Former chief of the criminal fraud section of the Department of Justice Andrew Weissman points out that news of Paul Manafort’s forthcoming book from Skyhorse raises some interesting questions. His plea agreement with the government — in which he admitted to money laundering, tax fraud, violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act, conspiracy to obstruct justice while tampering with witnesses and other crimes — was designed to ensure that he would not profit from writing about his crimes: “Your client agrees not to accept remuneration or compensation of any sort, directly or indirectly, for the dissemination through any means, including […]
Archives for January 2022
Adding Up 2021’s Big Sales Gains
NPD Bookscan released final year-end print sales data for 2021, and per recent reporting on holiday sales and AAP data through November, trade publishing enjoyed historic results. 2020 was surprisingly a great year from a statistical perspective, though full of challenges and strong results were not enjoyed evenly throughout the business. 2021 turns out to have been better still, growing even more in both total units added and on a percentage basis. Measured print sales reached 826 million units in 2021, up 68 million units (or 9 percent) over 758 million units in 2020 — when sales had grown 57 […]
‘Harlequin Plus’ Multimedia Subscription Service Launches
A new multimedia subscription-based service called Harlequin Plus will give users access to movies and games as well as ebooks, and book bundles delivered to their homes. Each month, “romance experts will select and refresh content across the digital platform.” Subscribers choose between either an ebook bundle or a group of print books shipped to their homes. In addition to the selected bundle, they get access to an ebook library, with a collection of 10 to 15 new books every month, along with a selection of movies and games. The service costs $14.99 a month. The company positions the service […]
Tomorrow’s Live Discuss Guest: Literary Agent Heather Jackson
Join literary agent and former editor Heather Jackson online at this Publishers Marketplace link tomorrow, Wednesday, January 11 at noon Eastern for your chance to ask her about all things publishing from both an agent’s and an editor’s point of view; how she works with editors and authors; how she evaluates manuscripts, and more. Just sign in and use the “reply” button to type your questions or comments (which you also can do in advance) and Heather will post back. (Can’t make it tomorrow? You can read all the Q&As our expert guests have completed since April 2021 at your […]
Agency News: Reuben Leaves Paradigm for WME
Longtime Paradigm veteran and head of their book publishing division Alyssa Reuben, has moved over to William Morris Endeavor’s books department in New York.
Storytel Full-Year Revenues Up 20 Percent
Storytel reported fourth quarter results, with streaming revenues of 605 MSEK, up from 503 MSEK in the fourth quarter 2020. For the full year, revenues were 2,251 MSEK, up 20 percent from 2020, in line with it forecast. Paying subscribers grew 22 percent, to 1.81 million for the year. For the Nordic segment, the average number of paying subscribers was 1,047,900 in the quarter, with streaming revenues of 459 MSEK. Non-Nordic streaming revenues were up 41 percent in the quarter to 146 MSEK. The average number of paying subscribers was 736,700, up 43 percent from the same quarter last year. […]