Publishers Lunch

Amazon Media Tops $1 Billion for Quarter Amazon unleashed their quarterly blizzard of multiple ways of measuring earnings, as sales rose 17 percent to $2.98 billion for their fourth quarter. (Full-year sales hit $8.49 billion, up 23 percent.) Media sales — the category in which books are hidden — hit $1 billion in North America for the first time this quarter, reaching $3.046 billion for the year. International media sales aren’t far behind, registering $968 million for the quarter, and $2.885 billion for the year. Which means that Amazon’s $5.93 billion in media sales overall puts it significantly ahead of […]

Personnel News Longtime PGW executive Karen Cross, who most recently was evp of marketing there, is joining competitor Ingram Publisher Services, as vp of publisher relations. Remaining in the San Francisco area, Cross "will be responsible for the implementation of the next phase of the development" of Ingram’s distribution unit. Ingram senior vp Phil Ollila says in the announcement, "Eighteen publishers have joined us as distribution clients. We have found that in order to more effectively serve our current publishers and provide a platform for further growth, we needed to bring onboard an experienced distribution and marketing executive such as […]

“During the process of writing the book, I embellished many details about my past experiences, and altered others in order to serve what I felt was the greater purpose of the book. I sincerely apologize to those readers who have been disappointed by my actions.… “ “As I wrote, I worked primarily from memory. I also used supporting documents, such as medical records, therapists’ notes, and personal journals, when I had them, and when they were relevant.… “ “I altered events and details all the way through the book. Some of those include my role in a train accident that […]

Scholastic Confronted Again on Negative Option Clubs A couple has filed suit against Scholastic in a Seattle federal court, seeking class action status, over practices related to the company’s negative-option book club. A release from the plaintiffs attorneys charges, “according to the complaint, Scholastic uses its marketing presence within elementary schools to convince parents to purchase educational products, and then bombards parents with unsolicited goods, demanding payment in violation of state and federal law.” They compare their case to Federal Trade Commission charges that Scholastic settled in a consent decree last year. At the time, the FTC said the agreement […]

More IPO Drama Expected at Bertelsmann Though Bertelsmann executives have announced publicly that they are prepared for a public offering of shares in the company by minority owner Group Bruxelles Lambert, the FT reports that the controlling Mohn family is not at all prepared. One former company executive tells the paper, “For Liz Mohn it’s a dynastic question. She doesn’t want outsiders peering in because she fears for her children’s careers. That’s the battle for Bertelsmann of these last years.” But if Bertelsmann wants to buy out their partners, it’s estimated they would have to pay between 5 billion and […]

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