Baker & Taylor will release a Diversity Analysis tool to help libraries “discover, manage, and report on diversity-related topics.” According to the release, the tool will allow libraries to analyze physical and digital collections and identify gaps. EVP and general manager of Baker & Taylor Amandeep Kochar said, “Creating and managing a collection that encompasses the wealth of human experiences can be complex and time consuming, which was our inspiration behind creating Diversity Analysis.” The service will be available this month for B&T customers. In May, Ingram Library Services launched a similar assessment service to help public libraries “diversify their […]
Archives for July 2021
Rights: More Archer for Harper
Harper Collins expanded their publish agreement with Jeffrey Archer to include rights in additional territories. The William Warwick series will now be published by Harper France, Harper Holland, Harper Ibérica, and Harper Japan. (The company already held Italian and World English rights.) Harper Collins international ceo Chantal Restivo-Alessi negotiated the deals with James Archer and Alan Mitchell from Mitchell Rights Management.
Sales Remain Down at WH Smith
UK retailed WH Smith issued a brief trading update, covering the awkward period of the 18 weeks ending July 1 (e.g. roughly a third of the year). High street bookstore sales were down 14 percent compared to the norm in fiscal 2019 — or, as they like to put it, 86 percent of the previous level. Second quarter sales were down 16 percent, and first quarter sales were down 12 percent on the same comparison basis. “This performance reflects high street footfall which remains below pre-pandemic levels.” Their travel stores are recovering a little, though still suffering badly, at 48 […]
Second Quarter Deals Remain Very Strong
HarperCollins CEO Brian Murray told an investor conference in June that the publisher is, “Being aggressive in terms of buying books. We’ve seen the book pie grow, maybe 15 percent. And so our response, which is part opportunistic and part defensive, is to be aggressive in buying right now.” Our exclusive analysis of deal transactions in the second quarter of 2021 confirms that behavior, across the industry. In the first quarter, US deal volume was 19 percent higher than a year ago (and 21 percent higher than the recent four-year average). For the second quarter, deal volume again registered 18 […]
People 7/7
Reese Picks Heller — And Her Company May Get Picked By Buyer
The July pick for Reese Witherspoon’s Book Club is Miranda Cowley Heller’s The Paper Palace (featured in both our Buzz Books 2021: Spring/Summer anthology and our January Buzz Books Editors Panel.) Also making news is Witherspoon’s production company Hello Sunshine, said to be have been approached by “multiple suitors” in recent months, the WSJ reports, including Apple. The company has hired bankers to explore a sale as a result of that interest, and those bankers (aka “people close to the situation”) suggest to the paper that “the company could be valued at as much $1 billion in a deal.” Apparently the […]