Following an accounting adjustment in October, authors who produce and sell their own audiobooks through Audible’s ACX became aware of the significant extent to which “returned” and “exchanged” audiobooks — encouraged by Audible itself — have been cutting into their proceeds. Returns and exchanges turned out to comprise “15% to 50% or more of lost sales over time” for many authors. One author, Susan May, published a lengthy post about her experience. More authors have traded stories and strategies in a Facebook group “to come together to persuade ACX & Audible to give us a fair deal on our audiobooks.” […]
News Corp CEO Says PRH Would Face Antitrust Fight Over Simon & Schuster
News Corp. ceo Robert Thomson said in answer to a question at the company’s annual meeting he has no doubt that Penguin Random House would face major regulatory issues in the US if they were to prevail in the bidding to acquire Simon & Schuster. “It will clearly be a serious antitrust issue if Bertelsmann acquires Simon & Schuster,” Thomson said. “However cute and clever the structure, if Bertelsmann is a beneficiary, it will be a book behemoth. And this will certainly be a profound antitrust issue for the entire book industry and no doubt for authors around the world.” […]
Obama’s A Promised Land Sets PRH Opening Day Sales Record
Penguin Random House announced Wednesday that Barack Obama’s A PROMISED LAND sold over than 887,000 units (including pre-orders_ in all formats and editions in the US and Canada on the first day of publication. That comprises “the largest first-day sales total for any book ever published” by the company. Two years ago, Michelle Obama’s book BECOMING sold over 725,000 units in its first day on sale, moving 1.4 million units in the first week on sale. In July, Simon & Schuster said they had set their own “company record” for opening day sales in the US when Mary Trump’s Too […]
Bologna Book Fair Announces June Dates, Takes Aim at LBF and Book Expo with General Publishing Initiative
Following quickly on the London Book Fair’s hopes for an awkwardly-timed live book fair next year running June 29 to July 1, the Bologna Children’s Book Fair has also announced new dates, and expanded ambitions. Bologna now hopes to convene their fair from June 14 through June 17, moving from their original dates in mid-April. Both events may be ahead of sufficient vaccination to encourage live gatherings at scale, particularly while hoping to draw visitors from around the world. Note, for example, that Macmillan Publishers in the US recently declared that they will not open their trade publishing offices in […]
The Top Bidders for Simon & Schuster Are…Exactly As Expected
“Three people familiar with the process” have confirmed to the NYT that parents of the two largest trade publishers in the US — Penguin Random House and HarperCollins — are the two leading bidders for Simon & Schuster at this point. Which is exactly as was expected, since the company will yield greater financial efficiencies if it is acquired by another, larger trade publisher. “At least one of the offers has topped $1.7 billion,” two of the people said to the paper, with final bids due prior to Thanksgiving. If true, that would be a substantial premium over prices for […]
New Books Publishing November 17
Yes, Barack Obama’s memoir publishes today, but it is joined by a wealth of high-profile new releases. There are also memoirs and personal essays from Rachel Bloom, Cazzie David, Ree Drummond, Michael J. Fox, Dolly Parton — and new fiction from David Baldacci, Mary Higgins Clark and Alafair Burke, Brandon Sanderson and Danielle Steel, plus Rupi Kaur’s third collection of poetry, and still more. The week will include the National Book Awards on Wednesday night and the Booker Prize selection on Thursday. With the NYT about to publishing their lists of 100 Notable Books and the top 10 books of […]