We are working on a broad piece looking at sales trends in 2020 and shifts among various sales channel but before we get to that, we are long overdue for an analysis of Deal trends from the year. (As always, our analysis is based on deal reports at PublishersMarketplace.com. Like all book industry datasets it is not complete; such a thing does not exist. But it’s the only comprehensive dataset on book deals, and is consistent over time.) Overall Stats Broadly speaking, the data aligns with US book sales reports, in that deal volume was up measurably, in all major […]
Deals
Mug Shots
Last year we quietly added a Screenshot View to every new deal to help make it easy to capture and share individual reports — but as usual, creative authors (and their friends) are leading the way in innovation. So far, we have seen at least three of these deals as mugs:
Simon & Schuster Cancels Josh Hawley’s Book
With a growing chorus of complaints on social media and around the nation Thursday, at the end of the business day Simon & Schuster swiftly cancelled their forthcoming book from Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri. The company said in a statement, “After witnessing the disturbing, deadly insurrection that took place on Wednesday in Washington, D.C., Simon & Schuster has decided to cancel publication of Senator Josh Hawley’s forthcoming book, THE TYRANNY OF BIG TECH. We did not come to this decision lightly. As a publisher it will always be our mission to amplify a variety of voices and viewpoints: at […]
More Deal Stats: A Lot of Debuts, and A Rebound for Fiction
As noted in yesterday’s overview of US deal reports ahead of when the Frankfurt Book Fair would have convened, a notable strength this year has been a surge in debut fiction sales. As this chart makes clear, the 59 reports in the measured period are almost twice the average number of debut fiction sales from recent years. (On top of that, we logged another 5 debut fiction sales on Wednesday that are not included in this count.) In line with that increased volume, reported six-figure or better deals for debuts are also higher than ever, with 12 such transactions, including […]
No Fair, But Abundant Deals
As indicated in our early look at the first three weeks of post-Labor Day dealmaking in the US, transactions have remained strong in the five weeks and one day that we measure every year as the pre-Frankfurt Book Fair period. Here are the updated results, now with pretty charts. Total deal volume was up Pre-Frankfurt US deal totals have been consistently dead flat for the past five years — but this year, they spiked to their second-highest total in the past decade. Overall reports were up 11.5 percent over last year (81 more deals). And this year’s count was just […]
Rights Pitches Begin
Virtual pitch sessions filling the gap following the cancellation of the Frankfurt Book Fair begin next Monday. From our modest crowd-sourced schedule, the week begins with the Pontas Agency presenting Booker-shortlisted Avni Doshi and her UK editor Hermione Thompson, though BURNT SUGAR has already been licensed in many territories. To add your event(s) to our schedule, just fill in the form at publun.ch/pitches. As noted previously we’re agnostic as to whether you have scheduled your own independent event, or one as part of FBF’s pitch webinar program. To view our schedule, just bookmark: publun.ch/pitchsessions.