Simon & Schuster reported sales of $211 million for the second quarter, up 11.6 percent — a significant improvement compared to the same time a year ago and what parent company CBS said was due to “higher print book sales” by titles such as HARD CHOICES by Hillary Clinton, GOOD CALL by “Duck Commander” star Jase Roberston, and CITY OF HEAVENLY FIRE by Cassandra Clare. CEO Carolyn Reidy told us the company “had a strong quarter, with terrific books” not only because of the success of key titles, but because of “all around strength” across all imprints. “Every one of […]
Deal to Sell Perseus Is Cancelled
On Thursday afternoon, Perseus Books Group ceo David Steinberger told employees that the deal struck in late June to sell Perseus to HBG, with the Perseus Distribution lines to be immediately sold to Ingram, has fallen apart and been cancelled. “The planned transaction involving our company, Hachette and Ingram is not moving forward,” Steinberger wrote. “Despite much effort from all three parties, we could not reach agreement on everything necessary to close the transaction.” Hachette added in a statement of its own that “the planned transaction involving HBG, Perseus, and Ingram has been terminated. Despite great effort from all three […]
Strong Profits, and DIVERGENT, Give Big Finish For Harper’s Fiscal Year
News Corp. reported results for their fourth quarter and full fiscal year, ending June 30. HarperCollins had sales of $361 million, up 10 percent from $329 million a year ago and EBITDA of $33 million in the fourth quarter, up 50 percent from the $22 million reported for the same period a year ago For the full year, they recorded sales of $1.434 billion and EBITDA of $197 million. That compares to sales of $1.369 billion and EBITDA of $142 million in fiscal 2013. The company said the higher earnings benefited from “the higher contribution to profits from ebooks and […]
Scribd Enters Digital Book Discovery Fray; Same-Day Service from BN & Google
Scribd relaunched what it dubs its “new browse experience”, the company’s try at digital book discovery to complement its existing subscription program, which now boasts 500,000 titles (with Princeton University Press, Samhain, and National Geographic among the most recently added publishers.) The browsing capability is available at Scribd’s website and in the coming weeks through its various mobile apps. Scribd vp, marketing Julie Haddon told us in an interview earlier this week that the company enlisted a “50-person team of scientists, book publishing experts, librarians, and marketers”, as well as a small editorial staff, to “work out the ideal browsing […]
People, Etc.
Lia Ronnen has been promoted to publisher at Artisan, effective September 2. She succeeds Ann Bramson, who will now acquire books across Workman’s imprints with the new title of executive director, special projects at Workman. Of Ronnen’s appointment, Bramson said in the announcement: “Lia is an amalgam of everything one could want in a publisher: editorial vision, graphic sensibility, and sales and marketing savvy. I have an extraordinary successor in place and can now explore some unorthodox concepts and formats that I have been eager to develop for a long time.” Tricia Boczkowski has been named vp, editorial director of […]
Book Sales in Indigo Q1 Grew For First Time in Almost Five Years
Canada’s dominant bookseller Indigo reported fiscal first quarter (for the period ending June 28). Sales increased 5.4 percent, to $180.8 million CA, and the net loss of $14.0 million was an improvement upon the $20.9 million lost at the same time a year ago. Indigo largely attributed the quarter’s revenue growth to the launch of American Girl specialty boutiques (with “outstanding” customer response to the first two boutique stores) and the early timing of Easter, the company also noted that book sales grew “for the first time since fiscal 2010.” Same-store sales for the quarter were up 8.3 percent at […]