Simon & Schuster released public results for the last time as a unit of Paramount Global, covering their third quarter. The publisher’s remarkable streak of increased (or flat, as of the last report) sales came to an end, with revenue of $307 million — down $46 million (or 13 percent) from the same period a year ago. (That’s also below sales of $321 million in Q3 2021.) Operating income was down sharply as well, though still a robust margin, at $60 million, compared to $93 million a year ago.) The last time the publisher reported a sales decline was back […]
Archives for November 2023
Obituary: Ken Norwick
Ken Norwick, 82, died on October 30. Norwick was a publishing and intellectual property lawyer, and longtime attorney for the AALA and its predecessors, AAR and IILA. Norwick’s family writes, “Ken was an extraordinarily talented First Amendment, media and intellectual property lawyer, whose clients have included the Dalai Lama, Garrison Keillor, Mitch Albom, Annie Leibovitz and Playboy. He was the author of several books, including ‘The Legal Guide for Writers, Artists and Other Creative People,’ which was most recently updated in 2017. In recent years, he received distinction for his landmark victory in Goldman v. Breitbart in the Southern District […]
PRH Releases New Workforce DEI Stats, Plans To Increase Diverse Content
Penguin Random House released its DEI report for 2022-2023, with updated workforce demographics and plans for diversifying their book lists. In non-warehouse positions, 70.05 percent of employees are white, 10.57 percent are Asian, 9.45 percent are Hispanic, 6.04 percent are Black, and 2.92 percent are two or more races. White employees are still over-indexed in the company compared to the US population (60 percent white based on 2020 census data). Each job category has diversified slightly since last year, with BIPOC employees making up 36.9 percent of entry level positions and 19.1 percent of executive positions. Looking at gender, 73.75 […]
Goodreads Launches New Policies to Combat Review Bombing
Goodreads posted an announcement on October 30 introducing its new policies about review authenticity, which aim to combat review bombing. They write: “Earlier this year, we launched the ability to temporarily limit submission of ratings and reviews on a book during times of unusual activity that violate our guidelines, including instances of ‘review bombing.’ This kind of activity is not tolerated on Goodreads and it diminishes the community’s trust in people who participate. We are currently in the process of removing ratings and reviews added during times of previous unusual activity that violate our guidelines.” The announcement also states that […]
Reisman Will Pivot Indigo Back to Books
Returning Indigo ceo Heather Reisman has given a number of interviews in recent weeks, pledging to return the chain to its core values and aiming to lift book sales to comprise 65 to 70 percent of the company’s revenue. “We will have a yearlong journey” in turning around the chain and “we will do this with our customers; books will move to the center.” That will reverse her own long-term initiative to remake Indigo as “a full lifestyle retailer.” The last time books comprised 65 percent of sales was the fiscal year ending in March 2015. She admits, “I was […]
KDP Begins “Virtual Voice” Narration Beta
Amazon’s KDP has invited some authors to test creating audiobooks through “virtual voice.” Those titles “will be clearly labeled” for customers. They note, “We plan to grow the beta over time and will share updates in the coming months as we have additional information.” In this case Amazon is following the field rather than leading. Apple Books started providing digital narration at the beginning of the year, and Google Play Books did so in April 2022. Ingram began using the technology in late 2021, and Storytel launched their initiative this summer.