That supposed “nosedive” in print sales the week after Easter was…completely normal. As NPD Books analyst writes in their weekly media report, “The week after Easter always sees a significant drop of more than 20%, and this year was no exception. It’s perfectly normal.” In fact, “The week after Easter always sees a drop of 20% to 28%.” This year, “Volume was down 24% from last week but was up 10% over the same week in 2019, which was also an Easter week and therefore is a helpful gauge of where we are relative to pre-pandemic numbers…. The week after […]
At Macmillan, Weisberg to Step Aside in 2023 and Yaged to Run US
Macmillan Publishers ceo Don Weisberg will step aside from that position at the end of 2022, and current president of Macmillan Publishers US Jon Yaged will succeed him as CEO in the US. Weisberg will serve “in an advisory capacity to Stefan von Holtzbrinck” starting in January 2023. Weisberg says in the announcement: “Today, with all we’re accomplishing at Macmillan, I can, without hesitation, say that there could be no better time for me to step aside. We are coming off two record-breaking years of unprecedented growth and profit; we have improved every facet of our operation at a time […]
Higher Ed Sales Still Falling, As Pearson Rises Overall
Pearson gave a brief first quarter trading update on Friday. Their actual textbook publishing business, reported through the higher ed segment and still their second-largest division, was down 5 percent, “due to expected declines in US Higher Education reflecting the continued decline in enrollments and courses per enrollment.” International textbook businesses that are up for sale (“under strategic review” in corporate-speak) fell by 11 percent, “as expected.” But overall “underlying sales” — which leave aside currency exchange, which can have a big influence on their actual results, rose 7 percent in the period. Separately, the company announced another new acquisition, […]
Lau Builds Ever-Bigger Quarto Stake
As we have reported regularly, Quarto Group’s controlling owner CK Lau continues to steadily buy up more shares in the publishing company, with a steady stream of purchases throughout April. With the latest filing, Lau’s company 1010 Printing Limited now owns over 50 percent of publisher’s stock, with nearly 20.5 million shares. (Lau owns a small block of stock in his own name as well.) Lau started adding to his stake in earnest last August, after sales rebounded and the company reported a modest profit. As of his mid-August investment, 1010 Printing owned 37 percent of the publisher’s stock and […]
Bookselling: Another Longtime Barnes & Noble Store to Close, In New Jersey
This time it’s their store in Clark, NJ, a location that has been in business for 24 years. Like the big Boston store at the Prudential Center, this store will close on June 19, after the “landlord has opted not to renew our lease.” Another New Jersey BN store, in Springfield, is reportedly at the end of its lease after 30 years in that location is likely to be demolished later this year to make way for a newly-built Chick-fil-A.
Early 2022 Sales Led by BookTok Fiction and Southern Migration
This time of year, if you focus too much on weekly market sales reports without looking at the broader context – particularly the timing of Easter – you can get confused pretty easily. For the first quarter of 2022 (the 13 weeks ending April 2), print book sales as measured by NPD Bookscan registered 184 million units – 18 million units, or 9 percent, lower than the big first quarter in 2021. But three weeks later, following a good sales week leading in to Easter and natural falloff the following week, the true comparison was clearer – and better: Year-to-date […]