Houghton Mifflin Harcourt reported earnings for the second quarter ending June 30. At HMH Books & Media, net sales were $35.2 million, down from $39.1 million. The 10 percent decline was “primarily due to lower net sales of both adult and young reader’s categories due to the closure of bookstores during the COVID-19 crisis and the corresponding delay in releases of new frontlist titles.” The net loss of $(1.8) million was an improvement from the loss of $(5.4) million last year’s Q2, largely due to improved margins and decreased selling and administration expense, thanks to “lower discretionary spending and labor […]
Archives for August 2020
Backman’s Anxious People Tops September Indie Next List
The ABA named Anxious People by Fredrik Backman as their Indie Next No. 1 pick for September. Also on the list is Sue Miller’s Monogamy, excerpted and available for download in our Buzz Books 2020 Fall/Winter sampler. The rest of the picks: Homeland Elegies, by Ayad Akhtar Vesper Flights, by Helen MacDonald World of Wonders, by Aimee Nezhukumatathil When No One Is Watching, by Alyssa Cole The Lying Life of Adults, by Elena Ferrante The Big Door Prize, by M.O. Walsh Winter Counts, by David Heska Wanbli Weiden Betty, by Tiffany McDaniel One by One, by Ruth Ware Just Us, […]
Corporate: WH Smith Expects to Lay Off 1,500 Employees
WH Smith issued a brief trading update today to accompany proposals that would restructure their UK stores to lay off approximately 1500 employees across the business, with both Travel and High Street businesses facing a long, slow recovery from the pandemic. The cost of the plan is estimated at £15 million to £19 million pounds and they are in consultation with the employees. (In early July the Bookseller confirmed that the company was already in consultation to layoff 150 people at their head offices in London and Swindon.) Though High Street sales have improved gradually as lockdown restrictions eased, they […]
Strand Bookstore Accepted PPP Loan, But Has Not Retained Most Employees Yet
Employees of NYC’s Strand Bookstore say the owner accepted a federal Paycheck Protection Program loan but did not keep most of its employees on payroll, and have asked for more transparency about the use of those funds. The UAW’s Labor Notes reports that the store received a loan of at least $1 million “by claiming to retain 212 jobs.” In March, owners laid off “the majority of staff,” a reported 188 out of 230 employees, which included 170 union members. Owner Nancy Bass Wyden said at the time, “This is the first time in our history that we have had […]
People, Etc.
Jessica Regel has left Foundry Literary + Media to start her own agency, Helm Literary. Sasha White has been promoted to assistant agent at Tobias Literary Agency, seeking adult fiction, YA, political/historical non-fiction, memoirs, and world literature in translation. At the Book Industry Charitable Foundation, Kate Weiss has been promoted to programs manager. They will fill her previous role by hiring a new communication coordinator. Longtime Today Show producer Jackie Levin is leaving NBC News, Page Six reports, taking a buyout after 26 years at the network. Obituaries Pete Hamill, 85, journalist, columnist, and author of ten novels, two books of short stories, and several books of […]
PRH US Extends Work at Home Until “Sometime Next Year”
PRH US employees will work at home until “sometime next year,” according to an August 3 letter to staff from ceo Madeline McIntosh. Rather than provide a specific timeline, McIntosh said, “We will return when it’s safe and when it’s practical, and not before.” (Previously, in a letter in late May, the plan had been “to work in our remote status at least until after Labor Day.”) She acknowledged in the letter, “I know this news will settle in complicated ways. Even though you’re probably not surprised by the decision, it still may carry an emotional punch. We’ve all been […]