The international credit crisis is threatening the UK book supply chain after Woolworth’s–which owns both trade and library wholesaler Bertram’s and Entertainment UK, which supplies books to the big supermarket segment–had its credit insurance pulled following a loss of 100 million pounds in the most recent six months. (The entertainment wholesale and publishing unit earned 2.2 million pounds on flat sales of 446 million pounds in the period.) As the Independent explained last month, “trade credit insurance covers businesses against the risk of bad debt due to the insolvency or protracted default of their buyers. Earlier in the summer credit […]
What Happened to Books in Canada?
Gil Adamson’s THE OUTLANDER won the First Novel Award now presented by Amazon.ca and Books in Canada: “part historical novel, part western Gothic, and part adventure story, it’s an astonishing portrayal of crime and retribution, and survival and love.” (It’s published by House of Anansi in Canada, and Ecco in the US.) But the real story, as the Globe and Mail points out, is the publishing hiatus at BiC, which has reviewed Canadian books since 1971. It “has not produced an issue since its January-February number this year, and now its proprietor is saying he has no intention of reviving […]
Authors' Earnings
Forbes has updated their annual guesses on the earnings of the most successful authors. This year’s list, covering June 1, 2007 to June 1, 2008, estimates the top 10 authors “pulled in a combined $563 million.” 1. J.K. Rowling, $300 million2. James Patterson, $50 million 3. Stephen King, $45 million4. Tom Clancy, $35 million5. Danielle Steel, $30 million6. John Grisham, $25 million6. Dean Koontz, $25 million8. Ken Follett, $20 million9. Janet Evanovich, $17 million10. Nicholas Sparks, $16 millionForbes
People and More
Paul Baggaley will fill the long-empty slot of publisher for Picador in the UK, vacated when Andrew Kidd became an agent with Aitken Alexander in the spring. He has been publishing director at Harper UK Perennial. At Harper Children’s, Erica Sussman has been promoted to editor. She has been with the company since 2004. SharedBook has hired Ashley Gordon as vp, business development, focusing on creating relationships with publishing partners to deliver customized and personalized print-on-demand books. She was director of channel development at Lightning Source. Author Solutions has hired Kevin Gregory as coo. Most recently he served in various […]
Harvard Book Store's New Owners
Jeff Mayersohn and Linda Seamonson of Wellesley, MA bought the Harvard Book Store from Frank Kramer, owner for 46 years. Kramer says in the announcement, “Jeff is both a book lover and a businessman who has a tangible affection for Harvard Book Store. When I met him, I liked him immediately. And when I found out that he and his family plan their vacations around the locations of great independent bookstores, I liked him even more.” Carole Horne remains as general manager of the store. Jeff Mayersohn has been an executive at Sonus Networks, a an IP communications infrastructure company. […]
Borders: No Sale, Just Warrants
Borders does not have a deal to sell the company so, under their loan agreement from earlier this year, they have issued warrants to Pershing Square Capital Management to purchase 5.15 million shares of the company’s stock at seven dollars a share. The warrants can be exercised up until October 9, 2014.