Barnes & Noble’s shares rose $1.50 in Wednesday trading, gaining over 14 percent. In an SEC filing, the company said “it expects to make an announcement on May 24 regarding the launch of a new eReader device.” The company reportedly shared the same news during the day in a meeting with analysts, which is likely to have driven the stock’s gains. BN’s choice of date is no accident: the 24th is also BEA’s opening floor day, which means BN clearly intends its e-reader announcement to be the news of the fair.
Amazon Launches Romance Imprint, with More Genre Lines to Come
Amazon is launching another imprint, Montlake Romance (named for a Seattle neighborhood), which will publish “a broad range of frontlist titles in popular romance sub-genres, including romantic suspense and contemporary and historic romance novels, as well as fantasy and paranormal.” The first announced author is two-time RITA winner Connie Brockway, whose THE OTHER GUY’S BRIDE will be published this fall. They say it will “be available to North American readers in Kindle, print and audio formats at www.amazon.com, as well as at national and independent booksellers,” and Amazon tells us her print edition will be published as a trade paperback, […]
Harper US eBook Sales Reach 19 Percent for the Quarter
News Corp. issued third quarter earnings and as has become the new standard, the words “book” and “HarperCollins” do not merit an appearance anywhere in the 13-page statement. The company’s publishing division overall was a mess–operating income fell $82 million thanks to The Daily and advertising declines in the UK and Australian newspapers, and a marketing services litigation settlement cost another $125 million. By their own reckoning, HarperCollins says they “had a solid quarter. In the US, eBooks comprised 19 percent of sales in the US, and 11 percent of worldwide revenues. The company says “we expect to see those […]
People: Macdonald to Stay As Zondervan CEO, and More
Zondervan’s interim president Scott Macdonald remain in the position formally as president and CEO. Macdonald joined Zondervan’s business unit The City in December 2010 as acting general manager. HarperCollins ceo Brian Murray says in the announcement, “Scott brings more than 30 years of experience and business leadership to this role. His extensive experience in the Christian retail market as well as sales, operations and management, coupled with his steady demeanor and his strong faith make him the ideal leader for Zondervan.” Elsewhere, Lauren Flower joins HarperCollins Children’s Books this week as director of integrated marketing. Previously she spent eight years at […]
Harlequin Balances Digital Gains with Currency-Related Declines
Harlequin’s parent company Torstar reported first quarter sales, with the book publishing unit appearing to show mixed results. For some reason the company did not break out the quarter’s book publishing sales but they indicate revenues rose $3.9 million (CA)–which, based on last year’s results, would put them at $116.9 million, still well below first quarter 2009, when sales were $124.5 million. They did break break out EBITDA, which declined $1.2 million to $22 million for the quarter. As usual, currency effects and hedges figure prominently in the group’s results, particularly with the Canadian dollar rising again. Management assures investors […]
Briefs: Borders HQ Asking Price Slashed; ‘Mirkwood’ Lawsuit Settled; Publisher Acquisitions; And More
Agree Realty, hit particularly hard by Borders’ bankruptcy as a result of owning 14 properties where the retailer held long-term listings, has slashed the asking price for the company’s Ann Arbor headquarters from $18.349 million to $10 million. Earlier this year Borders indicated it was seeking cheaper and smaller space in the suburban Detroit area, as the 330,000 square-foot headquarters used to house as many as 1800 employees, but that number is down to 500 or less. AnnArbor.com The Tolkien Estate settled its lawsuit against author Stephen Hilliard, whose novel Mirkwood features JRR Tolkien as a character. The estate argued […]