Announced about a month ago (and flagged now by the Bookseller), Finland’s forestry and packaging giant Stora Enso announced plans for “a possible divestment” of four paper mills across Europe (in Finland, Sweden and Germany), retaining just one mill in Belgium that produces magazine paper as they focus on packaging and other products. The entire paper division had sales of 1.7 billion euros in 2021. The company said “paper is not a strategic growth area for the Group.” Despite strong demand and growing prices, Inderes analyst Antti Viljakainen told Reuters, “On the operating profit level, 2020 and 2021 have been […]
Yes, Maryland, Publishers Do Want A Permanent Injunction
After the state of Maryland’s law attempting to regulate the licensing of ebooks to libraries was quickly found unconstitutional by District Court Judge Deborah L. Boardman, the plaintiff AAP is asking the judge to ensure the endurance of her ruling with a permanent injunction. Earlier in the month Maryland’s state attorney general had requested that Judge Boardman issue declaratory judgment for the AAP without issuing a permanent injunction, looking to avoid “having to invoke the Court’s ongoing jurisdiction over the State’s compliance” (and, perhaps, trying to leave some wiggle room for future legislation). Maryland had argued that it did not […]
Big Boston Barnes & Noble Store to Close
Missing from the recent NYT version of Barnes & Noble’s trajectory was any mention of the large superstores that have been closing, sometimes swapped out for much smaller stores in the same area. Next on that list is the chain’s big 36,000-square-foot store in Boston’s Prudential Center, which will close June 19 after 20 years in that location. The store said it was unable to negotiate a lease renewal with the landlord, and the chain encourages area customers to drive outside of Boston to its locations in Hingham and Peabody. BN has been having particular trouble in the Boston area: […]
Amazon Launches AaaS (Pronunciation Not Disclosed)
As an answer to fast-growing Shopify, Amazon plans to launch what is effectively “Amazon as a Service,” which they are calling Buy with Prime. The pitch is to allow merchants the “shopping benefits of Prime…whether they sell in Amazon’s store or beyond.” The service will bundle Amazon’s Prime delivery service (and returns management) along with Amazon Pay checkout, running from merchants’ own websites. Significantly, merchant will also “receive shopper order information, including email addresses, which they can use to provide excellent customer service, and build direct relationships with shoppers.” The initial launch invites are limited to merchants using Fulfillment by […]
Pietsch Evaluates the Best and Worst of Pandemic Times, Poses Questions for Next Steps
Self-described “book nerd” and “publishing nerd” Michael Piestch, ceo of Hachette Book Group USA, opened a live gathering in New York of the Book Industry Study Group’s annual meeting on Friday morning with a keynote speech. (HBG resumes having employees back in the New York office two days a week starting next week.) Echoing Charles Dickens’ line “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,” Pietsch eloquently encapsulated both the record revenues and profits and increased efficiency and flexibility publishers have enjoyed during the pandemic, alongside the “Holy Gutenberg” wave of “some of the biggest and […]
Picture This
Ever since we started this enterprise our focus has always been on what we can do next and helping to build the future rather than dwelling on past — but we’re so busy tinkering with our site that we often neglect to announce the latest refinements. As you may have noticed, at the end of last year we expanded our Contact records, to allow you indicate your pronouns, link to a personal or company webpage, and/or upload a photo. Additionally editors and agents can provide information about identity; and agents can add links for submission guidelines as well as Query […]