Danielle Smith has left Red Fox Literary after three years to launch her own literary agency, Lupine Grove Creative, with most of her clients set to follow her to the new agency. Playwright Kia Corthron has won the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize for her debut novel The Castle Cross the Magnet Carter (Seven Stories Press). Green Apple Books music buyer and DJ Johnny Igaz, 34, who had been missing in the Oakland warehouse fire, was confirmed by the Coroner on Tuesday as among the identified victims. Forthcoming Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian will write a memoir of his […]
Bad Little Children’s Books Is Still Available; Abrams Meant They Will Not Reprint It
Clarifying their earlier statement, Abrams says that when they agreed to the author’s request to “cease publishing” the suddenly controversial Bad Little Children’s Books, what they meant is that they will not reprint the book. With an announced first printing of 30,000 copies — so figure maybe half that were printed — and sales as recorded by outlets tracked by Nielsen Bookscan through this past weekend of approximately 4,200 copies, that still should leave some copies in the supply chain to sell through. Some online sellers are out of stock are a demand spike from the publicity earlier this week, though […]
Wiley Suffers Declining Book Sales and Special Charges
Wiley reported second quarter sales through October 31 on Wednesday morning, continuing the pattern from the first quarter of fiscal 2017. Sales of $425.6 million were down $7.8 million (or 2 percent) from a year ago, with a net loss of -$11.45 million (compared to a profit of $43.6 million a year ago). “Adjusted” net income — if you adjust out all of the bad things that actually happened during the quarter — rose slightly on a per share basis. Special charges included $48 million for losing on an unfavorable tax ruling in Germany; $6.8 million on their recurring restructuring […]
Bestsellers and More Best Ofs: Amazon and Apple
Amazon released their annual package of bestseller lists, and as the etailer continues to gain market share on their competitors, those list take on ever greater significance. As usual, the list that they promote only features new books published in 2016, and it combines print and ebook sales. To see the actual overall bestsellers this year, you need to look at their separate print and ebook charts. Amazon’s top 20 new books are: 1. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts 1 & 2, Special Rehearsal Edition Script by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany 2. When Breath Becomes […]
Mondadori Sells Bompiani
In keeping with the conditions imposed as part of Mondadori’s acquisition of Rizzoli’s book publishing assets this spring, the company sold Bompiani to Giunti. The deal closed December 1, at a total prize of 16.5 million euros (“5.3 million euro of which related to assets transferred to the buyer”). It’s the second sale made to satisfy antitrust regulators; in July, Mondadori sold their 51 percent stake in Marsilio/Sonzogno to the De Michelis family’s Gem — which owned a stake in the publisher since 1985 — for 8.9 million euros.
People, Bookselling, Etc.
Adriana Stimola has joined the Stimola Literary Studio as agent, representing cookbooks, lifestyle, and health and wellness books. She was formerly content manager at Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture. Chris Francis has joined Sourcebooks as assistant editor. Elizabeth Scarpelli has been hired as director of the new University of Cincinnati Press, which aims to be “an innovative 21st century academic press.” She was director of publisher services at Baker & Taylor and Bookmasters, prior to which she was assistant press director and sales and marketing director for Rutgers University Press. At Ingram Publisher Services, Bonnie Dailey joins the company based […]