Remember to hold the date for our much anticipated virtual Buzz Books Editors Panel, convening on Wednesday, May 19 at 7 PM Eastern, co-presented by the American Booksellers Association. You can register here — and the first 50 booksellers who enroll will get a package of galleys for the featured titles. In May, a week ahead of the panel, we’ll release the next packed edition of our popular digital sampler, Buzz Books 2021: Fall/Winter, with substantial excerpts from all of the featured titles along with dozens of other breakout new titles on the way. The panel will feature these […]
Archives for May 2021
Federal Writers Project Bill Would Create $60 Million In Writing Jobs
Democratic members of Congress Ted Lieu of California and Teresa Leger Fernandez of New Mexico introduced new legislation on Thursday that would create a $60 million Federal Writers Project bill. To be administered by the Department of Labor, the bill would provide money to nonprofits, libraries, news outlets and communications unions in an effort to create jobs and support to writers suffering from income losses because of the pandemic. The legislation is inspired by the 1935 Federal Writers’ Project of the New Deal Era, which, at its peak, provided employment to 6,000 writers. In addition to making jobs, the representatives […]
Sales Rise 19 Percent at HarperCollins
News Corp. reported fiscal third quarter results after the close of the market on Thursday, with HarperCollins recorded sales of $490 million, up 19 percent from $412 million a year ago. That sales total included $8 million from recent acquisitions and $10 million in foreign exchange gains. Earnings rose more, up 45 percent to $80 million, compared to $55 million a year ago. The gains were driven “by the success of numerous backlist titles, including the Bridgerton series” by Julia Quinn following the success of the Netflix adaptation. Sales were also helped by “faster digital growth.” Digital sales were up […]
Sales and Earnings Rise at Simon & Schuster
ViacomCBS reported first quarter 2021 results on Thursday morning, with sales at Simon & Schuster of $185 million — up $15 million, or 8.8 percent, versus the same period a year ago. With the parent company classifying S&S under “discontinued operations” while the pending sale to Penguin Random House awaits regulatory review and approval, ViacomCBS has changed the way they report the publisher’s earnings, showing operating income before other items of $27 million. The publisher says operating income was up 80 percent for the quarter, and compares to $15 million a year ago. Simon & Schuster ceo Jonathan Karp said, […]
People, Etc.
At Random House Publishing Group, Alex Larned has been promoted to publishing manager, Del Rey & Licensed, and Aubrey Martinson to associate editor, Crown. At Clarkson Potter, Sahara Clement has joined as editor. She was previously assistant editor at Chronicle Books. Gabrielle Van Tassel has been promoted to associate editor. Nadine Britt has been promoted to senior vice president, executive director, production, Penguin Young Readers, starting May 16. Cindy Lee has been promoted to assistant director, marketing & digital content at the Workman imprint. Shona Burns has joined Knk as implementation consultant. She was previously executive director of production at Chronicle Books. […]
HMH Books & Media Sales Rise
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt continues to excel in issuing earnings press releases featuring prose that’s far more encouraging than the data. In their minds they are becoming a “pure-play learning technology company” with “a strong start to the new year” and “impressive growth in important key performance indicators, positioning HMH amongst the largest and fastest growing companies in the edtech market.” In their accounting, they are a debt-laden company that has lost nearly unfathomable amounts of money relative to their size since going public. Compared to what was a bad pandemic quarter a year ago, sales from continuing operations — setting […]