Chooseco, the owners of the Choose Your Own Adventure series, filed suit in a Vermont Federal court on Friday against Netflix, alleging trademark infringement, trademark dilution and unfair competition over the interactive film Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, released by the streaming service on December 28, 2018. The suit seeks a “conservative initial estimate” of at least $25…
A Last Chance to Save
A lot of people like to sign up for PublishersMarketplace.com membership early in the year, so as an experiment we left our “anniversary” promotion code valid for longer than usual — but the end is coming. You have until January 15 to use the code fifteen when enrolling, to get your first full month of…
Germany’s Book Trade Trended Slightly Positive in 2018 — Thanks to Price Increases
In 2018, Germans bought fewer books, but paid more for them, according to stats in the January issue of the German Publishers & Booksellers Association’s publication. “The [sales] balance for the year 2018 is … a wafer-thin increase of 0.1 percent” according to the report, but the number of copies sold fell by 1.4 percent….
People, Etc.
Timothy Paulson will join Harper Christian as vp and publisher of Nelson Books, starting February 4. He was most recently with Kalmbach Media. At Harper Children’s, Olivia Russo has been promoted to director, publicity and Haley George to associate publicist. Kristopher Kam joins as publicist. He was most recently at St. Martin’s. Roxanne Jones has been promoted to publicist at…
German Booksellers Thalia and Mayersche Announce Intended Merger
In a surprise move, two German bookstores — Thalia, the market leader, and Mayersche, a large regional chain — announced plans to merge, a deal that will first need to be approved by Germany’s Federal Cartel Office. While terms of the deal remain undisclosed, the Falter family, which owns Mayersche, will become partners in the…
Barnes & Noble Has Small Holiday Gain, But It Comes At a Cost
Barnes & Noble reported sales for holidays, with same-store sales gaining a little bit over the nine weeks ending December 29, up 1.3 percent. “Although we got off to a slow start, sales picked up momentum as we moved deeper into the season,” chairman Len Riggio says in the announcement, with same-store sales in the…