VP, associate publisher Judy Hottensen will step down on January 1, 2025. "She will help spearhead the transition of a new hire and continue to work on independent projects at Grove in 2025," according to a release.
Jamie Oliver Pulls Children’s Book After Protests
Jamie Oliver has pulled his children’s book Billy and the Epic Escape from publication around the world, following protests by indigenous Australians. The book is published by Penguin Random House UK. The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Commission (Natsiec) spoke out about the book, calling it “damaging” and “disrespectful” and saying it perpetuated stereotypes. Indigenous literary figures in Australia supported the effort to get Oliver to withdraw it. In the portion of the book that raised concern, a First Nations girl living in foster care in an Indigenous community is abducted. Sharon Davis, chief executive of Natsiec said this […]
Obituaries: Dorothy Allison, Bruce Degen
Feminist writer Dorothy Allison, 75, died of cancer on November 5 at her home in Guerneville, CA. Allison was the author of acclaimed 1992 novel Bastard Out of Carolina, as well as other works including the novel Cavedweller and the short story collection Trash. Bruce Degen, 79, illustrator of The Magic School Bus series of children’s books, died of pancreatic cancer on November 7 at his home in Newtown, CT. Degen worked with author Joanna Cole on the 14-book series. Degen’s other work included illustrating the book Jamberry.
BNED Estimates Flat Sales, With Full Numbers To Come
Barnes & Noble Education released only preliminary results for their second quarter ended October 26, historically their biggest and most profitable period. Sales are expected to be “approximately flat” — compared to a weak performance a year ago, when they reached $617 million (down from $627 million the prior year and well below pre-pandemic levels of $772 million in 2019). They estimate net income registered between $44 million and $49 million, compared to $25 million last year, “driven by comparable store top-line growth and continued improvements in cost management.” After a first quarter loss of $(99.5) million, the company is […]
Spotify Partnership Bolsters Harper Sales
News Corp reported financial results for the first quarter of fiscal year 2025, ended September 30, with publishing sales up 4 percent to $546 million, rising by $21 million. EBITDA was up 25 percent to $81 million, gaining $16 million, driven by backlist sales and strong digital sales. Those digital sales were up 15 percent over the prior year, especially boosted by digital audio, which grew 26 percent, attributed to their partnership with Spotify. Ebooks sales rose 7 percent “after a period of relative sluggishness,” ceo Robert Thomson said on a call with investors on Thursday. Together, ebooks and digital […]
ABA Requests Tertulia Remove Bookstore Content
Book recommendation site Tertulia has used logos and content from bookstores without permission, according to Bookselling This Week. Tertulia hosts pages of “Book Recommendations & Book Mentions” from several stores, which include a list of books that the store has mentioned on Twitter, along with the text of the post. The pages also include stores’ logos and a link to their Twitter pages. Pages exist for prominent indies including Anderson’s Bookshop and BookPeople. As of today, one for Powell’s has been removed. Paul Bogaards, a spokesperson for Tertulia, said that bookstore content was included unintentionally. “They are legacy book mentions from […]