Citing “exceptionally challenging recent market conditions,” the UK’s Quercus warned thatsales and profits for 2008 will fall below expectations. Trade book sales will range between 6 million and 6.5 million pounds, with what had been slim profits to begin with evaporating to breakeven for the whole group (including steady contract publishing sales of 4 million […]
UK
Another 10 Percent Drop in the UK
Weekly sales figures from Nielsen BookScan show book sales expenditures in the UK via tracked outlets declined 10.5 percent compared to the same week a year ago, ending December 13. Unit sales fell less, by 5.4 percent, with discounting pushing down the average selling price.
Sales Down at Waterstone's–And Getting Worse
HMV reported sales for the first six months of their fiscal year (ending October 25), showing revenue of 235.1 million pounds at their Waterstone’s unit declined 3.8 percent overall, and 3.1 percent on a same-store sales basis. The company notes that without the impact of last year’s release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, […]
UK Book Chains Fare Worse than Trade
Revenue from sales at UK High Street booksellers (like Waterstone’s and WH Smith) fell 12.7 percent in the week ending December 6–almost five points worse than the overall decline in sales tracked by Nielsen BookScan. The Telegraph says “high street book sales are plummeting as discounting, the growth of internet operators such as Amazon and […]
BookScan UK: Sales Down Again
For the last week, sales revenues tracked through Nielsen BookScan in the UK were 6.9 percent below the same week from a year ago, “the biggest weekly decline since July” (when the comparison was to last year’s Harry Potter release.) For the year, however, sales are just slightly negative, down 0.8 percent.Bookseller
UK Prize for The Rest Is Noise
A prize a day keeps the blues away. This time last year Alex Ross’s THE REST IS NOISE was making multiple Top 10 lists in the US and now it is the “the clear and undisputed winner” of the Guardian First Book Prize in the UK. Guardian literary editor Claire Armitstead, said: “In some quarters […]