At the close of Wednesday’s Making Information Pay conference, current BISG (Book Industry Study Group) chairman and Hachette Book Group president Ken Michaels addressed the importance of industry cooperation, particularly now that a simple “linear, rational, supply chain that we recognize and understand…no longer exists.” He asked, “the most important question I can convey from the podium today is this…. Can you really go it alone in isolation without participation in an industry group like BISG?” At a time when many have been intimidated about working together, even on common problems, Michaels said, “The important thing is that BISG continues […]
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WSJ Reports Hyperion To Put Backlist on Market, Focus Entirely on TV/Film Properties
With each season Hyperion has been cutting back on publishing frontlist adult fiction and nonfiction titles that aren’t connected in some way to sister companies ABC and Disney, and a report in the WSJ Wednesday night indicates how far Hyperion is willing to go with this mandate — to the point of selling off its backlist. Citing a single “person familiar with the situation,” the paper says Hyperion is “putting its backlist of older titles on the market” and “will look for books either linked to ABC television properties or that it believes can be extended to television or other […]
HMH to Pull Second Lehrer Book HOW WE DECIDE From Stores
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt announced Friday that it is “taking…off sale” Jonah Lehrer’s 2009 book HOW WE DECIDE. In an email to the Daily Beast HMH publisher Bruce Nichols said an internal review “uncovered significant problems with the book” and as a result, has “no plans to reissue it in the future.” Nichols added that HMH will “shortly alert accounts about How We Decide and offer to refund returns” — similar to the approach taken when the publisher pulled Lehrer’s third book, IMAGINE, from sale last July, following the discovery of fabricated quotes — but that PROUST WAS A NEUROSCIENTIST, Lehrer’s […]
Harper to Move Downtown In About A Year
HarperCollins confirmed in a brief statement Friday what was reported as pending a month ago: The company has signed a lease for new office at 195 Broadway and they “anticipate moving in the spring of 2014.” Earlier accounts had them looking at about 200,000 square feet of space, comparable to what the publisher currently occupies.
Reidy Writes S&S On Track for “Strong Results”
Simon & Schuster ceo Carolyn Reidy sent out her year-end letter to staff Thursday, writing that the company is “projected to deliver strong full-year financial results” with two weeks to go in 2012.” Though the retail marketplace “was more complex than ever,” Reidy said S&S “adeptly navigated these complexities while managing to pursue every possible opportunity to maximize sales.” Reidy said recent reorganizations of sales & marketing and editorial imprints helped put “greater emphasis and increased resources, at both the imprint and company-wide level, on digital sales and our efforts to reach consumers via digital means,” and produced a “sharpened […]
Overseas Regulatory Filing Reveals New Details on Proposed Penguin Random House Merger
The proposed Penguin Random House merger is subject to review and approval by regulatory agencies in several countries — including the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and China — which is one which is why the deal is not expected to close at least until the second half of 2013. Papers were filed with New Zealand’s Commerce Commission on December 19 and made public (with some redactions), providing a few more tidbits of interest. Should the deal be approved, Penguin Random House would actually “operate through two entities” rather than just one: a Delaware corporation “that will own Bertelsmann […]