Potter Aids Hastings

Total revenue at Hastings Entertainment rose 2.3%, to $125.9 million, in the second quarter ended July 31, helped by $1.8 million in sales from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Net income jumped to $1.9 million, from $179,000 in the comparable period in last year’s second quarter. Same-store sales of books were up 6.9% in the quarter. For the first half of the year, total revenue at Hastings slipped 0.2%, to $254 million, but earnings doubled, to $4.3 million. Book comps in the six months were up 2.8%.

Bantam Dell is launching an imprint in February that will publish titles simultaneously in trade and mass market paperback. Bantam Discovery will release one title every month in both formats, beginning with Tess Stimson’s The Adultery Club. The new imprint is being formed in response to changes in the marketplace, in which accounts will accept only one paperback format.

Explaining that it doesn’t believe there will be strong demand for If I Did It, Barnes & Noble will not carry the book in its traditional bookstores, although it will offer the title through barnesandnoble.com. Amazon will carry the book, as will Borders, although the retailer will not promote it.

Globe Pequot Press has acquired Footprint Books, located in Bath, England, to strengthen its international travel list. Founded in 1924, Footprint has a backlist of 80 titles. Including revisions, GPP plans to publish 20 Footprint guides a year. Footprint has been distributed in the U.S. by NBN, and GPP will assume that role at the beginning of 2008.

A week after agreeing to acquire Howath Press, Taylor & Francis has bought Productivity Press. Productivity, based in New York City, publishes books designed to improve business practices, primarily in manufacturing, and has about 200 titles. Maura May will continue as publisher of Productivity.

Borders Group has appointed Susan Harwood its new CIO. Formerly v-p of information technology at Books-A-Million, Harwood will oversee all of Borders’s technology operations as well as take part in the relaunch of Borders.com, which is set for the first quarter of 2008.

The Perseus Books Group has established the Elizabeth A. Maguire Scholarship Fund to honor the memory of Maguire, the v-p and publisher of Basic Books who died in April 2006 of ovarian cancer. The scholarship will provide aid to students attending the Columbia Publishing Course.

The War: An Intimate History 1941–1945, which Knopf will publish in September, is written by Geoffrey Ward. Our brief bio accompanying an essay by Ken Burns (PW, Aug. 20) stated erroneously that Burns was the author; in fact, he wrote the introduction only.

The title of Joel Osteen’s new book was incorrect in a sidebar to “Purpose-Driven Marketing” (Aug. 13). The book is Become a Better You.