The NYT finds Keila Shaheen’s The Shadow Work Journal — republished last month by Simon & Schuster’s Primero Sueño — one of at least a handful of homegrown TikTok Shop bestsellers. The Atlantic wrote about the book last September, when it was said to have sold 290,000 units through TikTokShop since April, “even as experts question its approach—and the author’s credentials.” Earlier this year, Shaheen reached a five-book, 50/50 profit-share deal with S&S, accompanied by a seven-figure advance, represented by Rebecca Gradinger and Albert Lee at UTA. The expanded S&S trade paperback has sold a little under 22,000 copies since […]
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Forthcoming: Coates, Gladwell, Pilkey
One World announced that it will publish Ta-Nehisi Coates’s THE MESSAGE on October 1. Chris Jackson acquired world rights from Gloria Loomis at the Watkins Loomis Agency. The book incorporates reporting from Senegal, South Carolina, and Palestine, and includes personal narrative and analysis of history and literature. Jackson said in a release, “Ta-Nehisi’s best work takes readers along as intimate companions on his journeys into history, the American present, and his own probing, curious mind.” Elsewhere, Little, Brown will publish REVENGE OF THE TIPPING POINT by Malcolm Gladwell on the same day, October 1, with Asya Muchnick editing. According to the […]
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Bloomsbury Acquires Rowman & Littlefield Academic for $83 Million
Bloomsbury announced that it has acquired Rowman & Littlefield’s academic publishing business, comprising over 40,000 titles, for $83 million. They paid $76 million in cash on completion of the deal, with up to $7 million in escrow, to be paid post completion. It’s Bloomsbury’s largest acquisition to date, and doubles the size of their Academic & Professional publishing business in the US, adding to the ABC-CLIO business they acquired in 2020. Rowman & Littlefield’s academic business generated revenue of $36 million in 2023, and profit before tax of approximately $6 million. The sale does not include Rowman & Littlefield’s other […]
Shareholders Approve Indigo Buyout
As expected, Indigo shareholders voted to approve the sale of the Canadian bookselling chain to Trilogy Investments, formalizing a plan that was set in motion in February. “We are pleased with the result of today’s vote and look forward to continuing our work on Indigo’s transformation strategy,” CEO Heather Reisman said in a release. “We remain deeply committed to our customers and to all our stakeholders as we work together to inspire reading and enrich the lives of booklovers across the country.” The deal is expected to be effective on May 31 after regulatory approval.