The AAP released their separate set of annual “estimates” — StatShot Annual — on Friday, which we note for those who find these reports useful. As usual, we provide you with our standing reminder that, in contrast to the AAP’s monthly reports, these “estimates” are the product of taking real data and then multiplying it by a factor of over 2x for the trade in an attempt to account for the parts of the publishing industry that never report their numbers. The methodology has never stood up to scrutiny or verification, so we find the estimates of little value. But […]
Archives for July 2020
People, Etc.
Longtime director of Ingram Spark Robin Asbury Cutler will retire at the end of 2020. She joined Ingram in 2011 and led the launch of Spark in 2013. She says in the announcement, “I’ve been planning to step down for some time but decided to stay on through 2020 when the pandemic hit. We weren’t quite finished with what we needed to do to support our community during this challenging time.” The company will start a search for replacement. VP of Lightning Source Kelly Gallagher comments, “Every once in a while, a leader comes along who can help lead the […]
Corporate: LSC’s Book Printing Sales Decline 32 Percent, HBG Celebrates Meyer Pre-Orders, Bloomsbury to Issue Dividend Shares
LSC Communications, operating under bankruptcy protection and set to auction its assets next month, reported second quarter results for the period ending July 31 on Thursday. Book printing sales comprised $198 million, a decline of $91 million from $289 million a year ago, down almost 32 percent, “primarily due to lower volume which was partially caused by the impact of COVID-19 and a $25 million decrease in pass-through paper sales.” The company said the decrease in book printing sales was mainly from lower “educational book volumes due to the uncertainty around school openings. Demand for trade books remained strong, but […]
Lagardere Publishing Down 12% In Second Quarter, with Rebound in June
Lagardere reported second quarter and half-year 2020 results on Thursday afternoon. Second quarter publishing sales were €514 million, down €70 million from a year ago (a 12 percent decline), with trends pointing up sharply in June. Month by month, the company said sales fell 39 percent in April (at €109 million); were 22 percent lower in May (€162 million); and then gained 21 percent in June (€243 million), “lifted by a large number of best-sellers in France and abroad.” For the first half of the year, that put Lagardere Publishing at €971 million, down €73 million, or 7 percent, from […]
People, Etc.
Alicia Kroell has been promoted to assistant editor at Catapult. At Sourcebooks, Christy Droege has been promoted to director of data. Adam Lara becomes web developer and administrator. Emily Forney and Umaima Saleem have joined BookEnds Literary Agency. Forney was most recently a publishing and editorial fellow for the LA Review of Books; Saleem was an intern at BookEnds and recipient of a We Need Diverse Books grant. James McGowan has been promoted to associate agent. Finally Forthcoming Blake Bailey‘s long-awaited biography of the late Philip Roth, written based on a collaboration agreement with Roth, will be published by Norton […]
Internet Archive Demands A Jury Trial
The Internet Archive, sued by four AAP member publishers for “willful mass copyright infringement” after creating an open-access “National Emergency Library” of its 1.3 million self-scanned ebooks, has answered the complaint with a request for a jury trial. (In 1998, the Supreme Court ruled that there is a Seventh Amendment right to a trial by jury in copyright infringement suits seeking statutory damages.) Update: We overlooked that the plaintiff publishers had also asked for a jury trial in their original complaint. The answer, filed July 28 in the Southern District of New York, puts forth a number of affirmative defenses […]