This is what it has come to. Barnes & Noble reported fiscal first quarter sales through July 28, and once again fell short of analysts’ expectations. The stock is down about 8 percent in the first hour of trading. Sales of $795 million were down 6.9 percent from a year ago (expectations were $833 million) and the net loss was $17 million, or 23 cents per share, compared to a loss of $10.8 million a year ago. EBITDA was $7.7 million, as compared to $11.2 million a year ago — even with $22 million in expense reductions. (Nook actually produced $2.3 million of […]
Archives for September 2018
Folio Acquires Harold Ober Associates
Folio Literary Management announced that it has acquired, and will continue the business of, Harold Ober Associates, “representing some of the most iconic writers of the 20th century.” Ober president Phyllis Westberg comments, “The time has come to move forward. We believe this merger is a perfect pairing of the traditional and the new. We could not be more pleased for Folio to bring its added value to our already much valued and timeless titles.” (Westberg and Craig Tenney are retiring. All other Ober personnel will be joining Folio.) Founded in 1929, Harold Ober Associates’ clients have included F. Scott Fitzgerald, Agatha […]
What Publishers’ “Morality Clauses” Actually Say, and How Agents Are Reacting
The growing awareness and apparent use of morality clauses in major publisher contracts has been a hot button issue this year — mistakenly treated as if this was a brand new practice. Most of that reporting and discussion has taken place in a partial void, absent an airing of what the actual contractual clauses say. It’s one thing to talk about the idea of morality clauses, but it’s far more important to know what standards and conditions such clauses try to impose, and what remedies they prescribe. So for several months we talked to agents, publishers, and attorneys to uncover […]
September iBooks Picks
iBooks announced its Best of September list, which includes Imogen Hermes Gowar’s The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock, excerpted in our Buzz Books 2018 Fall/Winter sampler, and Alexa Martin’s Intercepted, excerpted in our Buzz Books 2018 Romance collection. The rest of the picks: The Winter Soldier, by Daniel Mason Transcription, by Kate Atkinson Three Little Lies, by Laura Marshall Football for a Buck, by Jeff Pearlman Vengeful, by V.E. Schwab An Absolutely Remarkable Thing, by Hank Green Washington Black, Esi Edugyan 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, by Yuval Noah Harari Just Mercy, by Bryan A. Stevenson Lake Success, by Gary Shteyngart Heartland, by […]
Briefs: A New Marquez, Salinger’s 100th, Center for Fiction Nominees, and More
Forthcoming Vintage Español will published a selection of journalism by the late Nobel Laureate Gabriel García Márquez, El Escándalo del Siglo (October 23, 2018). An English-language edition of The Scandal of the Century will be published by Knopf in May 2019. The book will include an introduction by Jon Lee Anderson and an editor’s note by Cristóbal Pera, Márquez’s longtime editor and friend, who also selected the articles that appear in the book. Awards The Center for Fiction has announced the seven title shortlist for its $10,000 First Novel Prize, with the winner to be named on December 11: Asymmetry, […]
People, Etc.
Founder of Blue Rider Press (and longtime publisher at Simon & Schuster before that) David Rosenthal has joined Houghton Mifflin Harcourt as editor at large. Svp and publisher Bruce Nichols said, “I have known and admired David for many years, and I am thrilled that he will bring his creativity, keen editorial eye, and astonishing list of contacts to HMH.” Simon & Schuster has restructured its sales division, including the following promotions and hires: Paula Amendolara has been promoted to vp, director of national accounts, adding responsibility for sales to mass market retailers and airports, as well as the key distributors […]