Publishers Lunchtag:www.publishersmarketplace.com,2008-06-12:/lunch/free//42008-06-30T15:16:26ZPublishers Lunch is the industry's "daily essential read," now shared with well over 13,000 publishing people every day. Each report gathers together stories from all over the web and print of interest to the professional trade book community, along with original reporting, plus a little perspective and the occasional wisecrack added in.Publishers MarketplaceBorders to Slash Another 200 Walden Outlets in Januarytag:www.publishersmarketplace.com,2009:/lunch//2.59112009-11-06T14:19:36Z2009-11-06T15:05:25ZPublishers Lunch CEO Ron Marshall says, "We believe there remains an opportunity to profitably operate a much smaller Waldenbooks segment that complements our core Borders superstore business and continues to serve readers in their communities. Through this right-sizing, we will reduce the number of stores with operating losses, reduce our overall rent expense and lease-adjusted leverage and generate cash flow through sales and working capital reductions." The company notes that the remaining Waldenbooks stores will finally be integrated into the Borders superstore computer system.
The multiple rounds of Borders management have been back-and-forth on the "right-sizing" of the obviously outmoded, sprawling string of mall stores for years now. At first the conversion to Borders Express was going to save them. Then the George Jones crew meant to eliminate 250 Walden stores starting in spring 2007, but they reigned in those closure plans.
The company has closed approximately 45 Waldens already just since late August, after shuttering 112 stores in fiscal 2008. For the last full fiscal year, reported April 1, the mall stores generated sales of million. When making that report, the company had indicated 240 of those store leases were up for renewal over the next year and many were likely to be closed. Saying "it's not a particularly attractive business," the company indicated the segment could ultimately shrink to between 50 and 100 stores.
Yesterday afternoon a Borders employee forum posted internal talking points about the store closures prior to the public disclosure, now removed from that site. Among the anonymous comments posted, one employee reiterated allegations posted recently the superstore closings in January will also be announced by the end of this month. (One post asserted that up to 25 percent or more superstores could be set for elimination.) Spokesperson Mary Davis tells us, "We have no plans to make an announcement of any large-scale superstore closings. As always, we assess our stores on an ongoing basis and make decisions on a store by store basis." (According to the company's most recent annual report, the substantial majority of their superstore leases do not expire until 2015 or later. Only 11 store leases are up by early next year, and 26 in 2011.)
In the first half of fiscal 2009, Waldenbooks generated .4 million in sales, down from million for the previous year. In very rough terms, publishers can expect to have lost something like million in sales to BGI across the full fiscal year from the Walden downsizing. Barnes & Noble's virtual elimination of B. Dalton's hurts less, though the 52 remaining stores have generated .4 million in sales over six months, for approximately million in lost annual revenues for publishers.
The press release says Walden will "become smaller, more profitable chain," though the parent company has not been profitable for years now. Of the company's reported operating loss for the first half of 2009 of .9 million, Waldenbooks comrised .9 million of that loss.]]>
Sourcebooks Hopes to Make Poetry Speak More Broadly Onlinetag:www.publishersmarketplace.com,2009:/lunch//2.59032009-11-04T15:42:59Z2009-11-04T15:44:29ZFollowing the success of their line of Poetry Speaks books, Sourcebooks is moving to dominate--and more importantly grow--the poetry "vertical"...Publishers Lunch While the beta version of the site has just launched, it represents over five years of development work and an estimated ,000 of investment from Sourcebooks. As ceo Dominique Raccah says, "When I did Poetry Speaks [the book] I honestly didn't know if I was going to sell 2,000, 20,000 or 200,000 copies. What I see as an entrepreneur is that engagement drives sales. And if we get people excited and participating, we'll find a way to monetize. I know other people have said that, but I've actually done it with poetry. The response we're getting to the site is bigger than anything I've ever gotten in my career. We ought to be smart enough to take that excitement and create a set of viable revenue streams for poets and poetry publishers."
Those initial revenue paths are built around the idea of "iTunes for poetry," with brief samples to entice sales of individual poetry readings, at 99 cents for audio and text poems, and .99 for video versions. They are lining up a retail partner to sell books and CDs (and eventually ebooks and DVDs), which Raccah expects to announce soon, and they will also promote and sell tickets to poetry slams, readings and online performances.
