The Irish Independent cite says Houghton Mifflin Harcourt parent company Education Media & Publishing Group, just like the ailing auto giants, is “on the cusp of finalizing a massive restructuring of its balance sheet, which will see holders of a chunk of its $7 billion debt turn their exposure into equity.” Citing “market sources,” they say that as a result, financial whiz and current ceo Barry O’Callaghan would have his 38 percent stake significantly diluted. Reed Elsevier would also see the 11.8 percent stake they took as part of the sale of Harcourt diluted in such a deal. While “it […]
Books-A-Million Grows Sales, As Does Indigo
Overall sales actually rose at Books-a-Million in the first quarter, up $2.3 million to $118.2 million, while same-store sales slid 1.1 percent. Net income rose to $2.1 million, though much of the gain came from savings on stocks grants and compensation forfeited when ceo Sandra Cochran left the company. CEO Clyde Anderson says in the release, “Given the difficult economic environment, we’re pleased with our results for the quarter. While comparable sales numbers were down slightly, they represented an improvement over recent quarters, and our continued focus on cost control, gross margin and inventory management delivered improved earnings.” Release At […]
The Tricks of Tracking the Content Explosion
I think this is going to turn out to be the month a lot of people realize that industry statistics–long an imperfect set of measures–are struggling mightily in mapping the complex and booming body of content that has some relationship to “books.” Earlier this week Bowker released preliminary statistics on new titles published during 2008, making a distinction between “traditional book publishing” and “on-demand/short-run” books. (The split was actually introduced last year, but drew more attention this year as title growth in the latter category more than doubled to 285,000 titles, making it larger than the “traditional” segment’s 275,000 titles.) […]
Elisabeth Sifton at FGS's Long View: "Wariness Is In Order"
Sifton has a long piece in The Nation with a wide sweep of publishing history to try and make sense of the present: “When I first got a publishing job almost half a century ago, my elders and betters in the trade regularly worried about The Future of Books, even though manuscripts continued to pour onto our desks. They worried, too, when firms changed ownership….” “What now? Publishers are battening down, and chain stores are struggling, having staked so much on nationally merchandised dreck, having committed themselves to imitating the look of the big indies but never quite matching their […]
Comp Sales Fall 5.7% at BN, Which Raises Guidance After Smaller-than-Expected Loss
Barnes & Noble is good at beating the expectations of stock analysts and their own investor “guidance,” and they did it again for their first quarter, even as overall sales fell 4 percent to $1.105 billion. Same-store sales fell 5.7 percent for the quarter, a little better than their previous guidance, with overall store sales falling only 3.5 percent to $989 million. BN.com sales fell more, by 7 percent, at $93 million. The net loss from continuing operations of $2.1 million (or 4 cents a share) was better than the predicted loss of 10 cents to 20 cents a share. […]
Day in the Life Co-Creator Rick Smolan Pushes Boundaries of Customizable Book with "Obama Time Capsule"
Rick Smolan’s latest collection of themed photographs, THE OBAMA TIME CAPSULE, takes his previous experiments with customizable jackets further, now offering each customer an individualized book. It’s on sale exclusively through Amazon. Buyers can add their names to the authors on the front cover, and include personal photos on the back cover, and “celebrity supporters” page. You can add your child’s art work to the Kids for Obama page and insert your own name on a fascimile inaugural invitation. Books are promised to arrive two to three weeks after ordering. Hewlett-Packard is printing the on-demand books and executive Andrew Bolwell […]