With 59 votes tabulated we’re ready to present the final and ultimate aggregation of selective “best of 2020” book lists from all over — including major publications of all kinds, but also retailer and library selections, major award nominees, public votes, new “tastemakers” and more. This year Isabel Wilkerson’s CASTE led as “book of the year” from start to finish — and it becomes the first work of nonfiction to claim that distinction since we started compiling these aggregated lists. In fiction, Brit Bennett’s THE VANISHING HALF also led the field the entire way. A big five of the top […]
Archives for December 2020
Legal: A Victory for Copyright Small Claims, DMCA News, and a Netflix Settlement
Bundled into the big appropriations bill that Congress just passed is the Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement (CASE) Act, which has had the support from many in publishing for a number of years. The act establishes a Copyright Claims Board within the U.S. Copyright Office, so that creators can fight copyright violations without needing to bear the high costs and considerable complexities of litigation. The board, comprising three three Copyright Claims Officers to be appointed by the Librarian of Congress, will hear claims of up to $15,000 per claim. The bill was first introduced in late 2017; now, if the […]
Struggling Barnes & Noble Education Gets $15 Million Investment from Sports Merchandiser
Barnes & Noble Education got a lift from news of a modest $15 million investment from sports team retailer Fanatics (and their brick-and-mortar subsidiary that sells hats and other merch, Lids). The investors will receive 2.3 million shares in BNED, bought at the far-above-market price of $6.50 a share. The parties intend to create a “long-term strategic omnichannel merchandising partnership” (the reliance on “omnichannel” to make it sound important is a warning on its own). While BNED has been touting their growing expertise in digital and ecommerce, now they proclaim that Fanatics is the key to “bring[ing] a best-of-breed retail […]
Briefs
People Robin Cutler has joined LMBPN Publishing as president of worldwide publishing. Cutler previously worked for Ingram Content Group for over nine years, leading the development and launch of IngramSpark. At Canongate, Joanna Lord has been promoted to head of UK and digital sales; Nadine Luchsinger to sales operations manager; and Katalina Watt to audio and digital executive. Viet Thanh Nguyen wrote a piece for the New York Times exploring the future of literature post-Trump. He asks, in 2021, “will writers, especially white writers, take a deep breath of relief and retreat back to the politics of the apolitical, which […]
Holiday Sales Update
NPD Bookscan issued their weekly analysis of print book sales, which remain strong heading into the final holiday sales week. The big question is whether that last week of sales before the holiday — which is the single biggest week of the year — can remain strong given the limitations of everything from store capacity to shipping times and inventory availability. For the sales week ending December 12 (week 49 of the sales year), unit sales of 30 million were approximately 2.9 million units above the comparable week a year ago. Year to date, sales of 679 million prints units […]
Tidings of Research at a Discount
As we first announced yesterday, during this quiet holiday week, we have an opportunity to try a deep dive into the full resources of PublishersMarketplace.com at a substantial discount. Use the “promo code” 15gift in the indicated field when you register and enjoy the first month of service for just $15. Feel free to share this offer with anyone you think might be interested. (Please note, you must enter code in the “Promo Code: ___” box when registering to work.) This code is valid for this week only, and expires December 27.