Sourcebooks has plans for a number of other revenue-generating layers to the site, and sees ways for it to become "a tool that will revolutionize poetry education" and curricula as well. Poets and publishers will receive approximately 40 percent of sales revenue. For the moment everything on the site is available for sale throughout the world, and Raccah underscores "we believe in rights and are working to ensure that we have the correct rights info and will sell accordingly." But she admits that this landscape has been "really challenging."
Given the desire and need among all poetry organizations and publishers to grow interest and market opportunities, Sourcebooks has found an enthusiastic reception in all corners of the poetry world. (Which demonstrates, interestlingly to us, that in today's world to develop an innovative and aggressive online approach to a particular community or vertical, you don't have to start out as one of the dominant players.) Their PoetrySpeaks.com advisory board already includes everyone from Anne Halsey of the Poetry Foundation, poet and Co-Founder of Def Poetry Jam Bruce George, and former Poet Laureate of the US Robert Pinsky.
As Sourcebooks notes in their release, they hope the site can "solve some of the challenges the poets themselves face in getting their work, their message, and themselves in front of readers. Poets will be able to manage their own information, blog if they wish, explain and display their body of work to their own choosing, and even post their speaking or performance schedules. In essence, it's a social network for poets and poetry lovers." Poetry Speaks]]>
Dyssegaard New Hyperion EIC and More People Newstag:www.publishersmarketplace.com,2009:/lunch//2.58912009-11-02T15:27:15Z2009-11-02T15:28:23ZExecutive Editor of Smithsonian Books Elisabeth Dyssegaard will join Hyperion as editor-in-chief on November 16, reporting to Ellen Archer. Archer...Publishers Lunch
Elisabeth Dyssegaard will join Hyperion as editor-in-chief on November 16, reporting to Ellen Archer. Archer says in the announcement, "Given Elisabeth's history of acquiring terrific fiction and narrative nonfiction, and her ability to collaborate with offsite partners, she's a perfect fit for Hyperion and our multi-platform publishing program."
Dyssegaard adds, "I love the wide-ranging nature of the list and own food-spattered copies of most of the cookbooks. I have long admired the company's ability to make bestsellers, and I look forward to working with such a dynamic and enormously talented team."
TechCrunch reports that an executive headhunter is recruiting a "head of international business" for Barnes & Noble.com--which is interesting since they don't have one yet. They are told by a candidate it entails "building the international business for BN.com from scratch, hiring the team and 'building the infrastructure outside the US.'" TC
CBA ceo Bill Anderson resigned on Friday, after serving as president of the organization since 1985, and board chairman Jim Whittaker of New Life Christian Stores stepped down at the same time, "citing increased time demands that would come along with managing the transition process." George Thomsen is serving as chair-elect, with a successor for Anderson to be named "at a later time." Announcement
Executive director of the Book Rights Registry-in-formation Michael Healy will also serve as the inaugural David J. Pecker Visiting Professor for Pace University's Masters in Science in Publishing Program. Healy has long been at the forefront of publishing technology. He will give two annual lectures, mentor students and participate in some corporate training sessions.
Elaboration of Andre Agassi's involvement with crystal meth has now moved on to admissions of wearing a hairpiece while playing competitive tennis, as People excerpts the forthcoming book. AP]]>
Seattle's Bailey-Coy Books to Close Shortlytag:www.publishersmarketplace.com,2009:/lunch//2.58892009-11-02T15:23:53Z2009-11-02T15:24:41ZOwner of Baily-Coy Michael Wells told staff on Saturday that the store will close at the end of November after...Publishers Lunch
First posted by an employee at Publicola]]>
People and Awardstag:www.publishersmarketplace.com,2009:/lunch//2.58822009-10-29T22:42:20Z2009-10-30T15:16:16ZAt Rodale Books, Julie Will has been promoted to executive editor. He projects include having overseen their Biggest Loser books.Columbia...Publishers Lunch
Julie Will has been promoted to executive editor. He projects include having overseen their Biggest Loser books.
