Unlike the Swedes, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has recognized the existence of women, awarding this year’s Peace Prize to two journalists, Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov, “for their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace.” Notably, Ressa’s book HOW TO STAND UP TO A DICTATOR is scheduled for publication in the UK next April from WH Allen. Rights are represented by Rafe Sagalyn at ICM in the US, and Helen Manders at Curtis Brown UK for translation (on behalf of Stephanie Thwaites). Additionally, for US readers to experience the words of new […]
Archives for October 2021
Expanding The Known World with AAP’s New Annual Statistics
The AAP released a revamped version of their StatShot Annual Report on Friday, which features a surprise gift to everyone who values actual data about the book business. After years of presenting only “modeled” (or, in our view, more like “mottled”) charts that aim to guesstimate information about the entire bookselling landscape that is never actually reported or verified, the organization is now also “showing their work,” presenting a meaningfully-enhanced section of directly collected actual data. There are nine glorious pages of “Direct Data” in all, including a number of tables focused on trade publishing in particular. As another part […]
Third Quarter Deal Trends
Next week we will report on dealmaking in the six-week “pre-Frankfurt” window, but first we present the next installment in this year’s new look at quarterly deal trends. The first half of 2021 saw a marked surge in dealmaking, in line with record increases in consumer book sales: First quarter 2021 US deal volume was 19 percent higher than in 2020, and second quarter deal volume remained 18 percent higher than the same quarter the previous year. Those increases in deal volume tracked very closely with Bookscan print unit data, which showed sales at measured outlets up 18.4 percent in […]
October Barnes & Noble Book Club
Barnes & Noble's October Book Club pick is The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling.
People 10/7
At Gallery, Bianca Salvant has been promoted to senior marketing manager and Anabel Jimenez has been promoted to assistant marketing manager. Lucy Nalen has been promoted to associate publicist.
HMH Layoffs Add Up
While official communications on the integration of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt into Harper Collins made only modest mention of the layoffs “as a result of the changes,” multiple sources tells us that they expect over 50 people from HMH will lose their jobs by the end of this year, including most of the sales force and multiple senior staff members. Another source had put the number at “more than 40 people.” Harper has declined to comment beyond their press release. The HMH jobs are being eliminated in stages: A group of staff members from editorial, marketing and publicity departed on October […]