Penguin Random House US CEO Madeline McIntosh wrote to staff that the company will begin reopening their physical offices in a “gradual process” starting September 13, “assuming all goes well health-wise.” The company has decided that “full vaccination will be a requirement for those employees and visitors entering our offices” (italics ours). McIntosh adds, “We understand that not everyone is vaccinated, and, as a reminder, it is completely ok to continue to work in full-time remote mode. The requirement only applies to those entering the offices.”
Forthcoming: Spears’ Premature Title
Jamie Lynn Spears will publish a memoir on January 18, 2022, announced on Friday by HBG’s Worthy Publishing through their ONIX feed and on the company website. The news was controversial because they had the book titled, I MUST CONFESS: Family, Fame, and Figuring It Out, quoting a line from sister Britney’s “…Baby One More Time”. The publisher said they accidentally pushed out “incorrect and incomplete information,” claiming to People magazine, “This was a placeholder title for internal use only.” The titled has been refreshed on some bookselling sites to MY STORY, though various versions of the original feed are […]
Sales Remain Down at WH Smith
UK retailed WH Smith issued a brief trading update, covering the awkward period of the 18 weeks ending July 1 (e.g. roughly a third of the year). High street bookstore sales were down 14 percent compared to the norm in fiscal 2019 — or, as they like to put it, 86 percent of the previous level. Second quarter sales were down 16 percent, and first quarter sales were down 12 percent on the same comparison basis. “This performance reflects high street footfall which remains below pre-pandemic levels.” Their travel stores are recovering a little, though still suffering badly, at 48 […]
Second Quarter Deals Remain Very Strong
HarperCollins CEO Brian Murray told an investor conference in June that the publisher is, “Being aggressive in terms of buying books. We’ve seen the book pie grow, maybe 15 percent. And so our response, which is part opportunistic and part defensive, is to be aggressive in buying right now.” Our exclusive analysis of deal transactions in the second quarter of 2021 confirms that behavior, across the industry. In the first quarter, US deal volume was 19 percent higher than a year ago (and 21 percent higher than the recent four-year average). For the second quarter, deal volume again registered 18 […]
Reese Picks Heller — And Her Company May Get Picked By Buyer
The July pick for Reese Witherspoon’s Book Club is Miranda Cowley Heller’s The Paper Palace (featured in both our Buzz Books 2021: Spring/Summer anthology and our January Buzz Books Editors Panel.) Also making news is Witherspoon’s production company Hello Sunshine, said to be have been approached by “multiple suitors” in recent months, the WSJ reports, including Apple. The company has hired bankers to explore a sale as a result of that interest, and those bankers (aka “people close to the situation”) suggest to the paper that “the company could be valued at as much $1 billion in a deal.” Apparently the […]
Frankfurt Updates Health and Safety Plans
The Frankfurt Book Fair has updated their expectations for admittance to this year’s show. While subject to change given the prevailing state requirements in October, “currently [visitors] must show documentation confirming that they are fully vaccinated, or that they have been tested for Covid-19 and are negative.” (It doesn’t say anything about fairground employees, however. Approximately 39 percent of Germans are fully vaccinated now.) Separately, FBF also notes that, “There will be clear rules regarding face masks at the book fair. They will be adapted to the current situation and announced shortly before the event.”