Bill Gates announced that his memoir SOURCE CODE will be published on February 4, 2025, again with Knopf. “It’s a memoir about my early years, from childhood through my decision to leave college and start Microsoft with Paul Allen. I write about the relationships, lessons, and experiences that laid the foundation for everything in my life that followed.”
Tik Tok Shop Makes Its Own Bestsellers
The NYT finds Keila Shaheen’s The Shadow Work Journal — republished last month by Simon & Schuster’s Primero Sueño — one of at least a handful of homegrown TikTok Shop bestsellers. The Atlantic wrote about the book last September, when it was said to have sold 290,000 units through TikTokShop since April, “even as experts question its approach—and the author’s credentials.” Earlier this year, Shaheen reached a five-book, 50/50 profit-share deal with S&S, accompanied by a seven-figure advance, represented by Rebecca Gradinger and Albert Lee at UTA. The expanded S&S trade paperback has sold a little under 22,000 copies since […]
ABA Continues to Grow Membership
The ABA announced their annual membership data, adding 248 members over the last year. The organization now counts 2,433 bookstore members, operating in 2,844 locations. The organization indicated that “around 190 more stores are in the process of opening over the next two years,” the AP reports. As the AP explains, however, “new stores” includes pop-ups and online-only stores. ABA ceo Allison Hill also balances the increase in members against the challenges that stores continue to face: “Independent bookselling has never been dependably profitable, and Hill notes various concerns — rising costs, dwindling aid from the pandemic and the ongoing […]
Simon & Schuster Reported to Have Weak Fourth Quarter
Simon & Schuster provided “a financial snapshot” to its lenders ahead of fully audited results for the fourth quarter of 2023 and the first quarter of 2024 that reportedly show full-year 2023 sales fell by 8 percent, Bloomberg reports. That would represent a big fall off in the final two months of 2023. It suggests fourth quarter sales were approximately $226 million — down from $314 million in 2022, and $268 million in 2021. Paramount Global indicated sales in October were $101 million, which would mean sales for the last two months of the year were $125 million. While that’s […]
BNED Stock Is A Screaming Meme
Barnes & Noble Education is in the process of being recapitalized and taken over by Immersion Corporation, with support from a few major lenders and stockholders, after failing to make money for years and piling up debt. But recent news of some unsuccessful maneuvering by Greenhaven Capital coupled with the recent return of RoaringKitty and meme stock fever has turned BNED shares into a surprising meme roller coaster of its own. The movement is inflamed by a general misunderstanding of the pending takeover and the company’s weak position, along with additional misunderstanding of the company’s historical connection to the other Barnes […]
AI Annals: PRH’s Book Boost
Bertelsmann commissioned a study from Enders Analysis and Arthur D. Little on various media industry uses of artificial intelligence so far. In publishing, the report touts Penguin Random House’s BookBoost, “a proprietary platform that leverages first-party data, automation, machine learning, and AI to fully automate the process for Facebook and Instagram advertising.” They note the tool “helps to create, execute, and test advertising campaigns at scale with a focus on driving incremental sales and marketing efficiencies. Results to date are very promising, with key metrics on par or above benchmarks with strong performance in driving ad clickers to retail.” The […]