Tue, 21 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500 Bringing Synergy Back The word synergy, in the world of book publishing, feels like a term that died in the ’90s. Back then, almost every publisher housed within a media conglomerate was touting the ways it would use its TV-making or movie-making sister companies to sell books. Fox would boost HarperCollins. Viacom/CBS would boost Simon & Schuster. Not much came of all that talk. But Ellen Archer, president and publisher of Hyperion, is reviving synergy. In fact, Archer thinks it will be one of the keys to the success of her house in 2012.
Fri, 17 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500 Disney to Hachette Disney Book Group, Hyperion Books, and Marvel have signed a preliminary agreement to move to the Hachette Book Group for book distribution services.
Fri, 17 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500 Profits Rise Again at Simon & Schuster Since e-books first became a meaningful part of a publisher’s business in 2009, results at Simon & Schuster have followed a familiar pattern—a decline in revenue but an increase in earnings. Between 2009 and 2011, total sales at S&S dipped 0.7%, but adjusted operating income has jumped 84%. Margins at the company improved from 5.8% in 2009 to 10.8% last year. And despite revenue falling by almost $100 million since 2007, S&S’s earnings and operating margins are almost the same as they were five years ago.
Fri, 17 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500 Top Cow Looks Back to Go Forward Top Cow Productions, having survived for two decades as a comics publisher, is mixing it up, experimenting with genres and crossover series, as well as rebranding. And of course, digital delivery is a big part of it.
Fri, 17 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500
Shows & Events
Latest Top (15) News
Technology at The Forefront of Upbeat Toy Fair The approximately 30 publishers exhibiting at the 2012 New York International Toy Fair, held at the Javits Center, February 11–15, saw full aisles and strong orders for the first time in several years. The Toy Industry Association’s preliminary figures estimated attendance was up 4%, to 34,000. “We’ve been very impressed with the traffic,” said Shannon Roof, director of national accounts, Carson-Dellosa, which was highlighting its expanded Guinness World Records and Crayola licenses and its Summer Bridge workbooks. Meanwhile, attendees’ mood was positive, exhibitors said, despite a 2% decline in retail sales of toys and games in the U.S. last year, to $21.18 billion, according to the NPD Group. “It’s a very good show, very upbeat,” reported John Donofrio, owner of Briarpatch, which makes board games tied to book properties including I Spy. “I think it’s going to be a good year.”
Mon, 30 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500 A Winning Winter Institute Buoyed by a strong finish to 2011, indie booksellers celebrated their independence at this year’s seventh annual American Booksellers Association Winter Institute held at the Astor Crowne Plaza in New Orleans, January 18–20. Some who recently opened second stores, like Peter Makin at Brilliant Books, in Suttons Bay, Mich., are already looking to expand again. Others like Linda Bubon and Ann Christophersen, cofounders of Women and Children First in Chicago, are simply happy to see sales turn around, up more than 30% for the holidays.
Fri, 06 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500 Savannah Book Festival Comes Of Age At just five years old, the Savannah Book Festival, in the genteel coastal city of Savannah, Ga., is carving a space for itself among the book festival big leagues, boasting not one but two of the nation’s current #1 bestselling authors: Stephen King (for 11/22/63) and Walter Isaacson (Steve Jobs).
Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500 Tough Week for Amazon Despite posting a 35% sales increase for the fourth quarter and earnings that were better than expected (if still down compared to a year ago), last week was a tough one for Amazon. Analysts and investors were disappointed in the quarterly report, and the stock price for the nation’s largest online retailer fell almost 8% the day after the earnings report was released on Tuesday, though it bounced back a bit on Thursday. Analysts have long worried that Amazon was investing too heavily in its business, but that hasn’t stopped Amazon from keeping up those investments or its stock price rising (it has a 52-week high of $246.71). The most recent report, though, renewed concerns among some analysts that Amazon was not getting a high enough return on its investments.
, 19 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500 Bookstore Sales Slipped in 2011 Bookstore sales fell 0.8% in 2011, the slowest rate of decline since bookstore sales peaked at $17.18 billion in 2007, according to preliminary estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. Since 2007, bookstore sales declined a total of 9.6%. The modest drop in 2011 comes with one big caveat—December bookstore sales fell 15.6%, by far the largest decline of the year.
