NPD Bookscan reported print book sales for the week ending April 11 of 12.47 million units. While that is nicely higher than the previous week, the proper comparison is to the week just before Easter a year ago, since book sales always spike measurably right before the holiday. The comparable week a year ago — ending April 20 — saw sales of 13.97 million units, making this year’s holiday week down over 10.7 percent in comparison. Per the trend during the pandemic, juvenile books continue to account for most of the week-over-week gains, registering sales of 6.385 million units (compared […]
Book Expo Will Provide Partial Refunds Upon Request
In response to our query, Book Expo and Book Con show director Jenny Martin indicated they will provide refunds to exhibitors on request. The organizers’ preference is to roll amounts paid towards the 2021 show, but Martin says their contract provides for a refund of 80 percent and they stand ready to do so. “Exhibitors will receive a letter detailing this process via email,” we were told. Martin says in her reply to us, “100% of amounts paid for exhibit space or media to date for BookExpo, UnBound and BookCon will be rolled over towards participation in our 2021 edition…. […]
People: Nichols to Join Little, Brown As Publisher
Longtime svp and publisher of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Bruce Nichols will join Little, Brown as svp and publisher on May 4. He will report to ceo Michael Pietsch and join HBG’s executive management board. Nichols, who started his publishing career at Little, Brown in the company’s former College Publishing division, says in the announcement, “I have long admired the range and strengths of the publishing program at Little, Brown, its enormously talented staff, and the spectacular writers they have brought into the world. Continuing their remarkable programs, and finding new opportunities for growth and innovation, is the challenge of a […]
Reed Finally Admits There Will be No Book Expo or Book Con This Year
On Tuesday afternoon, Reed Exhibitions conceded what all of the industry’s largest companies had already made plain on their own: Book Expo and Book Con, which organizers had hoped to hold at rescheduled dates in late July, will not be held at all in 2020. “As the pandemic has continued to escalate in the United States and we see the challenges it has brought for the book industry, it is clear that 2020 is no longer a viable option for this community,” the company said. Their statement indicates that individual tickets purchased for 2020 will be refunded automatically, though it […]
New Books Publishing April 14
Even with the many changes in spring pub dates that we continue to track and update at publun.ch/pubdatechanges, a healthy wave of new books comes to market today. As we have done the past couple of weeks, we are ready to call attention to a number of notable titles publishing today in need of attention and support. Our sample Bookshop and Aerbook store carousels provide easy displays of: 14 new works of fiction https://bookshop.org/lists/new-fiction-publishing-april-14 https://aerbook.com/store/publishers_lunch/New_Fiction_Publishing_April_14/177839 13 new nonfiction titles https://bookshop.org/lists/new-nonfiction-publishing-april-14 https://aerbook.com/store/publishers_lunch/New_Nonfiction_Publishing_April_14/177840 More new children’s/YA books https://bookshop.org/lists/new-children-s-titles-publishing-april https://aerbook.com/store/publishers_lunch/New_Childrens_Titles_Publishing_April_7/177841
Briefs: Ingram Reports Hack, and More
Ingram Content Group announced on Thursday that they had “recently identified unauthorized access within” CoreSource, their digital asset management and distribution platform. They report “a CoreSource customer’s account was used for unauthorized downloads of some publishers’ titles.” Those publishers have been alerted and Ingram is “working directly with them to monitor the situation.” They note, “Immediately upon identifying the unauthorized access and suspect downloads, we launched a thorough investigation, took measures to disable the impacted accounts and blocked any further unauthorized access. We also engaged a third-party professional computer security firm to assist. We highly value the security and confidentiality of our […]