Lee & Low’s 2023 Diversity Baseline Survey shows “incremental” changes in publishing industry demographics in North America, with movement in the categories of race, sexual orientation, and disability. “Employers are routinely vociferous about their commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI) initiatives without implementing the transparent means to monitor results,” they said. “We know institutional change takes time to bear fruit, which is why revisiting the survey every few years is so vital.” In racial makeup, 72.5 percent of respondents identify as white, down from 76 percent in 2019 and 79 percent in 2015. “There are many possible reasons for this change: […]
Lagardere Has An “Offensive Strategy” To Cut Costs
Further to yesterday’s full-year earnings report, in a call with investors, executives at Lagardere explained that the company plans to cut costs in the publishing division, including halting its ambitious distribution revamp in France and rethinking title count, and hopes to grow through acquisitions, organic growth, and price increases. The company has decided to abandon its Polaris distribution and logistics program, which it began developing in 2021 for distribution in France, because “after two to three years of design and maturing the project we realized that it was probably too big and too expensive for what we needed,” Hachette Livre […]
Lagardere Publishing Grows on Acquisitions, Takes Big Charges, As HBG Sales Fell 6.8 Percent in 2023
Lagardere released financial results for the fourth quarter and full year 2023, with fourth quarter publishing sales of €795 million, up 5.8 percent (or 6.1 percent on a like-for-like basis). For the year, sales of €2.809 billion were up €61 million or 2.2 percent from 2022 (up 1.9 percent like-for-like). Recurring EBIT was just below flat at €301 million (down €1 million), though that does not tell the full story, since overall profit before finance costs and tax fell significantly, at €199 million, down from €291 million a year ago. The year’s sales gains were due primarily to a €50 […]
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New Books Publishing February 27
Tommy Orange and Anna Quindlen publish novels this week, while new nonfiction includes works by Sloane Crosley, Kara Swisher, and Deborah Jackson Taffa. Also out this week is Madeleine Gray’s GREEN DOT, which is excerpted in our Buzz Books 2023: Fall/Winter anthology. 14 works of fiction https://bookshop.org/lists/new-fiction-publishing-february-27 11 works of nonfiction https://bookshop.org/lists/new-nonfiction-publishing-february-27 From Buzz Books https://buzz.publishersmarketplace.com/ We consult a number of sources in compiling our weekly lists and PM members can see our lists for the coming months on Bookshop. Check out February‘s 68 fiction releases, 42 works of nonfiction; and 26 children’s titles; plus […]
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Longtime Yale University Press director John Donatich will retire at the end of June 2025.