Laura McHugh’s psychological suspense novel THE WEIGHT OF BLOOD leads the March LibraryReads list, with the remaining titles featuring: The Accident, Chris Pavone The Divorce Papers, Susan Reiger The Outcast Dead, Elly Griffiths Panic, Lauren Oliver A Circle of Wives, Alice LaPlante Gemini, Carol Cassella Precious Thing, Colette McBeth Kill Fee, Owen Laukkanen Show Your Work!, Austin Kleon
A Good Quarter for Harper
HarperCollins reported a good fiscal second quarter, ending December 31, 2013, with sales rising 4 percent $391 million and EBITDA gaining further, up by a third to $68 million (compared to sales of $377 million and EBITDA of $51 million a year ago). The company cited “the higher contribution to profits from ebooks and ongoing operational efficiencies coupled with higher revenues” for the strong earnings, with sales led by Veronica Roth’s Divergent series, and a good performance from their general books and children’s divisions. eBook sales were 39 percent higher than a year ago, but comprised 17 percent of all revenues, […]
Penguin Random House Will Close the Two Penguin Warehouses By June 2015
Penguin Random House leaders Markus Dohle and Madeline McIntosh announced Wednesday afternoon that the company will “regrettably” close two of their four current warehouse/operations centers by June 2015, in Pittston, PA and Kirkwood, NY. They describe it as part of “the difficult, yet necessary, decisions we have made regarding our future warehouse network.” “Additionally, several support and distribution functions for Penguin currently performed in Pearson’s Cranbury, and Old Tappan, NJ offices will be relocated during this same time frame, as will Penguin’s Inside Sales department.” As a result, all US fulfillment operations will be merged into the Westminster, MD and […]
Sony to Transfer North American Reader Store to Kobo
As we had heard a while ago, in conjunction with their quarterly earnings release Sony confirmed that they are turning over the North American Reader market to Kobo. “Sony’s Reader Store customers and their current ebook libraries will transfer to the Kobo ecosystem starting in late March,” they say in their announcement. Kobo will service Sony Reader device owners and will be the ebook provider for Sony’s continuing lines of tablets and smartphones in the US and Canada. The Kobo app will be pre-loaded onto “select” Sony phones and tablets. Sony effectively abandoned further development of the US market last September, […]
Specialty Distributor HDA Suspends Business to Restructure
St. Louis-based specialty distributor of books and magazines HDA Inc. has abruptly suspended business, apparently due to a credit squeeze. Many book publishers use the company for distribution to such retailers as Lowe’s Home Improvement (where they are the exclusive category manager for books, magazines and maps); Menard’s hardware stores; Bed Bath and Beyond; Michael’s; Dollar General and other stores. They distribute magazines to those outlets as well, and also publish their own home plan books and magazines. Reportedly, employees were locked out on Monday and given letters indicating their employment was terminated. HDA ceo Bob Ketterer told consultant Linda […]
People
On the events calendar, the Association of American Publishers announced some of the speakers for their annual meeting on March 19 in New York, focused on The Next Chapter in Protecting IP: Policy, Disruption, Innovation and Sustainability. Ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property and the Internet Rep. Jerry Nadler will discuss Congress’s first comprehensive review of copyright law since 1976 with AAP ceo Tom Allen. Author Jaron Lanier will speak, as will Forrester Research analyst James McQuivey, with a keynote speaker still to be named. Kim Hovey has been promoted to svp, deputy publisher for Ballantine […]