Columbia University Press has hired Richard Gehringer as cfo. He spent over two decades at Oxford University Press, rising to svp and cfo, and more recently he has been Controller for The New York Foundation for the Arts.
Publishing Technology has hired Martin Borbone and Anna Lister Cheese for their client management team, in the US and UK respectively.
Liaquat Ahamed's LORDS OF FINANCE: 1929, The Great Depression, and the Bankers Who Broke the World won the Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award.
The Guardian announced the shortlist for their First Book award. All the nominees are works of fiction except for FT journalist Michael Peel's A Swamp Full of Dollars. Guardian]]>
Steve Rubin to Lead Holttag:www.publishersmarketplace.com,2009:/lunch//2.58752009-10-27T15:21:04Z2009-10-27T15:21:46ZFormer Doubleday Broadway publisher and then publisher-at-large for Random House Inc. Steve Rubin will take over as president and publisher...Publishers Lunch Sargent says in the announcement: "I have long admired Steve and what he has accomplished at Doubleday. He is a rare publishing talent. With Holt's long and prestigious history and Steve's remarkable taste and track record of success in both the literary and commercial sides of the business, I look forward to a prosperous future for Holt. We are very enthusiastic about the future of the trade book business, and the addition of Steve Rubin will allow us to significantly expand the Macmillan portfolio."
Rubin adds: "Throughout my career, I have always strived to publish those exceptional books that bridge the gap between commerce and literature. I believe that Holt is the perfect place to do this, given that its sister companies are the distinguished Farrar Straus and the powerhouse St. Martin's Press, I can't wait to work more directly with books and authors in developing a tight, powerful, focused list. I am also eager to partner with some of the most talented people in the industry, many of whom are dear friends."
Dan Farley comments: "While my time at Holt has been greatly rewarding, I look forward to being able to devote my full energies and attention to the remarkable opportunities we have at the Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. Steve inherits a superb staff of talented and dedicated people at Holt. I look forward to working with him here at Macmillan." ]]>
People and Distribution Newstag:www.publishersmarketplace.com,2009:/lunch//2.58722009-10-27T14:43:56Z2009-10-27T14:47:28ZPublishers Lunch
Kerri Kolen and Sarah Hochman have been promoted to senior editor. Both started at S&S as editorial assistants, Kolen in 2002 and Hochman in 2004. As publisher David Rosenthal notes, "That each has risen through the ranks here is a tribute to the strength of this imprint, and its collegiality. It is also, of course, a recognition of the diligence and creativity of Kerri and Sarah - I am very proud of their growth as editors and publishers, their contributions to our list."
At Adams Media, Chelsea King is moving over to become associate publicist. She had been an associate editor there.
Ingram Publisher Services announced three new distribution clients: urban and hip-hop fiction publisher Triple Crown Publications; Overdue Media, the publisher of the library comic Unshelved; and Portland State University's non-profit teaching publisher, Ooligan Press.
The Digital Book World team has announced their first keynote speaker for the January event: it's global social media lead for Razorfish (and a 2009 Ad Age Media Maven) Shiv Singh, an expert on digital strategy and social influence marketing.
In other announcements, Barnes & Noble and Plastic Logic officially confirmed that the bookseller will carry the Que ereader in their stores and online next year, in addition to powering the online store for the device. "Que will also be featured near the recently announced nook, on free-standing displays with signage offering Barnes & Noble customers choice based on their reading needs."]]>
Market News: K-12 Down Sharply at McGraw-Hill; Market Kicks BNtag:www.publishersmarketplace.com,2009:/lunch//2.58702009-10-26T14:45:01Z2009-10-26T15:07:38ZMcGraw-Hill reported third quarter sales, with their education division dropping 11.6 percent to $1 billion compared, as operating profit fell...Publishers Lunch
billion compared, as operating profit fell 16 percent to million. The decline came entirely from the K-12 line, which fell almost 20 percent, "in a 2009 state new adoption market that deteriorated all year as budgetary pressures led a growing number of school districts to postpone purchases." Release
Meanwhile, Barnes & Noble can't catch a break from Wall Street analysts no matter what they do. On Friday Credit Suisse reduced their target price for the company to per share (about two dollars below its current price), while Goldman Sachs downgraded their rating from neutral to sell. In contrast, Amazon's shares rose 26 percent for the day following their better-than-expected earnings report.
