NYT Staffer Says Book’s Timing Drove Bush Spy Story An unidentified NYT journalist tells the LA Times that the imminent publication of James Risen’s embargoed book by the Free Press is what compelled the paper of record to finally run with their story on President Bush authorizing eavesdropping on US citiznes. “When they realized that it was going to appear in the book anyway, that is when they went ahead and agreed to publish the story. That’s not to say that was their entire consideration, but it was a very important one of them.” The LAT says their report is […]

State of Spying Revelations If you’re a Democrat, you’re wondering why the NY Times agreed to wait a year to let James Risen report on President Bush’s post-9/11 secret order to allow eavesdropping on American citizens without court approval. If you’re a Republican, you’re wondering why the newspaper ran the story the day the Patriot Act was up for a vote on reauthorization, and why they neglected to mention in the story that the Free Press will release Risen’s embargoed book STATE OF WAR: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration on January 16. AP story on […]

Monday, December 19 Our Reminder If for some reason this has reached you even though you are not a paying member of PublishersMarketplace, please visit the link below to join us all the time for complete deal reports and more. Click to register http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/register.shtml Deal Reports Just e-mail to deals@PublishersMarketplace if you aren’t using the online form linked below. Report a deal using the online form The Key As usual, the handy key to our Lunch deal categories. While all reports are always welcome, those that include a category will generally receive a higher listing when it comes time to […]

Profits Fall at Scholastic Sales at Scholastic for the second quarter rose just two percent to $697 million as income fell 8 percent to $67 million. The company says “lower profits in the quarter reflected a decline in International results and modestly lower profits in Children’s Book Publishing and Distribution, partly offset by lower overhead costs.” CEO Dick Robinson adds, “The impact of hurricanes on the company, challenges in School Book Clubs and Continuities, and investments to restructure our business in the United Kingdom were all factors contributing to lower profits in the second quarter.” Potter-powered trade sales rose 11 […]

Media Play-ed Out The continuously restructuring Musicland has announced that they will close all 61 Media Play stores, operating in 18 states — which carry a variety of media, including books — by the end of January. Overall the privately-owned Musicland does about $1 billion a year in sales, through more than 800 stores. AP Book Standard has more details on how the liquidation will unfold Looking Back The lead of this AP article makes you think it might be about publishers and the Internet, but it’s really more of reporter Hillel Italie’s overview of the year in publishing: “In […]

Layoffs and a New Boss at Time Time Inc. is celebrating the holidays by laying off 105 employees effective December 31, including some longtime executives, such as executive vice president and former CFO Richard Atkinson. As a result, Time Warner Book Group’s new boss David Young has a new boss to report to at Time Inc.: executive vice president Michael Klingensmith, 52, who also adds oversight of information technology and Synapse. Most other components of the group will report higher up to newly appointed co-chief operating officers Nora McAniff and John Squires. Release As Warned, Ottakar’s Warns of Holiday Sales […]