing poorly and being curtailed. For the holiday period, “declines in the gift, music and DVD categories accounted for nearly half of the comparable store sales decrease.” […]
FIRE AND FURY Goes On Sale Friday Morning
Publisher Henry Holt announced Thursday afternoon that, “Due to unprecedented demand, we are moving the on-sale date for all formats of FIRE AND FURY by Michael Wolff to Friday, January 5, at 9 AM Eastern.” Wolff quickly added on Twitter, “Here we go. You can buy it (and read it) tomorrow. Thank you, Mr. President.” Shortly before the official announcement, the WSJ had indicated that major retailers, including Barnes & Noble, were already prepared to start selling the book Friday, even without formal permission from the publisher to ignore the formal on-sale date of Tuesday, January 9. Books-A-Million ceo Terry Finley noted, “We […]
For People Who Like to Read, the 11-Page Letter Trump’s Attorney Served On Publisher Holt
The full, 11-page letter from California attorney that Charles J. Harder as litigation counsel for Donald Trump sent to Holt president and publisher Steve Rubin and FIRE AND FURY author Michael Wolff has been posted online. (Note that the letter was actually dispatched to generic publicity@ and rights@ email addresses for Holt, along with a nonexistent domain — webmaster@macmillanusa.com.) The full text expands on the key allegations that we covered earlier in the day — “Your publication of the false/baseless statements about Mr. Trump gives rise to, among other claims, defamation by libel, defamation by libel per se, false light […]