McGraw Hill offered brief preliminary highlights of their fiscal fourth quarter (ending March 31) and full year 2021 results. For the quarter, overall billings grew 21 percent, with 12 percent growth in higher ed billings. Adjusted EBITDA grew in the fourth quarter, thanks to strong billings and savings from the completed “cost rationalization program.” The company says higher ed billings grew 5 percent for the year, and digital billings grew 17 percent, but did not provide data on overall billings for the year. “Despite challenging environment in FY2021, MH demonstrated resiliency and focused on supporting institutions, educators and learnings during […]
Archives for April 2021
This Week’s Wednesday Guest: Literary Agent Vicky Bijur
Longtime literary agent Vicky Bijur (Vicky Bijur Literary Agency) joins us at noon on Wednesday, April 28 as our next weekly AMA guest on the PM forum Discuss. Feel free to post your questions for Vicky in advance; the discussion will happen at this link. A reminder that these are straightforward typed message board conversations. No cameras, no sound, no zooming, no separate apps required. Use the “reply” button to type your questions or comments, and Vicky will post back. While all of these conversations are scheduled and conducted live on our site, everything is preserved as well, so if you can’t […]
People, Etc.
At Sourcebooks, Cristina Arreola has been promoted to marketing manager for Sourcebooks Landmark; Stefani Sloma to associate marketing manager for Sourcebooks Casablanca; and Tiffany Schultz has been promoted to assistant marketing manager, retail marketing & creative services. Pearson board chair Sidney Taurel intends to step down from his positions, no later than the 2022 annual meeting. Separately, former Macmillan executive and current ceo of Guardian Media Group Annette Thomas will join the board October 1. Former longtime book publishing publicity executive Susan Richman died at home in New York City on April 19. Richman worked at houses including Scribner, Warner […]
Sales of Vivendi’s Editis Up 40 Percent Compared to Last Year’s Locked Down Q1
Vivendi reported results for the first quarter ended March 31, with sales at French publisher Editis of €163 million, up from €116 last year, a forty percent increase. The gains were attributed to “a boom in the market environment since January 2021” and several bestselling titles, but were also due to a favorable comparison, since France was in lockdown a year ago. Compared to 2019, the company says sales were still up by 20.1% “at constant currency and perimeter compared to the first quarter of 2019 adjusted.” Even with the strong performance at Editis and Universal Music Group (sales up […]
Tracked eBook Units Rose 17 Percent in 2020
NPD Bookscan recently reported ebook sales data for the full year 2020, as reported by participating publishers through their PubTrack Digital service. Tracked ebook sales hit 174 million units in 2020, up 17 percent compared to 149 million units in 2019. (For now, the reported data excludes IPG, so these numbers may not align with previous reports.) The biggest gains came in April and May, and when pandemic-fueled ebook sales were up 10 million over the same period in 2019. While it covers a somewhat different pool of participants, Bookscan’s unit data is in line with the AAP’s revenue data, […]
Second Blake Bailey Rape Accuser Comes Forward; Norton Knew of That Allegation
The New York Times reported new allegations against Philip Roth biographer Blake Bailey on Wednesday evening, including claims from a second rape accuser. Publishing executive Valentina Rice claims Bailey raped her in 2015 at the New Jersey house of NYT book critic Dwight Garner, where the two were staying overnight. About three years later, “prompted by the growing #MeToo movement and encouraged by friends,” Rice reported the incident to Norton president Julia Reidhead, writing from a pseudonymous email address. She wrote, “I understand that you would need to confirm this allegation which I am prepared to do, if you can […]