News Briefs: Store Sales Down in June

Bookstore sales fell 7.1% in June, to $1.07 billion. The monthly decline—the first this year—dropped the sales increase for bookstores in the first half of 2008 to 3.1%. Sales for the first six months were $7.67 billion. For the entire retail segment, sales rose 1.3% in June and were up 3.1% for the first half of 2008.

Marie Toulantis, who has been associated with Barnes & Noble.com since 1999, has resigned as CEO, a post she held for six years. Barnes & Noble is not directly replacing Toulantis, and her duties will be divided between Tom Burke, who is executive v-p of e-commerce for B&N.com, and Kevin Frain, B&N.com CFO, who has added the title of executive v-p of e-commerce operations.

The McGraw-Hill Cos. has appointed Peter Davis president of its McGraw-Hill Education group, succeeding Henry Hirschberg, who will retire October 31. Davis, who steps into the new role September 2, has been executive v-p of global strategy for MHC since 2006. Among the executives who will report to Davis are Bill Oldsey, executive v-p of McGraw-Hill Education and head of the pre-k–12 education business, and Rik Kranenburg, president of higher education, professional and international.

Marjorie Braman, executive editor at HarperCollins, has been named v-p and editor-in-chief of Henry Holt, and will report to Holt president Dan Farley. Braman, who starts September 8, sees fiction and narrative nonfiction as the two prime growth areas for the Holt list. Michael Crichton and Elmore Leonard were among the authors she worked with at HC.

Hastings Entertainment reported that book comps for the second quarter ended July 31 fell 1.1% due to huge sales in last year’s quarter of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Excluding Hallows, comps rose 5.4%, with solid gains in hardcovers and trade paperbacks. For the entire company, revenue dipped marginally, falling from $125.9 million to $125.7 million, and net income fell to $660,000 from $1.8 million in last year’s second quarter, which benefited from a one-time tax gain. For the first six months of the year, book comps were up 2.0% (5.4% excluding Hallows). Solid gains were posted in sales of used books and new trade paperbacks. Sales for the entire company rose 1.4%, to $257.6 million, though earnings dropped 16%, to $3.6 million.

Free Press editor-in-chief Dominick Anfuso has acquired a memoir by Olympic megastar Michael Phelps in a deal with Scott Waxman and Farley Chase of the Waxman Literary Agency, in association with Peter Carlisle of Octagon. The agreement includes North American, audio and first serial rights, plus a children’s book to be released next year. The adult title, Built to Succeed, is scheduled for December with a first printing of 500,000 copies.