It surprises some people, but trade publishing sales have been good this year. Really. Dollar sales, as measured by the AAP, grew 5.8 percent in the first 10 months of 2024. Adult fiction remained particularly strong, helped by big sales for Sarah J. Maas (who moved 8.8 million print units alone) and the rapid rise of Freida McFadden (who sold roughly 5.3 million print units). The arrival of Spotify drove significant growth in audiobook sales—which have outpaced ebooks sales for the year so far for the first time ever. And the big publicly-reporting publishing companies boosted the topline with acquisitions […]
Archives for December 2024
Scholastic Institutes Layoffs As Sales Fall in Q2
Scholastic reported financial results for the second quarter ended November 30, with sales of $545 million, down 3 percent, an expected outcome due to the timing of the company’s big book publications. Operating income dropped 26 percent to $74.4 million with adjusted EBITDA down 12 percent to $108.7 million due to lower sales in the children’s publishing and distribution and education solutions segments. In Children’s Publishing and Distribution, sales were down 6 percent to $367 million with operating income down 9 percent to $102.1 million. Trade books sold $103 in the quarter, down 13 percent, due to lower frontlist sales […]
Defendants in Tracy Wolff Copyright Case Seek Motion of Reconsideration
The defendants in the Tracy Wolff plagiarism case, which include author Tracy Wolff; Emily Sylvan Kim at Prospect Agency; Entangled Publishing and their distributor Macmillan; and Universal City Studios, which optioned the book, have filed a Motion of Reconsideration with the court, still trying to avoid a trial and bring the case to a close. The parties are being sued in the Southern District of New York for copyright infringement by writer Lynne Freeman, who alleges that Wolff’s Crave series bears “overwhelming and undeniable” similarities to Freeman’s unpublished manuscript Blue Moon Rising. Recently, the court dismissed some of the claims […]
PM Gifts
For any last-minute needs on your list, our recently-launched Publishers Marketplace gift memberships have been popular. You can select a gift of anywhere from one to twelve months of membership at our site. For a treat of shorter duration, we have started one of our rare free holiday trial periods: From today through December 26, your friends and colleagues can check out our resources and get started on research for the new year at no cost. Please observe all of the posted conditions.
Our Holiday Schedule
It’s a nice, long holiday stretch ahead. This is our last regularly-scheduled newsletter for a while — unless there’s news that merits another mail on Monday. We will be back at least once before 2024 ends, to stay on top of whatever develops. Deals newsletters will maintain their regular schedule through to Monday’s weekly round-up, and from there will also be more occasional — depending upon the flow of deal reports. As always, PublishersMarketplace.com works for you 24/7 no matter what, and we will be reporting and clipping news to the website, adding new deals as they flow in, posting […]
The Continuing Rise of Bloom Books
The NYT celebrates the continuing success of Sourcebooks’ Bloom Books imprint. In 2023 Bloom had already grown to sales of more than $100 million less than three years after its founding, and sales for 2024 are up another 58 percent. “In an era when TikTok can catapult authors to success overnight, Bloom has developed a lucrative formula: courting self-published authors who have a built-in fan base, taking over their print distribution, building up their brand and market share and turning them into mainstream best sellers. That model has propelled the careers of novelists who now rank among the genre’s most […]