The AAP released their StatShot report for June, which shows a big month lifting trade sales — making up for the declines registered in April and May and putting reported sales up modestly for the “Covid quarter.” June stats were likely lifted by a combination of stores reopening and replenishing inventory, big releases such as John Bolton’s memoir, and the surge in interest in books by Black authors. Additionally, digital sales remained high in the month, even as print orders rebounded. While April and May stats showed much lower gross shipments to stores as well as significantly lower returns, the […]
Archives for August 2020
Lagardere Pushes Back on Reinforced Dissident Shareholders
Lagardere looked to have triumphed over agitation from activist shareholder Amber Capital this spring, when some leading French investors provided support to the company and its managing partner Arnaud Lagardere. Billionaire Vincent Bollore and Vivendi (which he controls) had bought shares in the company and voted to support Mr. Lagardere, and then Groupe Arnault bought a 25 percent stake in Lagardère Capital & Management from Mr. Lagardere. But last week Vivendi surprised French investors by switching sides and signing a “pact” with Amber in seeking to shake up Lagardere’s management and board. Citing “the very poor results announced” at the […]
Indigo Sales Fell 30 Percent
Indigo reported earnings for the first quarter ending June 27 earlier in August, with sales of CA$135 million, down $57.5 million from $193 million last year, a 30 percent decline. Net loss was $(31.6) million, compared to $(19.1) million in last year’s quarter, during a period heavily affected by pandemic-related store closures. Indigo reopened their stores starting May 19 and had all but one of their stores open again by the end of the quarter, though with reduced hours and social distancing within stores. (As previously announced, they did close 15 small-format stores at the end of June rather than […]
Briefs
Picks Reese Witherspoon chose Leah Johnson‘s You Should See Me in a Crown as her first-ever YA title for the Hello Sunshine Book Club. Forthcoming AMERICAN CRISIS by Andrew Cuomo, “a revealing, behind-the-scenes account of his experience leading New York State through the COVID-19 epidemic,” will be published by Crown on October 13. Audio CD versions of Recorded Books‘ audiobooks will be manufactured-on-demand, sold and distributed in North America exclusively by Blackstone Audio beginning October 1. As part of the agreement, Blackstone will “serve all of Recorded Books’ CD audiobook production needs for libraries in the US and Canada. Over the coming months, […]
New Books Publishing August 18
As in previous weeks, our sample Bookshop and Aerbook store carousels provide easy displays of books publishing today in need of attention and support, featuring: 15 new works of fiction https://bookshop.org/lists/new-fiction-publishing-august-18 8 new nonfiction titles https://bookshop.org/lists/new-nonfiction-publishing-august-18 More new children’s and YA titles https://bookshop.org/lists/new-children-s-titles-publishing-in-august We consult a number of sources in compiling our weekly lists and PM members can see our lists for the coming three months through this reference page. But if you want to make sure your key titles are on our radar, now you can use this form to submit brief details as well: publun.ch/submitNotable
Cole’s When No One Is Watching Tops September Library Reads
Alyssa Cole’s When No One Is Watching is the top pick for September’s Library Reads list. Also on the list are Sue Miller’s Monogamy, and Matt Haig’s The Midnight Library, both excerpted and available for download now in our Buzz Books 2020 Fall/Winter sampler, as well as Rosie Dana’s The Roommate, which is excerpted in our Buzz Books 2020 Romance sampler. The rest of the picks: Battle Ground, by Jim Butcher Piranesi, by Susanne Clarke A Rogue of One’s Own, by Evie Dunmore Transcendent Kingdom, by Yaa Gyasi Well Played, by Jen DeLuca The Writer’s Library, by Nancy Pearl and […]