It’s a quiet week in most of book publishing but a busy one in the offices of Federal District Court Judge Denny Chin as Friday is the deadline for filing objections to the proposed Google Books settlement agreement. (September 4 is also the deadline for opting out of the settlement entirely.) Until recently, despite the noisy public debate about the sweeping and complex settlement, very few objections of substance had been filed with the court. The most detailed legal objections, covered here previously, were raised by attorney and author Scott Gant in his August 20 filing, while support has come […]
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World Almanac Sold
The Weekly Reader Publishing Group, a division of Readers Digest since 2007, has sold the World Almanac imprint to Infobase Publishing, for undisclosed terms. Infobase president Mark McDonnell says in the announcement, “There are few names in reference publishing as well-known as the World Almanac, so when we had opportunity to add it to our existing family of imprints, we moved quickly. The World Almanac has been and will continue to be a powerful name in reference publishing, and we are excited about bringing it forward as an online resource as well.” Infobase’s imprints include Facts On File and Chelsea […]
Sales Down 4 Percent at Random As Profits Are Hit Harder
Sales fell in the first six months of the fiscal year at Random House by 4 percent, declining 32 million euros to 734 million euros, as operating EBIT dropped even more at just 20 million euros for the period (down from 31 million euros a year ago.) The company blamed the decline on “the continued distressed economic environment and the reduction in inventory levels by major bookstores in the US.” And they say that “an extensive, international cost-saving initiative and the restructuring of the US publishing groups put in place last year partially offset this development.” In a letter to […]
Bookselling: Study Says 400 Bookstores Could Close This Year
A study by Chicago’s Grant Thornton warns that 10,000 retail stores across the US may close this year–twice the number of last year’s closings. Among the sectors they predict will be hardest hit are bookstores, with the firm saying that 400 bookstores could close in 2009, which they calculate as a 500 percent increase over 2008. (That would seem to undercount the 2008 closings given the reductions at Borders Group. And we could only find the prediction on bookstores in this Chicago Sun Times article, rather than the report itself.)Sun TimesDownload study
People: Munro Leaves Giller to Others
Recent Man Booker International Prize winner and two-time Giller winner Alice Munro, 78, has withdrawn her just-released story collection TOO MUCH HAPPINESS from consideration for the 2009 Giller prize. Publisher Douglas Gibson says: “Her reason is that she has won twice and would like to leave the field to younger writers. In my role as greedy publisher I pointed out that the Giller Prize produces so much publicity, that even to be nominated for it is tremendous publicity. But her mind is made up on this. Alice preferred to withdraw from the competition.”Globe and Mail
Proposed or Forthcoming
The WSJ reports that recently-free journalist Laura Ling is teaming with her sister, Oprah Winfrey Show correspondent Lisa Ling, for a book proposal “hat will examine the meaning of sisterhood and journalistic ideals. The issue of Laura Ling’s captivity will be discussed, but in a larger context.” They are represented by Suzanne Gluck at William Morris Endeavor.WSJ blog Separately, USA Today has more details on the Michael Jackson coffee table book deal approved the judge overseeing the pop star’s estate. High-end publisher Kraken Opus says they had been negotiating a book deal with Jackson prior to his death and Jackson’s […]