Harlequin’s parent company Torstar reported that the publishing unit had fourth quarter sales of $122 million (CA), down three percent from last year, but EBITDA jumped to $21.7 million, almost 40 percent higher than the $15.6 million a year ago. (And yes, that gives them EBITDA margin of of 17.8 percent.) They say “underlying” sales rose $2.6 million, while the strengthening Canadian dollar cost them $6.6 million. For the full year, sales of $493 million were up 4.3 percent over the previous year. EBITDA for the year was $88.2 million, up 22 percent.Release
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Penguin's Makinson Demonstrates iPad Adaptations
Yesterday Penguin Group ceo John Makinson presented more of the company’s vision of how to present books on the iPad platform at conference. There vision is that they “will be embedding streaming audio, video and gaming into everything that we do.” Which means they are forsaking epub, which “is designed for narrative text but not this cool stuff that we’re talking about now” and “for the time being at least we’ll be creating a lot of our content as applications.” Makinson freely admitted that “we don’t understand at the moment what the consumer is prepared to pay for. We don’t […]
People, Etc.
Alex Littlefield has joined Basic Books as associate editor. He was assistant editor at Grove/Atlantic. Anna Termine has been promoted to senior licensing manager at Sage Publications and Corwin Press. She has been at the company for six years. According to SF Weekly, former San Francisco Chronicle books editor Oscar Villalon has “abruptly exited” his position as publisher at McSweeney’s after joining the company last September. Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus author John Gray will publish his next book himself on May 1 through his Mind Publishing, Inc. Called VENUS ON FIRE, MARS ON ICE: Hormonal Balance […]
Indies Choice Award Finalists
The ABA announced the nominees for their annual book awards. Member booksellers can vote during most of the month of March, with the winners to be named in April. Adult FictionBorder Songs, by Jim Lynch (Knopf)Brooklyn, by Colm Toibin (Scribner)The Children’s Book, by A.S. Byatt (Knopf)Cutting for Stone, by Abraham Verghese (Knopf)Generosity: An Enhancement, by Richard Powers (FSG)Wolf Hall, by Hilary Mantel (Holt) Adult NonfictionAnimals Make Us Human, by Temple Grandin (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)Lit: A Memoir, by Mary Karr (HarperCollins)The Lost City of Z, by David Grann (Doubleday)Stitches: A Memoir, by David Small (W.W. Norton)Strength in What Remains, by Tracy […]
DeFiore Absorbs the Creative Culture
Following the recently-announced departure of co-founder Mary Ann Naples, the remaining staff of the literary agency The Creative Culture has become part of DeFiore and Company. Agents Debra Goldstein, Laura Nolan, Matthew Elblonk and Karen Gerwin are all joining DeFiore in the agency’s Flatiron offices, with company now comprising nine agents. In other personnel news, at the Random House publishing group marketing department, Matt Schwartz has been promoted to the new position of vp, director of digital marketing and strategy, reporting to director of marketing Sanyu Dillon. “In addition to overseeing our digital marketing initiatives, he will also partner in […]
Announcements
David Patterson has left Holt, where he was an editor, and starts today at Foundry Literary + Media as an agent. Irish bookselling chain Hughes & Hughes declared bankruptcy. Ulster Bank appointed David Carson of Deloitte as receiver. The company blamed a variety of factors, from reduced air traffic which suppressed business at its successful airport bookstores to higher rents and the internet.Irish Times Gordon Wood won the American History Book Prize for Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1789-1815, which includes the title of American Historian Laureate. Mexican author and guerrilla movement scholar Carlos Montemayor, 62, […]