Following preliminary reports in April, former Hachette Livre CEO Arnaud Nourry officially announced his new publishing venture, Les Nouveaux Editeurs. The company says it has a broad partnership with Simon & Schuster that includes a “first-look agreement for future editorial acquisitions, joining forces in some auctions and bidding together for series, licenses and other multi-book acquisitions.” S&S explains in a separate announcement, “Under the agreement, which includes adult, childrens, and illustrated/graphic titles, each company will have the first opportunity to acquire projects for its market which satisfy certain parameters and for which the other company has acquired world rights. The […]
Barnes & Noble Education Finalizes Last Piece of Recapitalization
BNED has completed their refinancing deal and announced that they will execute the planned 1-for-100 reverse stock split at the end of the day Tuesday, June 11. The move will give the company roughly 26.2 million shares outstanding, and will lift the stock price to an acceptable level to prevent delisting from the New York Stock Exchange. (As of Tuesday morning the stock trades for around 10 cents a share. That would equate to $10 a share after the reverse split.) Immersion Corporation, their new primary shareholder, should have something on the order of a 42 percent stake in the […]
Book Sales Were Strong In May
Despite prominent staff cutbacks, by the numbers print book sales were strong throughout May. Circana Bookscan notes that weekly sales were ahead of 2023 in all four weeks of May (and have been ahead of last year in 8 of the last 11 weeks). Still driven by adult fiction, overall print sales were up by almost 3 million units during the month. Bookscan analyst Brenna Connor notes, “If the strong performance continues, we’ll see sales flat over last year and a possible gain over the summer months.” That strong performance puts 2024 so far nearly even with 2023, running just […]
Barnes & Noble Education Completes Share Offer
The company formally completed their “rights offering,” with existing shareholders buying about 642 million of the 900 million shares of stock offered, at 5 cents a share. That leaves the “backstop” buyers — primarily Immersion Corporation/Toro 18, plus Outerbridge Capital Management and the Selz Family 2011 Trust — on the hook for only $12.9 million to buy up the remaining shares. The company expects to issue the new shares on June 10. Separately, Greenhaven Capital, which had built a 9.9 percent position in the company and flirted with putting together a competing buyout offer, took advantage of the weird interest […]
On the Growing Sales of English Editions In Europe
European publishers have been sounding the alarm about increasing sales of English-language import editions of books by popular authors for some time now — particularly in Holland and across Scandinavia, where publishers have been lobbying to acquire rights to produce English editions of their own alongside their translations to blunt the effect. Now the NYT explains the popularity of those English-language editions to readers, focusing on the effect of social media: “Booksellers in the Netherlands said that many young people prefer to buy books in English with their original covers, even if Dutch is their first language, because those are […]
Imprints: JVL to Collaborate with Amistad
Start-up JVL Media, founded by Viola Davis, Julius Tennon and Lavaille Lavette, will “join forces” with the Harper One Group to publish in association with the Amistad imprint. They anticipate publishing their first releases together in 2025. Harper One president and publisher Judith Curr says in the announcement, “Together, we aim to amplify authentic voices and untold stories that will resonate deeply with readers.” Tennon notes, “JVL Media transcends traditional publishing. We’re nurturing a literary culture that echoes the soul of our society and propels us into the future with stories that matter.”