WH Smith announced preliminary results for the fiscal year ending August 31, with High Street sales of £468 million, 19 percent lower than a year ago, which the company still called “resilient.” High Street stores lost £(10) million for the year, compared to profit of £60 million last year. (Using the new accounting standards for leases, the loss was £(4) million, but earnings comp to the old standard still in place last year.) In the first half of the year, pre-Covid, High Street had profits of £44 million — and then lost £(54) million in the second half. The fiscal […]
Archives for November 2020
Bertelsmann Has Only Small Third Quarter Decline
Bertelsmann issued its characteristically brief third quarter trading report, noting “slight organic revenues growth of 1.6 percent,” with book publishing called out as among the “particularly robust” businesses in their portfolio. Companywide, third quarter sales were approximately €4.15 billion, down somewhat from €4.19 billion a year ago, but a much smaller decline than the 8.9 percent drop in the first six months. For the nine-month period, sales of €12 billion are down €800 million compared a year ago. Said ceo Thomas Rabe, “The economic repercussions of the global Corona pandemic continue to be felt. But we have managed to further […]
People, Etc.
Alison Rich has been promoted to the newly created role of senior vice president, author development, Penguin Random House, reporting to Nina von Moltke. She “will take the lead in helping us push further with the author brand development work.” Rich continues to oversee licensing-business development for the adult divisions, the Out of Print merchandising group, and the Author Portal, which will “look to build functionality and programming.” Newly reporting to her is vp, executive director PRH Speakers Bureau Tiffany Tomlin. Laura Eckes has been promoted to senior designer for Simon & Schuster Children’s and Paula Wiseman Books. At Atheneum, […]
New Books Publishing This Week
A day late, here is our weekly list with a robust batch of some notable new titles just coming to market: 21 new works of fiction https://bookshop.org/lists/new-fiction-publishing-november-10 18 new nonfiction titles https://bookshop.org/lists/new-nonfiction-publishing-november-10 More new children’s and YA titles (High-profile releases include books by JK Rowling, Joanna Gaines and Ruby Bridges) https://bookshop.org/lists/new-children-s-titles-publishing-in-november 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 […]
People, Etc.
Becky Kraemer will join Tin House as publicity director starting December 1. She most recently led her own book publicity firm, Cursive Communications & Marketing. Elizabeth Breeden has been promoted to associate director of marketing at Simon & Schuster. Obituaries Sharon Propson, 44, a publicist for Random House for more than 20 years, died on November 7 of cancer. Random House Publishing Group president and publisher Gina Centrello writes, “Sharon was a consummate collaborator. She shared some of her most special gifts with her colleagues — her passion, generous heart, boisterous laugh, her patience, and unwavering attention as she mentored […]
Macmillan Postpones Office Reopening Until July
Macmillan Publishers said it will not officially reopen their New York City trade publishing offices before July 6, 2021. (Previously, the date was January 11). In the meantime, the company has expanded a voluntary program that allows employees limited access to their work space. They underscore that the program “follows requirements from the CDC and New York City requiring employees to social distance, wear masks, and fill out a health screening form before arriving onsite.” Macmillan Global COO Andrew Weber said, “This is just an example of the many resources that we have created or adapted to better accommodate the […]