In these charged times, Overdrive has unfortunately timed a press release to the London Book Fair that should matter most to the US library market, giving some context to the contentiousness over publishers’ business relationships with library ebook lending. One strain of that dialog asserts that there is only one basis on which publishers license ebooks to libraries, while the marketplace has implemented a number of approaches to balancing libraries’ needs and budgets. In the announcement, Overdrive celebrates having launched a six-month pilot program with HarperCollins for over 150 “high-demand titles” in their OverDrive Max program that lets libraries “purchase […]
Archives for April 2023
Workers at B&N in Hadley, MA Announce Union Effort
Workers at Barnes & Noble in Hadley, MA have announced their intention to unionize, becoming the chain’s first location to do so. (The story reporting on the union is a little confused; workers at Rutgers University outlet of Barnes & Noble College, a completely separate company, also announced a union effort by their 70 employees recently). The Hadley union would represent 18 workers, including booksellers and baristas. The Shoestring reports, “They are organizing with United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1459 around a handful of key issues, from low pay and inadequate hours to a lack of accessibility inside the […]
HBG US Falls in First Quarter, While Lagardere Publishing Sales Grow Around the World
Lagardere announced results for the first quarter of 2023, with publishing sales of €570 million, up 3 percent as reported and 1 percent on a like-for-like basis from last year. “In a less dynamic market, Lagardère Publishing maintained strong trading momentum. The difference between reported and like-for-like revenue is primarily attributable to a €12 million positive scope effect linked chiefly to the acquisition of Welbeck Publishing Group and Paperblanks,” the company said in a statement. US sales were less successful, down 11 percent due to “a lighter publication schedule compared to 2022 and in a sluggish book market.” Hachette Book […]
New Books Publishing April 18
David Baldacci, Ramona Ausubel, and Brendan Slocumb publish new novels this week, while nonfiction includes new work from David Grann, Peter Frankopan, and Hadley Freeman. Also out this week are Nick Medina’s SISTERS OF A LOST NATION, excerpted in our Buzz Books 2023: Spring/Summer anthology, and Taj McCoy’s ZORA DIZON BOOKS HER HAPPY EVER AFTER, available in our Buzz Books 2023: Romance collection. 22 works of fiction https://bookshop.org/lists/new-fiction-publishing-april-18 8 nonfiction titles https://bookshop.org/lists/new-nonfiction-publishing-april-18 From Buzz Books https://buzz.publishersmarketplace.com/ We consult a number of sources in compiling our weekly lists and PM members can see […]
French Rights Manager Arrested Before LBF
Foreign rights manager for the French publisher Editions La Fabrique Ernest Moret, 29, was arrested on Monday at St Pancras Station in London on his way to the London Book Fair. When Moret arrived at the train station from Paris, two plainclothes London police officers stopped him on suspicion of terrorism, related to his participation in protests in Paris over Emmanuel Macron’s change to the pension age. The officers confiscated Moret’s phone and computer and he was arrested when he refused to give them the passcodes, the Guardian reports. Moret remains in custody. In a joint press release, Editions La Fabrique […]
Distribution: Prakash Books India
Independent Publishers Group will sell and distribute Prakash Books India and its imprints Fingerprint Publishing and Wonder House Books in North America, starting June 1.