BN's stock has suffered a number of blows in the past months. First Wall Street looked down on the BN College acquisition as focused on the legacy print business, and in recent days the bestseller price war hasn't helped. (The company is sitting this battle out--which protects margins, but may give up market share.)
Now with the announcement of nook, the company has been downgraded for what analysts see as a successful ebook strategy. Credit Suisse writes, "while we applaud management for these efforts and think it has the potential to be a major player in this business, the concern is whether being a player will ultimately sacrifice profitability. The risk, in our view, is that as the math currently works, each sale through a Nook is not just unprofitable but potentially replaces a higher margin sale at stores." CS opines that "the eReader push will actually be incremental to sales in the near term," but sees that success eroding in-store results over time.
It's all a series of hypothetical extrapolations about the behavior of ebook readers in the coming years, and notably CS doesn't make any projections for additive business for Barnes & Noble in selling to other devices (like iRex and Plastic Logic's Que); taking a role as the leading vendor of EPUB books for multiple devices; driving ereading business in the college market; or sales of newspapers, magazines, blogs and other high-margin ereading materials. In other words, the numbers leave a lot of room for hypothesis--and interpretation.
But in a morning when the market is up broadly, BN shares started sliding again today--though not as much as Borders, which was down more than 5 percent.
On the same theme but from a different vantage point, Mike Shatzkin looks at financial and structural changes caused by the ereading transition as everyone adjusts to "a smaller print-book business": "Publishers are going to have to rethink their operations. Sales staffs will probably contract; warehouse space will become redundant; investments in IT systems for the print operation will have to be more rigorously controlled. Publishers will likely combine, of course; the big houses now all gladly take competing publishers into their back office operations to help support them. But downward shifts in scale are not only inevitable, they will probably happen in more dramatic lurches than we've known in the past.
"Wholesalers and distributors will both win and lose in this shift, but the shape of their business will certainly change. On the one hand, they, like everybody else, will lose sales that they have today because accounts go under and publishers they distribute cease operating. On the other hand, they are in the business of converting fixed operating costs to variable ones, and the number of customers for that proposition will grow as the apparent costs of operations (as a percentage of sales) get out of control at many companies." ]]>
NY Stores Plan Celebrationtag:www.publishersmarketplace.com,2009:/lunch//2.58682009-10-26T14:40:58Z2009-10-26T14:41:24ZThe IBNYC--a New York alliance of over 60 independent booksellers--has declared November 15 through 21 Independent Bookstore Week. The celebration...Publishers Lunch
web site (though it currently lists only three events that week).]]>
Peopletag:www.publishersmarketplace.com,2009:/lunch//2.58592009-10-22T14:45:10Z2009-10-22T14:51:48ZGeorge Bick has joined the Doug Grad Literary Agency as an associate agent. A sales and marketing veteran of over...Publishers Lunch
George Bick has joined the Doug Grad Literary Agency as an associate agent. A sales and marketing veteran of over twenty years at Warner Books, Random House, Simon & Schuster, and HarperCollins, he was most recently svp, director of sales and associate publisher. Bick is actively looking for narrative non-fiction, business, science fiction, horror/paranormal, thrillers, military, comics and graphic novels, diet/self-help, memoir, pets/animals, romance, science, humor, pop culture, and travel.
Former managing director at Granta Publications David Graham will serve as a senior advisor to digital publisher. He tells the Bookseller he is "looking forward to helping develop the company's commercial strategy to ensure that Enhanced Editions remains at the forefront of this new and exciting publishing channel."]]>
Peopletag:www.publishersmarketplace.com,2009:/lunch//2.58542009-10-21T14:48:10Z2009-10-21T15:09:46ZAt Dutton, Ben Sevier has been promoted to executive editor.Agent Amy Tipton has left FinePrint Literary Management to join Signature...Publishers Lunch
Ben Sevier has been promoted to executive editor.
Agent Amy Tipton has left FinePrint Literary Management to join Signature Literary Agency.
