First quarter results of Canada’s biggest bookseller–or “largest book, gift and specialty toy retailer” as they now describe themselves–Indigo carry an echo of what Barnes & Noble faces right. Same-store sales at their superstores rose by 1.5 percent, while smaller-store comps declined just 0.7 percent and overall sales of $204.3 million (CA) were up $10.7 million or 5.5 percent from a year ago. But their online sales remain flat in the face of Amazon’s growing strength in Canada and the net loss more than doubled, from $2.3 million to $5.3 million. CEO Heather Reisman says “the increased loss is not […]
International News
eNews: Houghton Negotiates with Pat Conroy to Allow Release of Open Road Backlist eBooks, and More
The stalemate over electronic rights to some of Pat Conroy’s backlist titles has been resolved and Open Road is going ahead with ebook release of the titles that they announced almost a year ago. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt spokesperson Lori Glazer tells the AP, “in this instance we negotiated an agreed-upon separation of print from electronic, to our mutual satisfaction.” Arthur Klebanoff at Rosetta Books, who had published an ebook version of The Prince of Tides, says: “Did I want to renew this license? The answer is ‘Yes.’ But until the arrival of the Kindle, you had a tiny, tiny marketplace. […]
Sales Rise at Harper As Profits Lag
HarperCollins has joined Simon & Schuster and Penguin in reporting increased sales for their most recent quarter, ending June 30, at $302 million, up over 8 percent from $278 million a year ago. Profits are still lagging, however, with an operating loss of $1 million–matching the loss from this time a year ago (though they were up $3 million prior to depreciation and amortization). For the full fiscal year, Harper recorded sales of $1.269 billion, recovering 11 percent after a poor fiscal 2009, with operating income of $88 million–hardly a stellar performance, but much improved from just $17 million in […]
People
Octopus in the UK will cut 19 people and another 10 have accepted “voluntary redundancy,” the Bookseller reports, comprising almost 30 percent of the staff of 104 people. At Yale University Press, Ileene Smith has been promoted to executive editor-at-large; Tim Shea has been promoted to editor of foreign languages; and Laura Davulis has been promoted to editor, digital development. Harper Children’s vp, director of inventory management and member of their executive committee David Toberisky will retire at the end of the year after 23 years at the company. Sheryl Moore-Anderson will rejoin the division in August as director of […]
Supreme Court to Hear Watch Case that Could Affect First-Sale Doctrine
If you’re a copyright geek you’ll be interested in the Omega watch case that the Supreme Court has agreed to hear in their next term. Omega used a copyrighted symbol on their back of their watches to thwart Costco and others from selling lower-priced grey market versions of the company’s watches in the US. The case is important because, in favoring Omega, the district and appeals courts ruled that the first-sale doctrine does not apply to goods first sold outside of the US, even if they are then imported for sale here. As the WSJ notes, “Constrain the first-sale doctrine […]
…And the UK Gets a Native Kindle and eBookstore
At the same time that Amazon releases two new models of the Kindle ereader on August 27, the company will launch the machines in the UK, available for the first time for direct sale from Amazon UK in British sterling. Previously, UK customers could buy Kindles priced in dollars from Amazon’s US site, incurring shipping charges and other fees. That said, UK customers will still pay comparatively more for their devices based on current exchange rates, with the wireless Kindle priced at 149 pounds (roughly 230 dollars) and the new wi-fi only version selling for 109 pounds (or about 170 […]