AMS Files for Voluntary Bankruptcy Unable to secure new ongoing financing and with its previous loan facility expiring, troubled Advanced Marketing Services (AMS) filed a voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition yesterday. As part of the filing, the company has in place $75 million in debtor-in-possession financing from Wells Fargo Foothill, subject to the bankruptcy court’s approval. The same lender has been the provider of AMS’s previous loan and security agreements. AMS notes in their announcement that they “explored a number of alternatives to strengthen the Company’s financial base and resolve past legal and regulatory issues.” CEO Gary Rautenstrauch says, “This […]

Briefs For CEOs still in need of some year-end remarks to share with employees, Macmillian head Richard Charkin has crafted an all-purpose address: “It’s been a great year for us in spite of a number of market difficulties. Underlying sales and profits are at record highs (allowing for exchange differences, changes in GAAP, varying retail distribution criteria, enhanced accounting practices for advances and stock, intercompany tax movements,etc). Our competitors are struggling with the market conditions but we’ve managed to find solutions while maintaining our commitment to the highest standards of integrity and caring.…” Click through for the rest. Charkin News […]

Schedule Notes This is the part where we’re supposed to explain our holiday schedule, except that we never really know what our publication habits will be like for the next couple of weeks. Some things are certain: we’ll have a weekly deal round-up coming soon as usual, and PublishersMarketplace.com remains live all the time — with news postings as warranted, deal reports, job listings, and all of our other features. Nightly deal e-mails will depend on the flow of reports. There will be not be daily Lunches, but there will surely be at least occasional Lunches, following the news cycle […]

Harry Has A Name J.K . Rowling announced today on her website the title of her still undelivered 7th book: HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS. More Lists USA Today does “something unusual by choosing a novel that was published last year as our Book of the Year”: The Memory Keeper’s Daughter, by Kim Edwards. The rest of their category favorites: Fiction: All Aunt Hagar’s Children, by Edward P. Jones Non-fiction: Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq, by Thomas E. Ricks Biography: Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination, by Neal Gabler Debut novel: The Last Town on […]

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 […]