Archives for May 2022
Bookselling: Two Replacement Barnes & Noble Stores to Open
On Monday, May 9 the chain will open an “interim store” in Flagstaff, AZ — filling in for a longstanding location that closed in January, “while a new permanent location is being determined.” Then on May 11, they will open a new standing store in Blue Springs, MO outside of Kansas City, replacing a store in Independence, MO that closed in February.
Storytel Grows in Q1 With Audiobooks.com Acquisition, Confirms Restructuring
Swedish audiobook streaming service and publisher Storytel reported results for the first quarter ended March 31, with streaming sales of SEK698.599 million ($74.8 million), up 35 percent from SEK517.075 million a year ago. The growth was fueled by the January acquisition of Audiobooks.com, which also likely led to a pre-tax loss for the quarter of SEK(233.3) million, compared to a loss of SEK(66.1) million in Q1 2021. Print publishing sales were SEK149.3 million, up 19 percent from SEK125.189 million. The company acknowledged a “restructuring of Storytel’s streaming organization” in March, which “was an emotional but undoubtedly necessary next step in […]
Bernardini Gets Postponement for “A Mitigation Submission”
A status conference in the case of accused manuscript thief Filippo Bernardini has been postponed for the second time at the request of the defense, now rescheduled from May 4 to July 6. Federal defender Hannah McCrea wrote that “the defense is preparing a mitigation submission” and wants more time to complete the package “and give the government time to consider it.” The previous postponement was for the defense to “complete review of the discovery that has been produced.”
Steep Drop in Booktopia Earnings; Founder Nash to Step Down
Australia’s online bookseller Booktopia released a trading update for the quarter ending March 31 showing slower growth and a big drop in earnings, accompanied by an announcement that co-founder Tony Nash will step down as ceo once a replacement is found. Sales of $64.5 million AU were down 1% compared to last year, “due to the disrupted start to the academic year.” EBITDA fell 65 percent to $1.5 million, due to increased operating expenses at its distribution center and the lower academic book sales. “Whilst the company is pleased to see revenues continue to grow and expects that to continue, […]
About Last Week (The Sales)
That supposed “nosedive” in print sales the week after Easter was…completely normal. As NPD Books analyst writes in their weekly media report, “The week after Easter always sees a significant drop of more than 20%, and this year was no exception. It’s perfectly normal.” In fact, “The week after Easter always sees a drop of 20% to 28%.” This year, “Volume was down 24% from last week but was up 10% over the same week in 2019, which was also an Easter week and therefore is a helpful gauge of where we are relative to pre-pandemic numbers…. The week after […]