The Book Industry Charity Foundation has raised $1 million for a new bookstore grant program that will quickly provide grants to independent bookstores and comic shops facing financial challenges due to COVID-19. Binc’s Survive to Thrive initiative was funded with a leading gift of $500,000, jointly from Ingram Charities and Ingram Content Group; $250,000 from Bookshop.org; and an additional $250,000 total from Hachette, Harper Collins, Macmillan Publishers, and Penguin Random House, and seeks to raise an addition $1 million. Meeting that $2 million funding goal would support grants of up to $10,000 to 200 independent bookstores and comic shops. (Link […]
PRH Gains in 2020 On “Growing US Business” and Digital Increases
Bertelsmann reported financial results for 2020, with Penguin Random House showing substantial gains in profit and a strong sales performance with meaningful “organic” sales growth for the first time since Penguin and Random House merger (see table below), helped by a string of acquisitions in 2019. Sales were €3.802 billion, up €166 billion from 2019, or 4.6 percent higher. Operating EBITDA was €691 million, rising €130 over 2019, up 23 percent. In the past Bertelsmann reported actual profit for the PRH joint venture with Pearson, which was €321 million in 2019 — but that measure has been retired now that […]
New Books Publishing March 30
Sharon Stone’s memoir is grabbing headlines, but this week’s nonfiction is a spectacular of extraordinary women: Eleanor Roosevelt; Queen Elizabeth II and her sister Margaret (in Andrew Morton’s latest); the abolitionist agitators Harriet Tubman, Martha Wright, and Frances Seward; and the record-breaking mountain climber Vanessa O’Brien. In fiction, Libertie, by Kaitlyn Greenidge, and Of Women and Salt, by Gabriela Garcia — both excerpted in our free Buzz Books sampler and both featured in our Winter Buzz Books Editors’ Panel — are among this week’s rich new works. 7 new works of fiction https://bookshop.org/lists/new-fiction-publishing-march-30 https://shop.aer.io/publishers_lunch/cl/New_Fiction_Publishing_March_/219203 13 new nonfiction titles https://bookshop.org/lists/new-nonfiction-publishing-march-30 https://shop.aer.io/publishers_lunch/cl/New_Nonfiction_Publishing_March_/219204 […]
New Books Published March 23
Big chills this week, with new thrillers from Camilla Sten, Heather Graham, and Janet Evanovich and Steve Hamilton, as well as novels including Andrea Lee’s Red Island House and Andrew J. Graff’s Raft of Stars. Nonfiction brings wisdom and perspective from a delightful breadth of sources–Finnish educators, Francis Bacon, Cleopatra, and Nipsey Hussle, to name just a few. 7 new works of fiction https://bookshop.org/lists/new-fiction-publishing-march-23 https://shop.aer.io/publishers_lunch/cl/New_Fiction_Publishing_March_/219177 7 new nonfiction titles https://bookshop.org/lists/new-nonfiction-publishing-march-23 https://shop.aer.io/publishers_lunch/cl/New_Nonfiction_Publishing_March_/219178 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 […]
Bloomsbury Upgrades Expectations for Fiscal Year After “Exceptional” February
Ahead of their formal annual report in June, Bloomsbury announced a “second upgrade” in expectations, after “exceptional” February sales in consumer books, led by Sarah J. Maas’ just-published A Court of Silver Flames. Due to the pandemic the company never issued formal guidance for the fiscal year, which ended February 28; rather, they have benchmarked against “market expectations.” Against current estimates of sales of £171 million and profit before taxation and highlighted items of £14.8 million, the company expects higher sales, and “significantly” higher earnings. Given that, Bloomsbury has “repaid the temporary salary reductions for staff,” taken for three months […]
Quarto Holds onto Modest Profit Despite 7% Sales Decline in 2020
Quarto reported earnings for the year ended December 31, 2020, with sales of $127 million, down from $136 million, a decline of 7 percent. US sales of $76 million were down by $4 million, as were non-UK sales in Europe of $17.4 million. Operating profit was $9.3 million, up modestly from $8.8 million, due to lower administrative expenses. Pre-tax profit of $6.6 million was up from $3.8 million a year ago, primarily due to lower finance costs after they paid down a portion of their debt. At noon in London, the stock was up more than 20 percent from previous close on the […]