Earlier this fall there was a minor trade squabble in the UK when Christopher Paolini’s first-day sale of BRISINGR outpaced the opening of Stephenie Meyer’s TWILIGHT, but the release of JK Rowling’s TALES OF BEEDLE THE BARD has settled all disputes about the year’s biggest launch. Beedle tracked sales via Nielsen BookScan of 367,625 copies in its first four days on sale. Number two was the Guinness World Records 2008, which sold about 73,000 copies in the same period. Delia Smith’s How to Cheat at Cooking sold 49,000 copies in two days, and Sebastian Faulks’ Devil May Care registered 44,000 […]
People: Agency Moves, and More
Ethan Friedman has joined LevelFiveMedia as an agent. He was most recently a senior editor at Collins. He will be developing his own client list with an emphasis on business, along with such other categories as sports, current affairs, judaica, self-help/personal growth, and general non-fiction. Marlene Stringer is leaving the Barbara Bova Literary Agency and is starting the Stringer Literary Agency. She writes, “this is an amicable parting of ways, and Barbara and I have great admiration for each other.” At Wendy Sherman Associates, Michelle Brower has been promoted to agent. She has been with the agency since 2004. Elise Proulx […]
Marquez Still Writing?
Two years ago he said he was finished, but now friend and writer writer Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza says that Gabriel Garcia Marquez is closing in on a new novel. “He has four versions of it. He told me that he was now trying to get the best from each of them.” But a spokesperson for the Carmen Balcells Agency replied, “There is nothing, for the moment.”Guardian
BookScan UK: Sales Down Again
For the last week, sales revenues tracked through Nielsen BookScan in the UK were 6.9 percent below the same week from a year ago, “the biggest weekly decline since July” (when the comparison was to last year’s Harry Potter release.) For the year, however, sales are just slightly negative, down 0.8 percent.Bookseller
Academic and Educational Books Keep Wiley in the Black, Even as Trade Falls 12%
Wiley reported sales of $432 million for their fiscal second quarter of fiscal year 2009, up 2 percent from a year ago, with earnings of .67 cents a share, up 14 percent. CEO William Pesce reports that “we generated solid top-line growth in our global STMS and higher education businesses. Professional/Trade revenue was down, reflecting the combined effect of weak retail sales and the comparison to last year’s strong first half.” Because of that diversity, the company remains “cautiously optimistic that full-year revenue growth will be in the mid-single digits, excluding the unfavorable effect of foreign exchange.” But with almost […]
Canada's Thomas Allen Postpones Spring Until Fall
Similar to the recent move by Atlas & Co., Canada’s Thomas Allen Publishers is “postponing” most of their planned spring 2009 releases until the fall. The company “generally releases only 10 to 12 books per year,” the National Post notes. President Jim Allen says, “We are postponing a few of our spring titles due to the fact that we’re not ready to publish them. This happens from time to time in book publishing for a variety or reasons, and given the literary nature of our list and the economic climate we’re in, we have to be absolutely certain that we […]