In advance of tomorrow’s fiscal fourth quarter earnings report, the consensus poll of analysts expects Barnes & Noble to earn $1.48 per share for the quarter on revenue of $1.74 billion. Those earnings would be in line with the company’s reduced guidance in early January, forecasting a range of $1.30 to $1.60 a share, though the sales forecast could be high given the retailer’s weak holiday report. (BN has been weak in the two prior fourth quarters, with sales of $1.69 billion a year ago.) As reported in this piece, William Armstrong with CL King and Associates has a “buy” […]
Longlists for Orange, Miles Franklin Prizes
The Orange Prize announced its longlist for the 2009 prize yesterday, with authors such as Marilynne Robinson, Toni Morrison, Curtis Sittenfeld, Miriam Toews and Samantha Hunt making the cut. A shortlist of six will be announced on April 21, and the winner on June 3. List And ten novels were selected for the Miles Franklin Literary Award longlist.Release
People and Announcements
Baker & Taylor is moving its wholesale club book division, Baker & Taylor Marketing Services, to its distribution center in Indianapolis from the one in Woodland, CA, effective May 15. At Piatkus, Tim Whiting has been appointed publishing director of non-fiction, reporting to Antonia Hodgson. He will still continue his role as publishing director for Little, Brown non-fiction, reporting to Richard Beswick. Bob McLaughlin is retiring from Fujii Associates, effective April 1. Before joining Fujii, he worked at Ward Parkway Bookshop, Wybel Marketing and Heinecken and Associates. Linden Publishing, which primarily publishes in the fields of woodworking and California regional […]
Libraries Bristle at CPSC's Warnings on Lead in Kids' Books
The AP checks in on the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s advisory to libraries to restrict access to kids’ books printed before 1986 while they study the lead content of such products to see if it complies with last year’s Federal ban on lead in most children’s products. “Steps can be taken to put them in an area on hold until the Consumer Product Safety Commission can give further guidance.” Executive director of the American Library Association’s Washington office Emily Sheketoff says, “We’re talking about tens of millions of copies of children’s books that are perfectly safe. I wish a reasonable, […]
Apple Will Change the Rules for Selling eBooks within Apps
Apple previewed the many changes on the way in the next version of the operating system (version 3.0) for the iPhone and iPod Touch. (Apple says there are now about 30 million devices running this OS). Notably for publishers, Apple will now allow the sale of App Store content from within a paid app. SVP of iPhone software Scott Forstall said at the preview, “We’ve been listening, and some developers say there are other business models they’d like to support, such as subscriptions. Like magazines who would like to have readers renew their subscriptions, or, for instance, an e-book provider, […]
Discovery Sues Amazon, Saying Kindle Infringes Patent
Discovery Communications filed a patent suit against Amazon.com in Federal court in Delaware, alleging that the Kindle and the ways in which Amazon sells and delivers documents to the device infringes a patent filed for in 1999 and awarded in November 2007 for an “Electronic Book Security and Copyright Protection System.” Discovery general counsel Joseph A. LaSala, Jr. says in the announcement, “The Kindle and Kindle 2 are important and popular content delivery systems. We believe they infringe our intellectual property rights, and that we are entitled to fair compensation.” A Discovery spokesperson underscores that they do not want an […]