As the textbook market continues to shrink, industry leader Pearson is playing their final card in trying to get budget-savvy college students to fall in line, and as usual pretending it is corporate innovation. They are transitioning away from the printed textbook entirely, hoping to strangle the secondary market for used (and imported) textbooks once and for all. Pearson will no longer update their 1500 active US textbooks every three years with new editions. In 2020 they will update just 100 titles (versus the 500 titles updated in 2019). They say their textbooks will be “digital first” going forward, with […]
Archives for July 2019
Abandoned Fox 2000 Team Resurrected By HarperCollins and Sony Pictures
The Fox 2000 team headed by Elizabeth Gabler produced numerous successful book-to-film adaptations over the years, but when Fox was sold to Disney the division was abruptly disbanded earlier this year. Now, the unit’s one-time corporate sibling HarperCollins is joining with Sony Pictures to bring back that production team, including includes Erin Siminoff, Marisa Paiva, Nikki Ramey, and Molly Saffron in a new production company opening for business later this summer on Sony’s Culver City lot. Sony and HarperCollins are co-funding the business, and Sony has a first look deal but the partnership “contemplates that Gabler and her team may […]
People, Etc.
Brenda Marsh, founding managing director of the UK joint venture Abrams & Chronicle, will return to the US. UK and export sales director at Hardie Grant Inez Munsch will take over as managing director on September 23. Online used bookseller ThriftBooks has hired Ross Mignoli as cfo. He is a former partner at Arthur Andersen and served as cfo of Performance Driven Brands. Penguin Random House Canada will hold a memorial for author Wayson Choy on Saturday, October 26, 11:00 a.m., at the Fleck Dance Theatre, 207 Queen’s Quay West, Toronto. The event will be open to all. Distribution University […]
August Picks: Indie Next, Library Reads
The ABA named Colson Whitehead’s The Nickel Boys its No. 1 pick for August, though it publishes tomorrow. Also on the list are J. Ryan Stradal’s The Lager Queen of Minnesota (publishing next week) and Kira Jane Buxton’s Hollow Kingdom, both excerpted and available for download in our Buzz Books 2019 Spring/Summer sampler. The rest of the list: Never Have I Ever, by Joshilyn Jackson Things You Save in a Fire, by Katherine Center Turbulence, by David Szalay The Turn of the Key, by Ruth Ware The Wedding Party, by Jasmine Guillory Inland, by Téa Obreht Chances Are…, by Richard […]
AAP April Stats Include Another $38 Million Gap
The AAP released its monthly StatShot report for April, most notable for featuring yet another large restatement of the prior year’s adult trade sales. The final version of the April 2018 adult trade total now stands at $392, or $38 million lower than when first reported a year ago. Hardcovers and trade paperbacks were both lowered by $16 million, and ebook sales were restated as $6 million lower. As we have been reporting (as the only voice in this particular forest), monthly adult sales for 2018 were restated as $30 million lower in March, $33.5 million in February, and $36 […]
Our Latest Buzz Books Sampler: Romance
Following the successful launch of Buzz Books 2019: Fall/Winter and the dedicated Buzz Books 2019 Young Adult sampler, our Buzz Books 2019: Romance collection returns for a fourth year. These previews launch just in time for the Romance Writers of America annual conference (starting July 24 in New York). From power players such as Sabrina Jeffries and Julia London to fan favorites Lizzie Shane and Rebekah Weatherspoon, the book presents some of the best of romance. Featured titles include new installments of series, like G.A. Aiken’s (aka Shelly Laurenston) first title in her new Scarred Earth Saga series, Melissa Storm’s new Sunday […]