Fri, 17 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500 Kitson Stacks Up the Books When Fraser Ross opened his first trendy Kitson clothing and accessories store in West Hollywood in 2001, it was a magnet for celebrities and the paparazzi that stalked them, a most unlikely retail candidate to capture the attention of New York publishers. But one decade and an additional 12 stores later, Kitson has emerged as a valuable specialty outlet for publishers, with book sales topping $1.6 million last year. “Our turn on books is 11 times a year,” says Ross, who moved to Los Angeles from Toronto after establishing himself there as a retailer by running Ice, his first specialty store. “Kitson carries about 400 titles, which might not seem like a lot, but when a book is hot we easily sell 1,000 to 1,500 copies of it. It’s a huge add-on business. Clothing has become risky, but our book sales keep growing. The books at Kitson provide entertainment shopping for the whole family,” Ross says. And sales keep growing; this January the chain sold $100,000 in books, five times more than last January.
Fri, 17 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500 The Evolving Role of the Sales Rep In the past few years everything about the book business has changed, and with it the role of the rep, or district manager, as many are now known. In part that’s a reflection of how ordering has changed, especially with the increasing adoption of Edelweiss, the interactive publishers’ catalogue service.
Wed, 08 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500 HUP Finds Logo for New Line Via Contest In September, Harvard University Press tried something a little different. That month the scholarly press announced it was holding an open search for the design of its forthcoming book series featuring English translations of works in various Indian languages. HUP has now found a logo and look for its Murty Classical Library of India—freelance designer Andrea Stranger took home $10,000 for her efforts—and the line remains set for a 2013 launch date.
Fri, 13 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500 Turning Up the Volume on Author Podcasts The emergence of author podcasts as a viable and entertaining marketing tool is apparent in the success of three such efforts originating from literary Web sites on the West Coast: Brad Listi’s the Nervous Breakdown, Tom Lutz’s Los Angeles Review of Books, and Tyson Cornell’s company Rare Bird Lit. The three are using podcasts as a way to build readership and bring attention to their sites.
Wed, 14 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0500 Pioneering Library-Publisher Relations Even in tense times, there is far more that unites publishers and libraries than divides them. And if one needs proof that librarians and publishers share common goals and can work together to mutual benefit, they need look no further than the career of Marcia Purcell, Random House’s v-p of library and academic marketing.
Fri, 02 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0500 Whither the Sales Rep While publishers have been reorganizing their sales forces for years, the shifting marketplace—one without Borders and with a lot fewer print books—is forcing publishers to rethink more than ever how they sell. Hachette Book Group’s elimination of 11 sales rep positions earlier this fall sent chills through the independent bookselling community.
Wed, 08 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500 HUP Finds Logo for New Line Via Contest In September, Harvard University Press tried something a little different. That month the scholarly press announced it was holding an open search for the design of its forthcoming book series featuring English translations of works in various Indian languages. HUP has now found a logo and look for its Murty Classical Library of India—freelance designer Andrea Stranger took home $10,000 for her efforts—and the line remains set for a 2013 launch date.
Fri, 13 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500 Turning Up the Volume on Author Podcasts The emergence of author podcasts as a viable and entertaining marketing tool is apparent in the success of three such efforts originating from literary Web sites on the West Coast: Brad Listi’s the Nervous Breakdown, Tom Lutz’s Los Angeles Review of Books, and Tyson Cornell’s company Rare Bird Lit. The three are using podcasts as a way to build readership and bring attention to their sites.
Wed, 14 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0500 Pioneering Library-Publisher Relations Even in tense times, there is far more that unites publishers and libraries than divides them. And if one needs proof that librarians and publishers share common goals and can work together to mutual benefit, they need look no further than the career of Marcia Purcell, Random House’s v-p of library and academic marketing.
Fri, 02 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0500 Whither the Sales Rep While publishers have been reorganizing their sales forces for years, the shifting marketplace—one without Borders and with a lot fewer print books—is forcing publishers to rethink more than ever how they sell. Hachette Book Group’s elimination of 11 sales rep positions earlier this fall sent chills through the independent bookselling community.