At Atria, Lisa Sciambra has been promoted to director of publicity; Dana Trocker is now associate publisher; and Suzanne Donahue takes the new role of vp, director of backlist marketing, with all three reporting to publisher Libby McGuire. Additionally, Megan Rudloff has been promoted to publicist. At Random House Children’s, Lauren Adams has been promoted to assistant director, brands and proprietary marketing.
Simon & Schuster Sales Jump 29 Percent
ViacomCBS reported third quarter sales on Friday, with publisher Simon & Schuster reporting what looks to be their biggest-ever third quarter topline: Sales of $279 million were up 29 percent from $217 million a year ago. (The previous best third quarter sales mark looks to have been two years ago, the last time they published Bob Woodward, when sales were $240 million.) Earnings were solid but only gained 5 percent, due to “higher author expenses and costs associated with the mix of titles” (including printing and royalties for all those extra sales). OIBDA was $58 million, compared to $55 million […]
Harper Rebounds As Well with Good First Quarter
News Corp. reported earnings for their fiscal first quarter, ending September 30, on Thursday afternoon, with publisher HarperCollins showing growth after five straight quarters of sales declines. Sales of $458 million were up 13 percent versus $405 million a year ago. ($4 million of the gain was due to currency exchange.) EBITDA was back to the level from two years ago, at $71 million, up from $49 million a year ago. News Corp. said the publishers’ “strong results reflected the importance of savvy commissioning, combined with sensible cost control.” The growth was attributed to new releases from the general books […]
Struggling Houghton Mifflin Harcourt to Explore Selling Trade Division, As Archer Departs
After firing another 525 people at the beginning of October, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt reported terrible third quarter earnings and said it will “explore the potential sale of HMH Books & Media” to generate cash. The corporate-speak says a sale will “build on the company’s October 1 restructuring to align its cost structure to its digital-first, connected strategy, and create a pure-play learning technology company.” Centerview Partners will handle the shopping of the trade division, which will be an appealing size acquisition to a number of players, particularly as Simon & Schuster is likely to make one of the biggest publishers […]
New Books Publishing Election Day
These brave authors and publishers are putting new work out in the world today. After you vote, check out these notable new books: 12 new works of fiction https://bookshop.org/lists/new-fiction-publishing-november-3 7 new nonfiction titles https://bookshop.org/lists/new-nonfiction-publishing-november-3 21 new children’s and YA titles this month https://bookshop.org/lists/new-children-s-titles-publishing-in-november We consult a number of sources in compiling our weekly lists and PM members can see our lists for the coming three months through this reference page. But if you want to make sure your key titles are on our radar, now you can use this form to submit brief details as well: publun.ch/submitNotable. Please submit your notable […]
Penguin Random House Parent Bertelsmann Controls More US Book Printing with Quad Acquisition
Berryville Graphics, a division of Bertelsmann Printing, has acquired the two book manufacturing plants that Quad has been trying to sell for a year now. Berryville has bought the facilities in Fairfield, PA (370,000 square feet) and Martinsburg, WV (380,000 square feet, which focuses on paperbacks). The transaction closed on October 31. It’s a significant expansion for Berryville, which Dun & Bradstreet estimated had sales of about $120 million in 2019. The money-losing Quad book printing business — acquired from World Color, previously known as Quebecor — had annual sales of about $200 million. They sold their big, 1 million-square-foot […]