Former Pantheon publisher Janice Goldklang has joined Globe Pequot Press as executive director of editorial.
The Frankfurt Book Fair has fired project manager Peter Ripken, saying in a statement it was for "ongoing difficulties." As Deutsche World notes, it was Ripken who "uninvited" two Chinese dissidents from that pre-Fair symposium (leading to the Book Fair's series of denials and apologies). As they report it, Ripken also kept those same two dissidents from speaking at the book fair's closing ceremonies. Ripken says he was acting on instructions from Germany's foreign ministry: "The foreign ministry has stated explicitly that this fair is not there just for China, and I acted in accordance with this wish." DW]]>
OR Books Goes Rogue with Initial Releasetag:www.publishersmarketplace.com,2009:/lunch//2.58502009-10-20T17:33:54Z2009-10-21T14:46:58ZPublishers Lunch The direct-sale start-up OR Books, founded by John Oakes and Colin Robinson, announced their inaugural title yesterday--which just happens to share some striking similarities with another prominent forthcoming release. OR Books is issuing GOING ROUGE: Sarah Palin, An American Nightmare on November 17, the same day when HarperCollins publishes GOING ROGUE: An American Life by Sarah Palin. Comprising essays assembled by Nation editors Richard Kim and Betsy Reed, it promises "progressive
perspectives on Sarah Palin's political career" by writers including Naomi Klein,
Jane Mayer, Katha Pollitt, Jim Hightower, Christopher Hayes, Gloria Steinem, Joe
Conason, and Tom Frank.
Harper had no comment on the OR Books cover, so we asked Ned Himmelrich, head of the intellectual property department at law firm Gordon Feinblatt, for an assessment of whether the cheeky new cover crosses legal lines. "Although the first instinct is to believe that the "Nightmare" book has to be infringing" the publishers "may have found a seam in Palin's protection." He added: "Titles of books cannot be protected as trademarks (a clear rule); trademark protection does not accrue until the mark is used (no sales yet); both books would be "in use" on the first day (Palin cannot claim first use); "Trade dress" does not exist unless the graphics are inherently distinctive (doubtful) or well recognized (too soon); and the "Nightmare" title may even be a valid parody (a good defense). Each of these theories has a countervailing argument, but on each, the legal arguments might be a nightmare for Palin."
Meanwhile, the real Sarah Palin will appear on The Oprah Winfrey Show on November 16.]]>
Briefs: Target Joins Price War, and BN Prepares Nooktag:www.publishersmarketplace.com,2009:/lunch//2.58492009-10-20T14:30:31Z2009-10-20T14:37:41ZA couple of noteworthy but ultimately short stories. Target joined the pre-order bestseller price war, though in more limited fashion....Publishers Lunch And Barnes & Noble's afternoon media event suffered another pre-announcement leak--this time from the bookseller itself. An ad in next Sunday's NYT Book Review touts their new ereader, called the Nook, and priced to match Kindle at .]]>
Peopletag:www.publishersmarketplace.com,2009:/lunch//2.58482009-10-20T14:29:28Z2009-10-20T14:30:01ZSub rights director at FSG and Holt Denise Cronin will move over to become directior of sub rights for the...Publishers Lunch
Denise Cronin will move over to become directior of sub rights for the Random House Publishing Group in November.
At Dial Press, Noah Eker has been promoted to editor.
Michael Healy has officially stepped down from his post as executive director of the Book Industry Study Group (where he was working half-time) to work full-time on preparations to establish the Book Rights Registry.]]>
Bookselling: Elliott Bay Book Co. Faces Financial Trouble, May Relocatetag:www.publishersmarketplace.com,2009:/lunch//2.58442009-10-19T14:55:29Z2009-10-19T15:01:01ZThe stories began online, with unconfirmed reports that Seattle's Elliott Bay Book Co. was considering a move to a more...Publishers Lunch The paper says "sales plummeted after the meltdown on Wall Street last fall,breaking the store's already-tenuous hold on profitability.
What's more, sales continued to decline through August, and he began to
wonder if the store would go out of business." Aaron says, "I need to find
a way to operate at a lower expense level or increase our sales," he
said. Seattle Times]]>
