People
Tim Duggan, founder and publisher of the eponymous Tim Duggan Books imprint, confirms to PL: “My time at Crown is soon coming to a close. It’s been a dream job in every way, and I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity to have this little imprint, and for all the support I’ve received over the last half-dozen years, from my amazingly talented colleagues as well as from the many booksellers, agents, critics, readers, and especially the brilliant authors whose books I’ve been lucky enough to work on.”
Cinthia Granzo Nespoli is being promoted to chief legal officer at Pearson, which she joined in 2014, as part of the Grupo Multi acquisition. She replaces Bjarne Tellmann, who is leaving at the beginning of July to take a role at GlaxoSmithKline.
Film/TV
Turner Publishing’s new imprint Keylight Books, has an exclusive first-look deal with writer and producer Josh Berman at Osprey Productions, who has a production deal at Sony Pictures Television. The line is focused on “character-driven fiction titles that are adaptable” for film and TV. They partnered with film and TV packaging veteran Carey Nelson Burch at My Own Shingle and have previously made 10 film and TV deals with producers including Engage Entertainment, Echo Lake Entertainment, K&L Productions, and Sony Television. Executive editor Stephanie Beard runs the new line.
Events
The ABA will hold a virtual Children’s Institute July 15–16, open to all ABA booksellers. Programming will feature “a day of education — including three education sessions, an Indies Introduce presentation, a keynote, and a virtual gathering — as well as a day dedicated to connecting with publishers.”
Book Expo has posted more information about their online sessions, which will run on their Facebook page Wednesday, May 27 through Friday, May 29.
Separately, ReadingGroupGuides.com will host a virtual version of their Annual Book Group Speed Dating Event — originally set to run at Book Expo — on Friday, May 29 from 1:00 PM ET to 3:00 PM. Representatives from 25 large, medium-sized and small publishers will share selections in a speed-dating format designed to give booksellers, librarians and book group leaders an inside look at new and upcoming titles that book groups will want to know about — and discuss. Advance signup is required.
Sales News
NPD Bookscan reported sales for the week ending May 16, with print book sales declining from the previous week after a strong run. Unit sales for the week comprised 12.53 million books, down 7.8 percent from 13.59 million books the week before. But that is still well ahead of the same week a year ago, when the service tracked 11.53 million books sold.
Most of the week-over-week decline — almost 700,000 units — was in adult books. And hardcover sales declined more than the overall market, down 13.5 percent, at 3.63 million units, compared to 4.2 million units the week before. The current hardcover sales were just about equal with the same week a year ago. (Qualified categories of PublishersMarketplace members can get annual subscriptions to full Bookscan data, or even monthly packages of data for 5 ISBNs.)
M&A
Bonnier Books has an agreement to acquire Strawberry Publishing in Sweden – comprising Strawberry Forlag and Bazar Forlag – and Strawberry in Denmark. Bonnier ceo Håkan Rudels says in the announcement: “I am impressed by what Strawberry’s employees and owners have achieved in a short time, in both Sweden and Denmark. The Nordic region has long been Bonnier Books’ home market and through these acquisitions we are strengthening our position in Sweden, while our presence in Denmark will take a big step forward. The acquisitions also take us further on our growth journey in the Nordics and Europe over the next few years.”
Main owner of Norway-based Strawberry Publishing AS Petter Stordalen adds: “Bonnier has been our biggest competitor, and there is no one you respect more than the one you fight the hardest, so we are happy that they are the ones who will develop our companies further. In less than a year, our employees have built up a publishing business approaching 50 million SEK in sales and that is on track to double in 2021…. Book publishing is in the middle of a period of digitalisation which will require all our focus in Norway, so it feels natural to pass the baton in Sweden and Denmark to Bonnier, which is a leader in that area.”
Announcements
Penguin Random House launched a Secondary Education website, designed specifically for middle- and high-school educators and administrators.