No Merriness at Waterstone’s A trading update from HMV on the 12 week period ending December 16 confirms the continuing bad news for chain booksellers in the UK, as same-store sales at Waterstone’s fell yet again by 3.7 percent. The company blames “continuing promotional activity in the book market” (e.g. deep discounts on frontlists aren’t going away, and retail gravity continues to favor Tesco at al. — in other words, the market has changed dramatically, and Waterstone’s has not.) In their September update the company implied that sales erosion was improving, but this number isn’t much better than the 4.1 […]

Good Quarter for Scholastic Better margins and improvement at their school book clubs, book fairs and continuity programs helped Scholastic to 6 percent sales growth in their second quarter, to $735.5 million, with net income up 12 percent to $75 million. In the children’s book publishing and distribution unit, sales were $443 million — up 4 percent, though trade sales declined 4 percent in a non-Harry Potter year. Release Regan, the Cabalists, and the “Unpublishable” Mantle Book So the circus is in town for the holidays, and here’s what we’re left with in the center ring: when Judith Regan accused […]

Ingram Goes Shopping for Coutts Ingram is going into the academic library supply business with the acquisition of UK-based Coutts Information Services (the unit also has offices in the US, Canada and Holland.) The company suppies both physical books and electronic ones through its MyiLibrary affiliate, which lets librarians build collections of e-books. Ingram Industries vice chairman John Ingram says in the announcement “This will accelerate our service in the important academic library field, providing the highest level of wholesale, distribution, information, and print-on-demand services.” Spinning the Termination Two leakers from News Corp. are apparently in charge of planting information […]

Deal Reports Just e-mail to deals@PublishersMarketplace if you aren’t using the online form linked below. Report a deal using the online form The Key As usual, the handy key to our Lunch deal categories. While all reports are always welcome, those that include a category will generally receive a higher listing when it comes time to put them all together. “nice deal” $1 – $49,000 “very nice deal” $50,000 – $99,000 “good deal” $100,000 – $250,000 “significant deal” $251,000 – $499,000 “major deal” $500,000 and up FICTION Debut David Bajo’s THE 351 BOOKS OF IRMA ARCURI, pitched as reminiscent of […]

Quietly News apparently takes a back seat today as happy revelers prepare simultaneously for Bill of Rights Day, Hanukkah, and the opening of the Eragon movie. May you enjoy whichever you celebrate. Personnel News AOL Books editor and AOL’s Book Maven blogger e-mailed publishing community members to let them know that yesterday was her last day at AOL, due to the recently announced round of layoffs. Her new blog appears at http://thereadingwriter.typepad.com. At Adams Media, Jennifer Kushnier has been promoted to senior editor. At B&H Publishing, Karen Ball has been named senior editor of fiction, reporting to David Webb. A […]

Tis the Season For holiday letters from publishing CEOs to employees, celebrating the year’s accomplishments. Today’s dispatch comes from Simon & Schuster CEO Jack Romanos, where the Oprah-powered YOU: On a Diet (with 2.7 million copies in print, “the fastest selling hardcover in company history”) is helping to drive a merry end to what Romanos predicts will be “our best year ever in both sales and profits.” As of early next year, S&S will “begin construction on our Digital Archive, and we expect to have more than 12,000 titles in digital format by the end of the year. At the […]