The AAP reported monthly sales data for September and October of 2013, showing modest gains versus a year ago when you combine the two months. Total sales first showed year-over-year gains in August, after 10 consecutive months of flat or declining numbers. September trade sales gained 7.5 percent, up $47.5 million, with increases in nearly all tracked sub-categories, to $665 million for the month. In part, however, fall titles shipped earlier in 2013 without the presidential election to steer around. Which may be why the October numbers show a slight decline, down 1.5 percent (or $11 million) at $664.5 million […]
eNews
Soft Holiday Sales for Barnes & Noble Are Still An “Improvement” As Digital Content Falls Again
Barnes & Noble followed up their weak second quarter sales report with some improvement over the following 9-week holiday sales period (through December 28): Same-store sales at the BN superstores and BN.com declined 6.6 percent overall, and 5.5 percent on a comparable-sales basis, at $1.1 billion. But nearly all of the retail decline was due to weaker sales of Nook devices and accessories; “core” store sales were “essentially flat”, down 0.2 percent compared to last year. General book sales probably declined more, since the company points to “strong increases in our juvenile, gift and toys & games categories.” But the […]
Zola Books Acquires Bookish.com
After a number of months of quiet shopping, Bookish.com has been acquired by Zola Books, in a cash deal for a sum that is not being disclosed. Zola founder Joe Regal says, “we still had to pay what for us is an awful lot of cash, bearing in mind we are still a startup” (which has itself raised $5.1 million so far). Approximately half of the Bookish staff (9 to 12 people) will be retained by Zola, though that integration has not been finalized, and Bookish ceo Ardy Khazaei “will not be joining the integrated team” though Zola “hopes he’ll […]
Some Numbers
Smashwords reported via their blog that their sales rose by a third last year, to $20 million. Revenues rose less than title volume, which grew 45 percent. eBook data deniers should take careful note, including founder Mark Coker’s warning to authors that “2014 could be the first year where ebook sales, measured in dollars, decrease.” It’s a great business to build from scratch but still very modest in scale. While Smashwords added about 86,000 new titles in 2013, Amazon said recently that “more than 200,000 exclusive books were added to the Kindle store in 2013.” Amazon-owned Goodreads posted their own […]
Kensington Acquires Digital Publisher Lyrical Press
Kensington has acquired digital publisher Lyrical Press, which has published more than 250 romance, YA, and other genre titles. They will operate it as a digital-first imprint under the oversight of Adam Zacharius, Kensington’s director of special projects and alternative media. Lyrical Press founder Renee Rocco will remain with the imprint as managing director. All books published by the imprint will be DRM-free, with print-on-demand editions available for titles that exceed 60,000 words. Kensington ceo Steven Zacharius said in the announcement that he had been looking to acquire “a digital imprint that works efficiently like a small independent press.” He […]
People, Etc.: Smashwords and Scribd, Duck Commander “On Hiatus” for Anti-Gay Comments
Smashwords‘ catalog of over 225,000 ebooks will be incorporated into Scribd.com‘s ebook subscription service. As part of the deal, the roughly 70,000 Smashwords’ authors and publishers will receive a free one-year subscription to Scribd’s service. Also, Oyster will include “select titles” from the Perseus Book Group in their subscription service. One of the 2013’s unlikely stars, Phil Robertson of the Duck Dynasty, will be “on hiatus” in the year to come. Following his anti-gay remarks in a GQ interview, the A&E network “has placed Phil under hiatus from filming indefinitely.” Robertson tried to ameliorate the situation with a formal statement, […]