Content platform Hello Sunshine, home of Reese Witherspoon’s wildly successful book club, is considering a subscription box offering. Tech Crunch was the first to notice that a survey sent to Hello Sunshine’s email list April 16 included several box-focused questions. The 43-question survey, appropriately incentivized with a contest to win a book box, asks readers what subscriptions they already receive; what matters most in a subscription, with 12 options that include personalization, saving money, and “a box full of surprises”; and how they prefer to pay for subscriptions. It also asks how social impact affects readers’ buying decisions, one of […]
May 16 Deadline Set for Bids to Buy F+W Books
F+W Media’s bankruptcy proceedings this week included a milestone of note: The bid schedules for the sale of F+W Media’s Books and Communities business lines were approved by the court. For Books, the deadline to submit a bid is May 16; if an auction is required, it will be held the morning of May 20 at the offices of F+W’s counsel in Delaware. As previously reported, Greg Miller and Brian Sargenti at Greenhill are overseeing that sale. The process for sale of the Communities business line kicks off two weeks later: Bids are due May 28; an auction, if needed, […]
WH Smith to Retool Stores for Kids and Lighter Readers
UK retailer WH Smith released its interim report for the six months ended February 28, 2019, including plans for updates to its High Street store inventory. Total group revenue of £695 million was up 8 percent, with High Street sales — where most of their book sales occur — at £331 million, down £4 million from a year ago. High Street trading profit was £48 million, down £2 million from a year ago. They took a £7 million restructuring charge in the segment, following “a detailed review” that includes closing “around 6 High Street stores.” High Street comp store sales […]
Briefs: Dykstra Sues Over Darling Book, Bertelsmann Restructures Printing Group
Legal Former NY Mets player Lenny Dykstra has sued Ron Darling, his former teammate, as well as his publisher St. Martin’s in New York Supreme Court for defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress. At issue is a passage in the just-published 108 Stitches: Loose Threads, Ripping Yarns, and the Darndest Characters from My Time in the Game. According to Darling’s book, Dykstra hurled racist comments at Boston Starter Oil Can Boyd while he warmed up for Game 3 of the 1986 World Series; Darling wrote, “the worst collection of taunts and insults I’d ever heard — worse, I’m betting, […]
Audible to Settle Lawsuit with Up to 12 Million Free Audiobooks
Audible could issue as many as 12 million free audiobooks and reimburse up to 8.4 million customers for overdraft fees to fulfill the settlement terms of two recent class action lawsuits. The plaintiffs in Grant McKee et al. v. Audible, Inc. and Eric Weber and Bryan Rees v. Amazon.com, Inc., and Amazon Services LLC claim that Audible failed to communicate to customers that unredeemed credits are lost when an account cancels, and that gift membership credits expire when the gift membership does. As well, plaintiff McKee argued that the credits are a form of gift certificate, which federal banking laws requires to […]
Former Intelligence Agency Employees Sue Over Prepublication Review
Five former employees of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the Department of Defense, have sued their former employers to contest the government’s prepublication approval requirements. Former intelligence employees are required to submit manuscripts for review and obtain government approval before they can publish, which the plaintiffs call an “unconstitutional censorship regime” that “cannot be squared with the First Amendment,” according to the complaint, filed in Federal District Court in Maryland. The suit declares itself “a challenge to a far-reaching system of prior restraints that suppresses a broad swath of constitutionally protected speech, […]