McGraw Hill has announced it had entered into a transaction support agreement that would extend its debt maturity through late 2024. Its revolving credit facility would also be extended, to November 2023. “The Transaction will address upcoming maturities and reduce First Lien leverage without materially increasing total leverage or cash interest expense,” according to a company report. The refinancing plan still requires additional approvals from first lien term loan holders. The company’s annual report, released in June, noted “substantial indebtedness” as a risk factor, “restrict[ing] our ability to react to changes in the economy or our industry and expos[ing] us […]
AAP October Stats Show Trade Gains Continuing
AAP released its StatShot of publisher reported sales for October, with combined adult and children trade sales of $901 million, up from $877 million. Adult book sales were $611 million, up from $554 million in 2019, or 10 percent, with paperback books showing the biggest gain (18 percent). Children’s book sales meanwhile were down by 10 percent overall, to $290 million, despite gains in board books. Ebook sales were $92 million, up from $76 million. Downloaded audio sales were $55 million, up from $47 million. K-12 sales were $104 million, down from $121 million last year. But higher ed showed […]
Small Press Distribution Anonymously Accused of Illegal Payroll Practices, Hostility and Abuse
An anonymous person (aka Damaged Book worker) who says they are a former employee of Small Press Distribution accused the company of illegal payroll practices that led to employees being underpaid, as well as anti-worker hostility and abuse resulting in the employee resigning in early 2020. The allegations were made in a December 2 Medium post, which links to a redacted severance agreement the former employee says offered $2,500 “in exchange for my complete confidentiality and a promise not to prosecute.” The employee, who started as a warehouse worker before moving to the front office, did not sign. On December […]
Corporate: Wiley’s Earnings Gain and Guidance is Reinstated, Barnes & Noble Education Still Suffering
Wiley reported second quarter sales for the period ended October 31, with sales of $491 million, compared to $466.2 million last year’s period, an increase of 5 percent. Excluding acquisitions and currency impact, however, revenue was flat. Adjusted EBITDA was $120.3 million, increased from $110 million, or 7 percent. Significantly, the company reinstated guidance for fiscal year 2021 (after suspending it due to the pandemic), now forecasting low-single digit growth overall for the year, with a mid-single digit decline in Academic & Professional Learning. The return of guidance and expectations of growth along with outperforming analysts for the quarter led […]
New Books Publishing December 8
It’s a relatively small week in volume, but the books are big. In nonfiction, notables include Rachel Maddow and Michael Yarvitz’s Trump takedown, and James Patterson’s take on “the greatest true-crime story in music history,” the murder of John Lennon. In fiction, you’ll find a courtroom thriller (Kia Abdullah’s Take It Back), Swedish sleuthing (Helen Tursten’s Snow Drift), a space opera (Kristyn Merbeth’s Memoria), and more. Eight new works of fiction https://bookshop.org/lists/new-fiction-publishing-december-8 Ten new nonfiction titles https://bookshop.org/lists/new-nonfiction-publishing-december-8
Amazon in Talks to Test Lending Its Ebooks to Libraries
Amazon, which has until now refused to license the ebooks it publishes to libraries under any terms, is reportedly in is in “active discussions” with the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) to change its policy and work with libraries to distribute its titles. DPLA would use its content exchange platform to provide Amazon’s digital content to libraries. The Hill quotes an Amazon representative as saying that the company expects “to be testing a number of different models” early next year. “We believe libraries serve a critical purpose in communities across the country, and our priority is to make Amazon Publishing […]