As a group, ABA bookstores had a good year in 2012–but what’s implied in this BTW story is more significant than the stated statistics, ratifying our “story we can’t report” from yesterday. The ABA provides another indication that, despite happy anecdotal holiday sales reports,holiday book sales were soft, providing a soft ending to the year as early blockbusters (Hunger Games; Fifty Shades; etc.) gave way to a holiday season with few dominant, breakout books and a cooling off of the ebook market. (Barnes & Noble’s “core” non-Nook-related bookstores sales fell 3.1 percent during the holiday sales period.) What the ABA […]
Sales
More On the Story We Can’t Report
Despite a peppy press release from Random House UK declaring “a digital Christmas for all the family” and a story echoing that theme in the Bookseller, we’re still struck by the holiday story that no one is reporting: The significant post-holiday ebook sales burst that has lifted the step-level of the market over the past few yearsappears to have been substantially smaller in both the US and now the UK. And no device maker has provided exuberant news about sales so far. By Random House UK’s own account, “sales of ebooks in the Christmas week” were up only 13 percent […]
August AAP Sales Rise, As eBooks Continue to Moderate
The AAP reported sales for August from the nearly 1,200 publishers they track, with overall trade sales of $562.1 million up 10.4 percent versus $509.1 million. This time both adult and children’s sales rose, and both sectors had higher shipments as well. In adult books, the growth came from trade paperbacks (e.g. 50 Shades) and ebooks. Consistent with Barnes & Noble’s recent report and the trend we have been underscoring all year, however, ebook sales continue to grow at a far slower rate: Adult ebook sales of $118.6 million were up 34 percent from a year ago, and children’s ebooks […]
News Corp. Said to “Express Interest” In Acquiring Simon & Schuster
After expressing at least theoretical interest in bidding for Penguin when that merger deal was all but finalized, News Corp. has reportedly moved to the next most likely potential target: Simon & Schuster. The WSJ, which often has a good line on parent company News Corp.’s strategy, is clear in their lead that the company simply “has expressed interest to CBS about acquiring its Simon & Schuster book business,” which is a soft starting point. To underscore that, “the people described the talks as preliminary and cautioned that a deal isn’t imminent.” But it does indicate that News Corp. remains […]
As In June, Trade Paperbacks and eBooks Carry the Trade
The AAP reported sales for July from the nearly 1,200 publishers they track. Overall net trade sales of $522.5 million were up 12 percent, with all of the gains and then some coming from trade paperbacks and adult–very adult–ebooks, still led by the remarkable 50 Shades trilogy. July’s trade total was $16.4 million lower than in June. Children’s sales, boosted earlier in the year by release of the first Hunger Games movies, registered $98.1 million–down 9.5 percent compared to $108.4 million a year ago. eBook sales were almost the same as in June, at $137.8 million, up 62 percent versus […]
People
Hodder & Stoughton announced a reorganization that creates two divisions within the group, “designed to strengthen the appeal and focus of its publishing and to take advantage of structural changes in the publishing industry.” The new division, called John Murray Press, will comprise John Murray, Hodder Faith, Consumer Learning, Two Roads and Saltyard Books–to be run by former Hodder & Stoughton publisher Nick Davies, who is rejoining the company in January as managing director from his current post as Canongate publisher. The Hodder & Stoughton division, comprising Hodder & Stoughton general fiction and non-fiction, Coronet and Sceptre, will have Carolyn Mays […]