On Thursday, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt reported third quarter earnings for the period ending September 30, with sales of $417 million, up 25.9 percent from 2020. The company reported income of $95 million, up from a loss of ($12) million last year. They claim these are “strong” results, and the company increased their full year billings guidance for the second time, to $1.075–1.095 billion, up from $980 million–$1.02 billion. But the bar was mighty low. Two years ago sales for the same quarter were $566 million (with $48 million from the now-sold trade division). “Underpinning these growth opportunities is a large […]
December Indie Next List
The ABA named Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan as the No. 1 pick for December’s Indie Next List, excerpted in our Buzz Books 2021: Fall/Winter sampler.
Galgut’s The Promise Wins Booker Prize
Awards: NBCC Adds Translated Book Prize
The National Book Critics Circle announced the Gregg Barrios Book in Translation Prize, which “seeks to highlight the artistic merit of literature in translation and recognize translators’ valuable work, which expands and enriches American literary culture by bringing world literature to English-language readers.” The inaugural prize will honor a book from any genre translated into English and published in the US in 2022, and will be judged by all NBCC members, not just those on the board. The award is named for poet, critic, and NBCC board member Gregg Barrios, who died in August. “There have been talks within the […]
People 11/3
Jamie Evans joins as production editor at Peachtree. She previously worked as a freelance editor.
S&S “Committed” to Fight DOJ and “Will Carry On”
In a memo to employees on Tuesday, Simon & Schuster president and ceo Jonathan Karp echoed Penguin Random House’s statement that they will fight the Department of Justice’s lawsuit to block the merger of the two houses. “Penguin Random House is determined to fight vigorously to bring this transaction to fruition and we will be doing all we can to help in those efforts,” he wrote. Additionally, “We are committed to working together with PRH to fight this lawsuit.” (The DOJ suit names ViacomCBS as a defendant, alongside Bertelsmann and PRH.) Karp writes, “Notably, DOJ has not alleged that the […]