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Loss Narrows at Scholastic, As HP Does $240 Million Sales at Scholastic reached $587 million in their Potter-powered fiscal first quarter and the company’s traditional loss was narrowed to $2.8 million (compared to $46.9 million a year ago). The children’s book publishing and distribution comprised $342 million of sales, with overall Harry Potter revenue reaching $240 million. (Last year Potter contributed $5 million in the same period.) That dramatic sales change still yielded just $2.7 million in profit, though a year ago the division lost $67.3 million in the same period. (The school book clubs and fairs typically “generate minimal […]

Borders UK Chief Says Deal Is Close An announcement regarding the sale of Borders’ UK stores is due “later this week” according to ceo David Roche’s remarks at a company conference on Monday. Roche said he is “extremely confident that we will have something exciting to announce,” according to the Bookseller, with a “swift conclusion shortly.” His exuberance is seen as a sign that the management-led buyout, financed with Luke Johnson’s Risk Capital Partners, will keep the bulk of the chain and its leadership intact. Personnel News Rose Marie Morse has joined InkWell Management as publishing strategist, overseeing publicity and […]

Borders.com In Beta In advance of its actual launch once their sales agreement with Amazon ends early next year, there is a beta of the new Borders.com web site that you can visit. Graphically the site is a step up from the competition, relying heavily on product covers — including a scrolling “magic shelf” for its presentation. And it folds in the existing Borders Media site. The “check availability for store pickup” feature is quite prominent on the individual item pages, implying an effort at tight site/store integration. Pricing strategy is probably hard to discern at this point, since there […]

Greenspan Coverage The WSJ broke the embargo on Alan Greenspan’s THE AGE OF TURBULENCE on Friday night via the web after buying a copy in the New York area, and the NYT followed quickly with their own stories. (“His book was provided to The New York Times by his publisher, Penguin Press, under an agreement that nothing would be reported until its publication date,” but the Journal’s online story freed the Times to go with their print stories on Saturday.) Both papers focus in large part on criticisms of the Bush administration and the Republican party. Bloomberg offers both coverage […]

Deal Reports Just e-mail to deals@PublishersMarketplace if you aren’t using the online form linked below. Report a deal using the online form The Key As usual, the handy key to our Lunch deal categories. While all reports are always welcome, those that include a category will generally receive a higher listing when it comes time to put them all together. “nice deal” $1 – $49,000 “very nice deal” $50,000 – $99,000 “good deal” $100,000 – $250,000 “significant deal” $251,000 – $499,000 “major deal” $500,000 and up   FICTION Debut Laurie Albanese and Laura Morowicz’s THE MIRACLES OF PRATO, set in […]

Eat, Pray, Sell The WSJ features a page one story on how Elizabeth Gilbert’s EAT, PRAY, LOVE turned into a hit in paperback. “The book’s transformation from respectable-selling hardcover to paperback sensation was no accident. It came about after a series of calculated moves from Viking’s sister Penguin paperback line, where executives worked to interpret sales patterns and create a marketing blitz to attract individual readers as well as book clubs. Penguin’s approach shows how publishers, which typically don’t conduct market research, are becoming increasingly adept at hand-picking certain titles for stardom.” WSJ Personnel News Former svp and president/ceo of […]