John Evans of DIESEL Bookstores in California and Matt Norcross of McLean & Eakin Booksellers in Petosky, Michigan have been nominated to join the ABA board for three-year terms, and Ken White of San Francisco State University Bookstore has been put up for a second term. Becky Anderson of Anderson’s Bookshops will take over from Michael Tucker as ABA president and Steve Bercu of BookPeople will serve as vice president/secretary. Gonzalo Ferreyra will join Weldon Owen in San Francisco as director of marketing, print and digital on February 14. Previously, he was vp of sales at VIZ Media and director […]
International News
Waterstone’s Tells Publisher They Are Cutting Orders As of March
As part of Waterstone’s perpetual turnaround efforts in the UK, the chain informed multiple major publishers by e-mail earlier this week that for new titles coming in March they are cutting their initial orders by approximately 20 percent. Publishers were asked to cancel existing pre-orders so that the chain can place new orders at the lower inventory levels. They told publishers that “initial over-ordering of new titles” is continuing to create “substantial unnecessary costs across the supply chain, most notably in returns.” One UK executive noted that “they’re managing their working capital very carefully for obvious reasons” but the good […]
Positioning Aside, Sales Fall at WH Smith High Street Stores By A Good Amount
The UK’s WH Smith presented weak sales data that people are working hard to put a positive gloss on. Same-store sales at their High Street stores were down 7 percent for the eight weeks ending January 22 (so holiday sales, sort of) and down 6 percent for the most recent 21 weeks. The company says that “excluding entertainment” product, same-store sales were down 3 three percent. They say they are “rebalancing” their store mix to focus books, stationery and candy. The Bookseller says retail analysts were told once you isolate book sales, they fell 2 percent on a same-store basis […]
People, Etc.: Spence Leaves Quarto, and More
At Quarto in the UK, Piers Spence has stepped down from his role as director of co-edition publishing to run a farm in rural Devon where he plans to raise rare breed pigs and plant a vineyard. He will be replaced in February by David Breuer, chief executive of Royal Academy Enterprises, which operates the commercial activities of London’s Royal Academy of Arts, including its retail, book and magazine publishing operations. Spence will serve as a consultant to Quarto”for at least six months.” At HarperCollins’ Morrow-Avon division, Pamela Spengler-Jaffee has been promoted to senior director of publicity. She joined the […]
Waterstone’s Parent HMV Reports Terrible Holiday Following UK Snow
Snowstorms in the UK dampened holiday sales at many outlets, and the HMV was the first of the big retailers to warn markets. Their Waterstone’s unit did well on a relative basis, with same-store sales for the 10-week holiday period declining 2.1 percent. (As we noted in December, Waterstone’s comps were down 3.2 percent for the first six months of the year, and the chain has been in “turnaround” mode since at least 2005.) HMV stores fared far worse, falling 13.6 percent on a same-store basis, and 11.9 percent overall in the 10-week period. HMV warned markets that it will […]
Nielsen BookScan UK’s Top 50 Books of 2010
The Guardian has downloadable spreadsheets of the top 100 books of the year in the UK, along with the top 100 books since Nielsen BookScan started collecting UK point-of-sale data in 1998. Here are the top 50 books of last year. Despite all the opening-day attention for former prime minister Tony Blair, he finishes the year in 27th place: 1 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Stieg Larsson 1,156,530 2 The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest Stieg Larsson 995,845 3 The Girl Who Played with Fire Stieg Larsson 957,063 4 Jamie’s 30-Minute Meals Jamie Oliver 874,546 5 The Lost […]