After years of declining sales and operating losses, Courier Corporation has finally sold “certain of its Creative Homeowner publishing assets” to Fox Chapel Publishing, including “more than 100 active titles in home design, home improvement, landscaping and gardening.” The sale price was not disclosed for now (though likely will be in Courier’s next quarterly report). Creative Homeowner has suffered recently as their “largest distribution customer” went out of business earlier this year, resulting in an $825,000 write-off and reduced sales. And CH has suffered for years due to the economy, and loss of business at other key outlets from Borders to Home Depot. Courier […]
Finance
Acknowledging Big Drop in Amazon Sales, Ellora’s Cave Cuts Staff, Expenses
Romance publisher Ellora’s Cave sent a letter to authors — originally picked up by Absolute Write, then republished by Dear Author after the post was taken down — explaining recent cuts that laid off nearly all of its freelance editors and reduced the headcount to three full-time editors. The publisher claimed the cuts were necessary after the “quick, sharp decline of ebook sales via Amazon in recent months.” They said Ellora’s Cave “is not the only publisher experiencing this sudden decrease, and interestingly, we are not seeing the same drastic dip from other vendors. But Amazon is our largest vendor, so […]
People, Etc.
Rick Horgan will join Scribner on August 25 as executive editor, where he will acquire and edit nonfiction, including politics, sports, current events, biographies, business, memoir, and thought leader books, as well as commercial fiction. Horgan was most recently vp, executive editor at the Crown Publishing Group, where he spent the past 10 years, until their reorganization in May. We made a mistake yesterday; our coverage of Tim Whiting’s promotion to head a combined Piatkus Constable & Robinson group at Little Brown UK in places incorrectly said “Quercus” instead of Piatkus. German minister for culture and media Monika Gruetters said […]
People, Etc.
Will Atkinson will join Atlantic Books as managing director and publisher on October 1. Previously he was sales and marketing director at Faber, where he spent the past 20 years. Atlantic chairman Peter Roche said in the announcement “At Faber, [Atkinson] has demonstrated an unrelenting enthusiasm for independent publishing tempered with an unparalleled zeal for negotiating the best deal. I’ve admired Will’s work for many years and believe he is the perfect person to head up Atlantic Books. Rowan Cope will join Simon & Schuster UK as editorial director on October 13. Previously she was a senior editor at Little, […]
Deal to Sell Perseus Is Cancelled
On Thursday afternoon, Perseus Books Group ceo David Steinberger told employees that the deal struck in late June to sell Perseus to HBG, with the Perseus Distribution lines to be immediately sold to Ingram, has fallen apart and been cancelled. “The planned transaction involving our company, Hachette and Ingram is not moving forward,” Steinberger wrote. “Despite much effort from all three parties, we could not reach agreement on everything necessary to close the transaction.” Hachette added in a statement of its own that “the planned transaction involving HBG, Perseus, and Ingram has been terminated. Despite great effort from all three […]
Safari Books Now Fully Owned By O’Reilly Media, and More
O’Reilly Media has become sole owner of Safari Books, buying out Pearson’s 50 percent stake for an undisclosed sum (though it’s expected Pearson will announce how much it was paid in their next financial report later this year.) Safari, founded in 2001 as a joint entity between O’Reilly and Pearson, will continue to operate as an independent company, and no changes will be made to staff, product, offices, and operations. In a blog post about the change, founder and ceo of O’Reilly Media Tim O’Reilly said the company “came to believe that there are substantial opportunities for both organizations working […]