Harlequin’s parent company Torstar reported first quarter results Wednesday. The book publishing unit had sales of $106.6 million (CA), down by $9.4 million, excluding the impact of foreign exchange (which added another $700,000 in earnings.) EBITDA was down $1.5 million in the quarter at $21.4 million, which Torstar attributed to “lower revenues as we continue to adjust in the print and digital book publishing markets to the shift to digital reading.” As in the past, the sales drop was attributed to “declines in print revenues [that] more than [offset] digital revenue growth.” Global digital revenues, up $2.9 million compared to […]
People: Author Mitchard to Head New YA Imprint for F+W, and More
Author of 24 novels and books of non-fiction for adults, young adults, and children Jacquelyn Mitchard will run a new young adult imprint for F+W Media called Merit Press Books. They plan five titles for 2012 and 12 releases for 2013. Publisher Karen Cooper says: “The mission of the line is to provide an abundance of intensely readable, highly suspenseful and unforgettable fiction for readers aged thirteen and up, with a particular emphasis on strong, savvy, female heroes rising to conquer sometimes stunning challenges thrown at them by a very real contemporary world.” Best known for writing the inaugural Oprah’s […]
Books-A-Million Announces Formation of Special Board Committee for Buyout As Shareholder Sues
Books-A-Million formally announced the creation of a special committee of independent directors that will evaluate and make a recommendation regarding the Anderson family’s bid to take the company private. The committee, comprising Albert C. Johnson and J. Barry Mason, has retained King & Spalding as its legal counsel and is in the process of retaining financial advisors. In the same statement, BAMM’s board of directors again cautioned shareholders and other interested parties that the board “has only recently received the proposal and no decisions have been made…. There can be no assurance that any definitive offer will be made or […]
Pocket Star Relaunches as Dedicated eBook Imprint
Pocket Books will relaunch its Pocket Star mass market paperback line as a dedicated ebook imprint, continuing to feature bestselling and debut authors in women’s fiction, romance, thrillers, urban fantasy, and mystery. Executive editor at Pocket Lauren McKenna will oversee all content for Pocket Star as editorial director. The move comes after Pocket published Kresley Cole’s novella WARLORD WANTS FOREVER as an ebook, selling 60,000 copies. The relaunched imprint will draw from its spring and summer list of titles by V.C. Andrews, Nathan Dodge, Cindy Gerard, Laura Griffin, Sabrina Jeffries, Carrie Lofty, and Michael R. Underwood, among others, and Pocket […]
Significant BAMM Investor Gowda Says Buyout Undervalues Bookseller
Earlier this week when the Anderson family, which owns a majority stake in Books-A-Million, announced its intention to buy out all other shareholders and take the company private at $3.05 a share, the move was seen by analysts and investors as a lowball or “take-under” effort. At the time, minority investor Harsha Gowda of Blueshore Capital Management, with a 6.38 percent stake in BAMM, told us he would “have to postpone a discussion about this situation until after the proposed transaction occurs.” It seems he didn’t have to wait very long, based on a letter Gowda sent to Books-A-Million’s board […]
People, Etc.
Liz Egan has joined Amazon Publishing’s New York imprint as senior editor, focusing on fiction, memoir, and parenting. Previously she was the books editor at Self magazine for seven years. Tattered Cover manager of operations Neil Strandberg is joining the ABA’s staff in the new position of director of member technology. Relocating to New York, he starts on May 7. Eric Brandt has joined Yale University Press as senior editor, Humanities. He was most recently senior editor at Harper One. At Random House Children’s, Dominique Cimina was named director of publicity and corporate communications; Casey Lloyd and Elizabeth Zajac have both moved up to […]