As long expected, the book industry’s largest printer LSC Communications filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Monday in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. (If you didn’t know the reality, you would have breezed by the innocuous sounding press release they issued, “LSC Communications Takes Action to Strengthen Its Liquidity and Improve Its Capital Structure,” which is brimming with unwarranted optimism.) The company has commitments for $100 million in debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing, and says it will continue operating “in the ordinary course” and “intends to pay vendors in full under customary terms for all goods […]
Archives for April 2020
People, Etc.
At Viking/Penguin Books, Rebecca Marsh has been promoted to associate director of publicity. Shelby Meizlik has joined as executive publicist. Tricia Lawrence has been promoted to senior agent at Erin Murphy Literary Agency. Awards The American Academy of Arts and Letters announced recipients for its highest honors for excellence in the arts, including two of last year’s Pulitzer-winning authors. Richard Powers will receive the William Dean Howells Medal for THE OVERSTORY. The prize is “given every five years for the most distinguished American work of fiction published during that time.” Yale professor David Blight, author of six books on slavery, […]
Briefs: Ingram Reports Hack, and More
Ingram Content Group announced on Thursday that they had “recently identified unauthorized access within” CoreSource, their digital asset management and distribution platform. They report “a CoreSource customer’s account was used for unauthorized downloads of some publishers’ titles.” Those publishers have been alerted and Ingram is “working directly with them to monitor the situation.” They note, “Immediately upon identifying the unauthorized access and suspect downloads, we launched a thorough investigation, took measures to disable the impacted accounts and blocked any further unauthorized access. We also engaged a third-party professional computer security firm to assist. We highly value the security and confidentiality of our […]
LSC Reported to be Shopping Bankruptcy Financing, As Some Workers Have Virus
As we have reported previously, LSC Communications is expected to file for bankruptcy protection shortly. (According to Bloomberg, they have been working with bankers at Evercore and attorneys at Sullivan & Cromwell.) In the latest indication, earlier this week the WSJ reported on tightening terms in the debtor-in-possession financing market, as lawyers and advisers “say they expect a deluge of debt restructurings and chapter 11 filings due to the massive disruption caused by the novel coronavirus.” DIP financing usually comes with lots of protection and collateral for the lenders, but these uncertain times are “turning what looked like sure bets […]
Free Resources: More Updates
We continue to update our sharable, free web pages on resources and measures the publishing community is taking. Keep us up to date with your submissions as you add initiatives and information. In addition to these reference pages, we’ve almost logged a number of updates to our spreadsheet of notable spring pub dates that have changed, arranged by original release date: publun.ch/pubdatechanges. How to help booksellers — and authors [http://publun.ch/supportBooksellers] How educators can get publisher permissions [http://publun.ch/permissions] How students can access educational books for free [http://publun.ch/students] How the industry is aiding booksellers with special terms [http://publun.ch/specialterms]
Relief Given, and Still Needed
First Book says its Covid-19 Action Response has shipped 1.3 million books and distributed digital access codes for more than 2 million children, all donated by publishers and related organizations. CEO Kyle Zimmer, president, CEO and co-founder of First Book. “These books are so meaningful. They super-charge learning for kids in need, who are particularly vulnerable right now—when schools closed, these kids lost a place that was not only providing education, but so many different forms of critical support…. Not a day goes by that we aren’t grateful to our publishers.” Coffee House Press will commission original, short, digital works […]