Bertelsmann issued its report on financial results for the first half of the fiscal year, with Random House reporting its lowest recorded sales for the period in years at 766 million euros. That’s nearly an eight percent drop compared to last year, and below results for this period since 2004. Operating EBIT decline even more on a percentage basis, falling almost 30 percent to 31 million euros. The report cites “unfavorable currency exchange rates, a slowdown in consumer spending in some key markets, as well as such ongoing economic pressures as rising shipping and marketing costs.” The company says that […]
Calmer Heads on Borders' Prospects
After the stock market’s enthusiastic reception to Borders quarterly report showing a big sales drop and a continuing loss, analysts who cover the stock sobered up a bit. David Schick at Stifel Nicolaus & Co. kept his “hold” rating saying Borders “has yet to prove it can stabilize these metrics and the top-line, let alone grow.” But he did note, “with constant, and really mounting, pressure from online delivery, online e-books, and retail discounters, (Borders) clearly has a tough environment in which to turn around,” he said. “In a sense, that makes margin stabilization more impressive.” Goldman Sachs, which always […]
Author Says Cape Cod Murder Book Has Him in Trouble with Law
Author Peter Manso was indicted by a Barnstable County, MA grand jury last week on 12 charges related to gun possession, storage and permits. The most serious of the charges, felony possession of an assault weapon (an AR-15 semi-automatic assault rifle found in his bedroom closet to be exact), carries a maximum sentence of 10 years. Police “say they responded to Mr. Manso’s home alarm system, entered the house and saw the loaded shotgun on a closet shelf. They obtained a warrant and returned to find the other guns.” But Manso calls it “complete lawlessness” and says that it’s payback […]
Samantha Ronson Proposal?
E! reports from “a source close to club DJ and Lohan pal Samantha Ronson” (yes, that apparently counts as a source in today’s world) that Ronson is “certainly telling friends she’s planning to write a book. It’s supposed to be about her, allegedly. But come on, you know Lindsay will be all over that book. She’s the only one people want to read about.” Press-shy father Michael Lohan tells them, “I’ve shut up about this long enough. She’s using my daughter. People never even knew who Samantha Ronson was until she met Lindsay. She was just some L.A. DJ. And […]
Ambassador Scieszka on Kids' Reading
National ambassador for young people’s literature Jon Scieszka speaks at length to the LAT about getting kids, and boys in particular, to read. “My first tip is to include not just fiction in your idea of reading. Include graphic novels, include Calvin and Hobbes. Third- and fourth-grade boys devour those — and they’re really sophisticated, but parents will say, ‘Oh, that’s not really reading.’ ” He recalls that “I first saw fairy tales in ‘The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show,’ and they sounded kind of familiar. Then I read the fairy tales. Then I wrote my own books [in which he […]
Plus: Skylight for Kids; More "Guernsey" and Announcements
Skylight’s new next-door space Skylight Books 1814 “allows us to expand a number of our sections into the new store, but also expand and better display things in our existing store, including the children’s section and the fiction section,” co-owner Kerry Slattery tells the LAT. After a soft opening last month, on Saturday they “are throwing an opening gala Saturday that is equal parts coming-out party and thank-you celebration for the community.” Slattery notes, “When we opened 12 years ago, we were debating if we would even have a children’s section, because it seemed to be mostly older people and […]