The AAP released StatShot data for June, and for the first half of the year. In June, trade sales were mostly flat at $605.4 million, compared to $601.9 million last year. Adult sales for the month were $427.9 million, up from $417.3 million. (For comparison, June 2020 showed $454 million in adult sales, and June 2019 delivered $379 million.) Hardcover sales were down (9) percent to $104.5 million, while paperbacks rose 11 percent to $154.8 million. Mass markets were up 17 percent to $21.3 million. Children’s and YA books sold $177.5 million in June, down (4) percent overall. Hardcovers dropped […]
For the Record: S&S Touts Their Audio Capabilities, Worldwide Presence
Following PRH executive Manuel Sansigre’s testimony, an S&S spokesperson has clarified and corrected a couple of points. When Sansigre told the court, “We learned from the management presentation of Simon & Schuster that they have presence in 100 countries” and added that “in our case, we have presence in more than 200 countries,” he was speaking about sales of physical books only. S&S reports that for print books and ebooks combined, their titles are available in over 200 countries. PRH has its own “dedicated sales reps across the globe,” whereas S&S uses wholesalers and distributors in some international markets. Additionally, […]
Duke University Press Workers Win Union
The National Labor Relations Board has denied Duke’s April appeal to overturn the Duke University Press Union election, the union announced on Twitter. The move means that the press is officially unionized, and will now bargain with management on a contract.
Judge Rules PRH’s Efficiencies Estimates Are Inadmissible, After Sansigre Details Expected Staff Overlap, Royalty Raises
As we reported before the trial began, Judge Florence Pan had clearly been “a little skeptical” about admitting Penguin Random House’s internal expectations of significant cost savings and sales increases following the merger. On Wednesday morning, after another testy exchange with PRH’s attorney Andrew Frackman, Judge Pan ruled for the government and found the efficiencies evidence inadmissible: “The efficiencies projected by Penguin Random House are not substantiated and verified. Although many may be verifiable, some are not.” (We’ll share the full ruling tomorrow; it was quite extensive and thorough, and grounded in both the horizontal merger guidelines and case law […]
New Books Publishing August 16
Julian Barnes, Édouard Louis and Danielle Steele lead this week’s fiction releases, while nonfiction includes new work from Chris Mooney and James Patterson. 19 works of fiction https://bookshop.org/lists/new-fiction-publishing-august-16 https://shop.aer.io/publishers_lunch/cl/New_Fiction_Publishing_August_/224054 8 nonfiction titles https://bookshop.org/lists/new-nonfiction-publishing-august-16 https://shop.aer.io/publishers_lunch/cl/New_Nonfiction_Publishing_August_/224055 We consult a number of sources in compiling our weekly lists and PM members can see our lists for the coming three months through this reference page. But if you want to make sure your key titles are on our radar, now you can use this form to submit brief details as well: publun.ch/submitNotable. Please submit your notable titles at least 3 months prior to pub date.
Antitrust Trial Day by Day
To continue the extensive baseball metaphors, the DOJ v. PRH antitrust trial enters its home stretch this week, with parties scheduled to deliver closing arguments on Friday. We’ve written well over 20,000 words about the trial since the proceedings started (and that does not count any of the court transcripts we have attached for further reading). To follow the arguments from the start, here are the notable takeaways so far, day by day, along with links to the full pieces. (NB, we have reserved our extensive coverage for PublishersMarketplace.com members. For the trial-obsessed among readers of our shorter, free Publishers […]