Pew Research’s latest e-reading survey, released Thursday, added still more context on various trends among those who read electronically in 2012. Of the over 2500 Americans aged 16 or older surveyed between October and November 2012, a little fewer than one-quarter (or 23 percent) reported that they have read an ebook in the past year, up from 16 percent in the previous year. According to the Pew survey, the likeliest ebook readers are those with college or graduate degrees (42 percent of those surveyed), those who live in households earning more than $75,000 (44 percent), and those whose ages fall […]
HarperCollins Financials Revealed As Part of News Corp Spinoff Procedure
With News Corp.’s proposed spinoff of its publishing unit, aka New News Corp (the other division will be renamed Fox Group) moving forward, the company filed proxy documents with the SEC late Thursday outlining the scope of the proposed spinoff and revealing financial performance data for HarperCollins, after holding back on numbers ever since the close of fiscal 201o. For the most recent quarter, which ended September 30 (their fiscal first quarter), Harper reported sales of $352 million, up 17 percent from $301 million in 2011–largely because of the acqusition of Thomas Nelson in July, at the beginning of the […]
Reidy Writes S&S On Track for “Strong Results”
Simon & Schuster ceo Carolyn Reidy sent out her year-end letter to staff Thursday, writing that the company is “projected to deliver strong full-year financial results” with two weeks to go in 2012.” Though the retail marketplace “was more complex than ever,” Reidy said S&S “adeptly navigated these complexities while managing to pursue every possible opportunity to maximize sales.” Reidy said recent reorganizations of sales & marketing and editorial imprints helped put “greater emphasis and increased resources, at both the imprint and company-wide level, on digital sales and our efforts to reach consumers via digital means,” and produced a “sharpened […]
Overseas Regulatory Filing Reveals New Details on Proposed Penguin Random House Merger
The proposed Penguin Random House merger is subject to review and approval by regulatory agencies in several countries — including the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and China — which is one which is why the deal is not expected to close at least until the second half of 2013. Papers were filed with New Zealand’s Commerce Commission on December 19 and made public (with some redactions), providing a few more tidbits of interest. Should the deal be approved, Penguin Random House would actually “operate through two entities” rather than just one: a Delaware corporation “that will own Bertelsmann […]
A Spin Through My Favorite Books of the Year
Yes I know, another favorite books of 2012 list. And truth be told, many of those on mine mirror our consensus “Best of the Best” tabulation. To save some time and space, I’d like to take a cue from the game show Wheel of Fortune and the beginning of every final round since 1988: giving contestants the six most commonly picked letters — R,S,T,L,N,E — so that they can choose six additional ones before guessing the missing vowels and consonants: R: BEHIND THE BEAUTIFUL FOREVERS, Katherine Boo S: BRING UP THE BODIES, Hilary Mantel T: GONE GIRL, Gillian Flynn L: […]
Scholastic Sales and Profits Fall, As Forecasted
Scholastic reported results for the second quarter ending November 30, and as the company warned a month ago, overall sales fell 10 percent to $616.2 million, and profits declined further. The company reported a net profit of $61.8 million (or $1.89 a share) as compared to $82.8 million (or $2.62 a share) a year ago, in part because of declining Hunger Games trilogy sales as well as declining book club revenues and lower sales of higher margin educational technology products. Revenue in the children’s book publishing and distribution division was also down almost 11 percent to $350.1 million, and trade […]