Publisher Abrams launched a new #HELPABOOKSELLER fundraising challenge campaign to benefit BINC (Book Industry Charitable Foundation), looking to raise more than $100,ooo to help booksellers in need. Ceo Michael Jacobs says in the announcement, “As a company, we’ve been focused and committed to taking care of one another during this extraordinary time. We realized that what we possess at Abrams is a will and a drive to make a difference. So, we decided to raise funds to help booksellers in a way that brought our larger, interconnected book community together around this goal. Abrams’ corporate donation to BINC will comprise […]
Archives for March 2020
Over Half of Barnes & Noble Stores Now Temporarily Closed
After resisting closing stores as much as possible, in recent days Barnes & Noble has been forced to temporarily shutter a number of their stores nationwide by order of local governments. As of late Wednesday morning, BN confirmed to Publishers Lunch that they now “have over 370 temporary store closures.” With a base of 620 stores across the country under normal operations, that means BN has closed about 60 percent of their stores so far. That leaves them with something under 250 stores still currently open. (At least a few more BN locations announced on social media during the day […]
Briefs: People, A PRH Bonus, Sales News, Status Reports and More
At Simon & Schuster, Melissa Hurt has been promoted to telemarketing account manager. Tricia Orlando joins as telesales account manager. She was previously with Norton in the trade sales department. Sharismar Rodriguez has joined Macmillan Children’s as senior art director for Feiwel and Friends, Holt, Roaring Brook Press, and FSG Children’s lists. Previously, she was art director at HMH. At HarperCollins Children’s, Jane Lee has been promoted to associate director, social media; Tyler Breitfeller to senior marketing associate; and Michael D’Angelo to marketing associate. Tony-winning playwright Terrence McNally, 81, died Tuesday due to complications from the coronavirus. Wine writer Michael […]
Quarto Reports Lower Sales, Marginal Profit in 2019
Quarto reported unaudited results for the year ending December 31, 2019, with sales of $135.8 million, down 9 percent from $149.3 million in 2018, but they returned to a modest after-tax profit of $2.9 million, compared to a loss of $600,000 in 2019. (Full results have not yet been filed with UK regulators, and no other measures — like pre-tax earnings — were provided.) Lead shareholder and ceo C.K. Lau said, “We expect to report profit for the year ahead of the prior year and this represents a pleasing result.” Revenue was just above flat six months ago, so all […]
LSC Communications Said to Prepare Bankruptcy Filing
As we have been warning, the largest book printer LSC Communications was perched on the verge of bankruptcy even before the economic crisis took hold. On March 4, LSC indicated they had been in “limited default” of their considerable loans since the end of 2019, with a forbearance agreement with their lenders good through May 14. With liquidity tightening drastically even for for solid companies, LSC’s refinancing prospects have become more limited in the past few weeks. Bloomberg reported earlier this week the company “is preparing to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after failed efforts to restructure its nearly $1 […]
Rowman & Littlefield Temporarily Furloughs Their Staff; Scholastic Cutbacks Are Underway
Rowman & Littlefield has furloughed their entire staff of 450 people—”management team and all”– for two weeks, without pay, “with the exception of a skeleton crew working to print books and ship orders,” ceo Jed Lyons confirmed to PL on Tuesday. “As I explained to the team last week,” he told us, “a temporary furlough is the best way to preserve jobs for everyone going forward.” It “keeps everyone on the payroll and with health care.” Lyons underscores, “We have not laid anyone off” and says that they “will reassess a week from Friday.” Elsewhere, staff cutbacks are underway at […]