After a weak first half for their fiscal year, Bertelsmann has issued the briefest of Q3 trading updates. Sales for the first nine months fell by 0.7 percent to 11.4 billion euros; they don’t break out third quarter sales, which were approximately 3.765 billion euros. Net profit rose to 387 million euros for those nine months, a low margin that still benefits from comparison to last year when they took a 245-million euro charge to settle lawsuits related to Napster. (Operating EBIT so far this year is down more than 10 percent at 926 million euros, though the company offers […]
Consensus: You Are Nervous
The NYT reviews most of the reasons publishers and booksellers are nervous about the state of business this holiday season. The article doesn’t face the downturn in profitable backlist, noting instead that “publishers continue to plan for blockbuster sales of marquee-brand books.” At the same time, they note there are big books–300,000 copies of Wally Lamb’s The Hour I First Believed–and very big books, with 1.25 million copies of “You: Being Beautiful — The Owner’s Manual to Inner and Outer Beauty.”NYT USA Today looked at a similar theme yesterday.
Remedy?: RH Promotes Books as Gifts
In trying to address nervousness across the business, Random House spokesman Stuart Applebaum reports that ceo Markus Dohle “challenged our sales group to see what we can do as a company on behalf of the larger trade to get people in to the book-buying habit for the holiday season.” As a result, Doubleday’s Suzanne Herz led an in-house “mini-task force” that has pulled together an ambitious promotional campaign over the past two weeks. Aiming for what Herz calls a “got milk campaign for books,” the unifying slogan is “Books = Gifts” and it is designed to promote book sales throughout […]
Vroman's Backs Off Expansion Plan
Pasadena’s Vroman’s Bookstore has cancelled plans to purchase a newly-renovated building in Old Town Monrovia for a new store. Vroman’s president Joel Sheldon said in a statement “the more recent economic conditions and variances have caused our board of directors to adopt a more conservative approach regarding expansion at this timePasadena Star
A Deal for the Popular Bush?
First Lady Laura Bush “is interviewing publishers who are bidding on her memoirs,” a biographer tells Page Six. “The publishers are coming to the White House to meet with her and discuss the book.”Page Six
Yes, Google Will Let You Search Books with Cellphones
One of the many questions raised after the legal settlement over Google Book Search was announced was, “gee, do you think you’ll be able to search millions of books with the new Google Android mobile phone platform?” In a word: yes. Though as announced, the first phase actually aims to let you search current books (rather than out of print titles). It works via downloadable software called Barcode Scanner: “When you line up the camera in front of a book barcode, it will automatically zoom, focus and scan the ISBN – without you even needing to click the shutter. As […]