Welbeck Publishing Group has created a standalone subsidiary to publish titles directly into the Australia/New Zealand market, in partnership with online retailer Booktopia, which has a 25 percent stake in the new Sydney-based business in exchange for a $3 million (AU) investment. Booktopia will distribute Welbeck’s 4,500 title backlist in ANZ and will form an […]
International News
Rights: More Archer for Harper
Harper Collins expanded their publish agreement with Jeffrey Archer to include rights in additional territories. The William Warwick series will now be published by Harper France, Harper Holland, Harper Ibérica, and Harper Japan. (The company already held Italian and World English rights.) Harper Collins international ceo Chantal Restivo-Alessi negotiated the deals with James Archer and […]
Sales Remain Down at WH Smith
UK retailed WH Smith issued a brief trading update, covering the awkward period of the 18 weeks ending July 1 (e.g. roughly a third of the year). High street bookstore sales were down 14 percent compared to the norm in fiscal 2019 — or, as they like to put it, 86 percent of the previous […]
People: Quarto CEO Resigns
After less than a year as CEO, Polly Powell has resigned. Controlling shareholder CK Lau will once again serve as interim group CEO. Despite the abrupt departure, Powell provides a cheery statement: “I came to Quarto to make a difference, and I think I have achieved that, so my job is done. Quarto is a […]
Egmont to Buy Bonnier’s Half of Cappelen Damm
Denmark-based Egmont has agreed to buy Bonnier’s half of their jointly-owned publishing house in Norway, Cappelen Damm, for NOK 1 billion ($120 million). The company was formed in 2007 by the merger of Egmont’s Damm and Bonnier’s Cappelen. Cappelen Damm had sales in 2020 of NOK 1.3 billion ($156 million), with pre-tax profit of NOK […]
Initiatives
Wattpad has paired with AST in Russia for a co-branded AST Wattpad line publishing some of the site’s top Russian-language stories. AST will also publish Wattpad Books titles in Russian, and will translate some popular Wattpad stories into Russian.