Over at Borders, sales for the quarter fell 12.7 percent, at $595.5 million, with an operating loss of $39 million that was equal to last year’s deficit. (Their adjusted EBITDA loss of $34.2 million was higher than the $25.5 million a year ago.) The same-store sales declines were almost as brutal as the overall drop: superstore comps were down 12.1 percent (and still down 8.1 percent excluding multimedia), while Walden comps were down 12.7 percent. Total superstore sales were $492 million (down 12.1 percent), with Walden sales of $73 million down 20.3 percent from fewer stores. Calling the results “both […]
ALA Updates their Google Books Settlement Guide
Jonathan Band’s “Guide for the Perplexed” has served as a handy overview of the Google Books Settlement and now he has provided a fresh overview focusing on the newly revised agreement. A portion focuses on library-specific issues (as before), but general readers will also find it useful.Click here to view in your browser
Random Moves Up McCann Paperback, and More Announcements
Random House Trade Paperbacks has moved up publication of the trade paperback edition of National Book Award-winning novel LET THE GREAT WORLD SPIN by Colum McCann from next spring to December 4. They say they are printing 100,000 copies. PJ Mark, formerly an agent and international rights director at McCormick & Williams, will join Janklow & Nesbit Associates in January as an agent, to expand his list of award-winning young talent in fiction, nonfiction, and graphic novels. Wiley has signed with the Copyright Clearance Center to use their Rightslink service as the online licensing solution for their journals and books. […]
Little, Brown Tries eOnly Title
The publisher is updating their backlist title THE VACCINE BOOK by Dr. Robert Sears in ebook form only, adding a 2,000-word chapter all about H1N1. The new version publishes electronically December 1, priced at $13.99. Sears says he writes on “everything parents need to know about this year’s H1N1 and seasonal flu diseases and vaccines so that worried parents can educate themselves without being confused by all the media hype.”
Bookselling: Palin Sales Said to be 700k In Opening Week; Hudson Picks The Help As Best of the Year; Germany's Thalia Buys Out
A “publishing official close to” Sarah Palin says that GOING ROGUE sold 700,000 copies in its first week on sale. Earlier, Harper had confirmed another leak that the book sold 300,000 copies the first day alone. Last Friday, the publisher announced a new printing would bring the copies in print to 2.5 million units.AP Hudson Booksellers picked Kathryn Stockett’s THE HELP as their best book of 2009. The chain operates 65 full-service bookstores and 350 bookstore/newsstands in airports and other terminals, with 2009 book sales of $93 million. The rest of their Best Fiction list includes: The Year of the […]
Smashwords Will Distribute to Kindle Store, Too
Following recent distribution arrangements with Barnes & Noble.com and Shortcovers, Smashwords has now added an agreement with Amazon’s Kindle store, with titles expected to appear there “sometime in December.” Smashwords says that their self-published authors and small publishers will receive 42.5 percent of the creator-set digital list price for Amazon sales, “higher than what many ebook authors can receive on their own if they publish direct with Amazon.”Release