First quarter results of Canada’s biggest bookseller–or “largest book, gift and specialty toy retailer” as they now describe themselves–Indigo carry an echo of what Barnes & Noble faces right. Same-store sales at their superstores rose by 1.5 percent, while smaller-store comps declined just 0.7 percent and overall sales of $204.3 million (CA) were up $10.7 million or 5.5 percent from a year ago. But their online sales remain flat in the face of Amazon’s growing strength in Canada and the net loss more than doubled, from $2.3 million to $5.3 million. CEO Heather Reisman says “the increased loss is not […]
eNews: Houghton Negotiates with Pat Conroy to Allow Release of Open Road Backlist eBooks, and More
The stalemate over electronic rights to some of Pat Conroy’s backlist titles has been resolved and Open Road is going ahead with ebook release of the titles that they announced almost a year ago. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt spokesperson Lori Glazer tells the AP, “in this instance we negotiated an agreed-upon separation of print from electronic, to our mutual satisfaction.” Arthur Klebanoff at Rosetta Books, who had published an ebook version of The Prince of Tides, says: “Did I want to renew this license? The answer is ‘Yes.’ But until the arrival of the Kindle, you had a tiny, tiny marketplace. […]
Hitchens Interviewed
The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg conducts a video interview with Christopher Hitchens at his home in Washington, DC. Hitchens comments, “there are bad days, and there are worse days.” He reveals that the esophogeal cancer for which he is being treated has spread to his lymph nodes. “It’s not a good cancer to get…. I would be a very lucky person to live another five years.”Video
More People and Notes
At Penguin USA, Jacqueline Fischetti has been appointed to the new position of director of content development, international. She will “spearhead the launch of an international expansion program that will introduce English-language books to the Latin American market, targeting adult and young adult readers who are at various stages of learning English.” She has been director of the Penguin Speakers Bureau since 2006, and joined Penguin Group in 1999. In yesterday’s piece on the book deal between the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission and Little, Brown, the quote about the publisher being selected for “intangibles” comes from the commission’s vice chairman […]
Book Trends
USA Today has already run two interesting pieces this week. Today they highlight the just-releasing August Indie Next pick THE TOWER, THE ZOO, AND THE TORTOISE by Julia Stuart from Doubleday as “earning comparisons to the surprise 2008 best seller The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.” R.J. Julia Booksellers buyer Karen Corvello says “It’s a front-runner for my most beloved book of the fall. The only difficulty I had was deciding which character I loved the best.” Other booksellers call it “whimsical,” “charming” and “gentle.”USAT Yesterday the paper offered a long feature on the non-stop rise of inspirational […]
Lunch Weekly for Monday, August 9
Deal Reports Just e-mail to deals@PublishersMarketplace if you aren’t using the online form linked below. Report a deal using the online form The Key As usual, the handy key to our Lunch deal categories. While all reports are always welcome, those that include a category will generally receive a higher listing when it comes time to put them all together. “nice deal” $1 – $49,000 “very nice deal” $50,000 – $99,000 “good deal” $100,000 – $250,000 “significant deal” $251,000 – $499,000 “major deal” $500,000 and up FICTION Debut Matthew Norman’s DOMESTIC VIOLETS, following a secret novelist and mediocre husband/father […]