Deal reports took a discernible step back in the first quarter, after setting significant records in 2021 and then again in 2022. (Last year, the first quarter was the strongest period the whole year, with total US deal volume ending up down by 1.5 percent.) Total deals registered 4.4 percent lower than in the big Q1 2022, but “core” deals (excluding our digital deals category) declined 8 percent. Similarly, deals from the five largest trade publishers on their own also declined 8.5 percent, leading the market down, primarily due to the two biggest players. Digital deals rose sharply for the […]
Bookselling
Barnes & Noble expects to open a new 8,000-square-foot store in Wareham Crossing in Wareham, MA, scheduled to open on June 14. Independent bookstore Anodyne Book Shop opens this week in Searsport, ME. And Foggy Pine Books in Boone, NC will close on April 15.
Forthcoming: A Bond In Honor of King Charles
Ian Fleming Publications announced a newly-commissioned short novel, reusing the title ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE from 60 years ago, to be published in the UK on May 4. It is billed in celebration of the coronation of King Charles on May 6. “Young Bond” author Charlie Higson wrote the new 144-page book, though he didn’t have much time: “When Ian Fleming Publications came to me with the idea of writing an adult Bond story a little more than a month ago I was thrilled – until I realised it had to be ready for the coronation in May. Getting […]
For 2022, HBG USA Was Lagardere’s Biggest Division
Earlier this month, Lagardere published their full annual report (478 pages long) which offers additional detail on the performance of the publishing division. Notably, due to a combination of the recent Workman acquisition, the unusual strong US dollar, and a weaker performance in France, for the first time ever Hachette Book Group USA generated more revenue for the company than Hachette Livre in France. Sales in the US and Canada reached €867 million, compared to €734 million in 2021 (though in dollars, that converts to sales of roughly $913 million in 2022, and $868 million in 2021; their acquisition of […]
Visiting Sanderson In His Dragonsteel “Lair”
Brandon Sanderson’s TRESS OF THE EMERALD SEA, the first of the books he offered through his record-smashing $41 million Kickstarter campaign, publishes in its regular trade edition next Tuesday. As his employees pack March swag boxes for his over 38,000 of his backers (the Kickstarter had 185,000 backers overall), Esquire visits Sanderson in his “underground supervillain lair” in Utah. “To fulfill the Kickstarter, we had to double our staff,” Sanderson says, and his company Dragonsteel now employs 64 people. He tells the magazine, “The Kickstarter didn’t make us more money than just selling those books in New York would have,” […]
Publishers and Authors Win: The Internet Archive Is Guilty of “Wholesale Copying and Unauthorized Lending”
In a significant victory for authors and publishers, on Friday New York Federal Court Judge John Koeltl ruled swiftly, clearly and conclusively, granting summary judgment for the litigating publishers against the Internet Archive on the allegations of mass copyright infringement. The judge wrote: “At bottom, IA’s fair use defense rests on the notion that lawfully acquiring a copyrighted print book entitles the recipient to make an unauthorized copy and distribute it in place of the print book, so long as it does not simultaneously lend the print book. But no case or legal principle supports that notion. Every authority points […]