Publishers Lunch

Schedule Note As you will see, things are already pretty quiet, and from the cavalcade of auto-replies, a lot of people seem to think that this is a week-long holiday. There will be no Lunch served by e-mail tomorrow, but we’ll note any stories of interest at the PublishersMarketplace.com home. As usual, deals and all other site functions will continue to work. Personnel News The Penguin Group is promoting director of hardcover and juvenile operations Nancy Perlman to director of intergroup business development and corporate projects, starting January 1, reporting to Barbara O’Shea, president of non-trade sales and new business […]

Blackwell’s May Sell Stores After All The Blackwell’s retail saga continues; the parent company indicated that they will decide by early next year what to do about third-party interest in acquiring some or all of their 61 bookstores. AP story Fair Highlights Miami Herald book editor Connie Ogle looks back at a “memorable” Miami Book Fair. Fans clamored to get into a Maureen Dowd and Graydon Carter appearance, but Ogle ranks Dowd as the “most disappointing speaker.” She “barely looked up from her notes.” Miami Herald Nanny News, with Real Style If you actually thought the NYT was a newspaper, […]

Booksource to Pull Back from Retail St. Louis wholesaler Booksource will stop servicing retailers by the end of the year — an $11 million business — and will focus on supplying books to schools. (The company also owns Peaceable Kingdom Press.) Barnes & Noble has been the company’s largest retail customer, but president Neil Jaffe says, “Buying Random House’s books and selling them to Barnes & Noble isn’t very profitable.” The St. Louis Post Dispatch indicates, “Booksource has reduced its staff by about a dozen and has plans for further cutbacks before the end of the year. As part of […]

NBAs As you probably know, the National Book Awards were presented last night, to: Fiction Lily Tuck, THE NEWS FROM PARAGUAY (Harper) Nonfiction Kevin Boyle, ARC OF JUSTICE: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz Age (Holt) Young People’s Literature Pete Hautman, GODLESS (Simon & Schuster) Poetry Jean Valentine, DOOR IN THE MOUNTAIN: New and Collected Poems, 1965-2003 (Wesleyan University Press) Having read way too many articles about the same, not particularly news-filled event, our preferred version is in the Washington Post. The Washington-focused lead observes, “A history professor from Ohio beat the collective efforts of […]

Sales Down at Borders, Though BAM Move Past Stormy Days Rather as expected, Borders turned in a bad third quarter. Comparable superstore sales were down 1.6 percent from a year ago, registering $564 million. Same-store Walden sales fell 4.1 percent, at $151 million overall, and the international segment continues to post rapid growth, now up to $119 million in sales for the quarter. Overall, the company had a net loss of $1.5 million for the quarter, versus a profit of $0.5 million a year ago. CEO Greg Josefowicz blames the poor results on “sluggish store traffic and a slowdown in […]

Random Gets A New Client Random House Distribution Services will take over back-office functions for Candlewick Press starting April 1, 2005, moving over from Penguin Group. Candlewick has been with Penguin since their start in 1992. Candlewick will continue to be responsible for sales, and they are staying with Penguin Canada as their Canadian distributor. BN.com Ups Ante on Free Shipping With sales sliding at BN.com, the company has taken a page from their competitor’s playbook with today’s announcement of “fast & free delivery.” The program promises receipt of orders within three business days after shipping, with no shipping charge […]