Riding the substantial decline of the pound against the dollar and a more diversified education business than some of their peers, Pearson confirmed in a short trading update that “we will report good growth and continued progress on our financial goals for 2008, despite the worsening macroeconomic environment” and “all of our businesses achieved or exceeded our guidance for 2008.” The company expects to report earnings growth of approximately 20 percent in early March, ahead of analysts’ estimates. Penguin “performed well, in line with our expectations, in a slower holiday trading season for the overall books market.” In their dominant […]
Another Big Indie Lost: Harry W. Schwartz Bookshops to Close
The Milwaukee-based group of four independent bookstores will close at the end of March after 82 years in business, president Carol Grossmeyer announced on Sunday. General manager Daniel Goldin is buying the store on Downer Avenue, which will be named Boswell Book Company. And Lanora Hurley, manager of the store in Mequon, “is in discussions” to acquire that location, which she would rename Next Chapter Bookshopm, the Milwaukee Sentinel reports. Grossmeyer told the newspaper, “This has been the most emotional six months of my life, and now it’s culminating in a decision that was coming for a while. You want […]
Rice to Meet with Publishers
Next up from the Bush administration: outgoing Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice told the AP she will meet with publishers soon about three projects. One is a memoir of her work during the Bush years; the other two are reportedly “a memoir about Rice’s family and a multimedia project about international affairs for preteens and adolescents.” Rice is represented by William Morris, and is scheduled to meet with publishers on January 28 and 29.AP
Oprah "Disappointed" By Rosenblat
Oprah Winfrey finally commented on the Herman Rosenblat Holocaust fraud romance on Friday, saying she is “very disappointed.” She told her audience, “That’s what happens with lies. They get bigger and bigger and bigger.” Winfrey said that Rosenblat was going to appear on her show again to “explain himself,” but said that his lawyers stopped the booking. Oprah’s friend Gayle King is disappointed that the media is blaming Oprah: “I called Oprah and I said, ‘I’m so tired of you being the whipping boy for this hoax because he didn’t just dupe you – he duped a lot of people.'” […]
More Withdrawals from Book Expo Canada
HarperCollins Canada and Penguin Canada have joined Random House Canada in announcing that they will not exhibit at this year’s Book Expo Canada trade show. Simon & Schuster Canada is the only one of the country’s four largest publishers that has said it will participate, though president Kevin Hanson indicates their involvement will be modest. The Globe and Mail writes: “Are booksellers in Vancouver or Edmonton or Halifax going to commit to coming to Toronto knowing that three former anchor tenants won’t be there? And will other small or medium-sized publishers bow out now that the lure of the big guys […]
Cornwell Plugs Forthcoming Book in Scarpetta
The NYT notes that Patricia Cornwell’s latest bestseller SCARPETTA briefly mentions Philipp Meyer’s forthcoming AMERICAN RUST on page 333. Cornwell tells the paper, “I look through his book even now because I admire his writing so much. The same way, frankly, that I do Hemingway.” They share the same agent, Esther Newberg at ICM, who sent the manuscript to Cornwell.NYT