S&S Picks Up in Third Quarter
by Jim Milliot -- Publishers Weekly, 10/30/2008 8:30:00 AM
Simon & Schuster rebounded from two down quarters to post a 5% sales gain, to $225.0 million, in the third quarter ended September 30. Operating profit rose 8%, to $23.4 million. The company had two particularly strong sellers in the quarter, Bob Woodward’s The War Within and the polar opposite title, The Obama Nation by Jerome Corsi. Real Life also contributed to the improvement as did Paula Deen’s My First Cookbook. Smoke Screen and Play Dirty by Sandra Brown did well in mass market paperback as did Vince Flynn’s Protect and Defend. President Carolyn Reidy said sub rights income from The Secret plus a strong overall list compared to last year’s third quarter helped lift sales. She noted that sales were above plan in July and August, but fell in September, particularly later in the month when the media was full of dire economic forecasts. S&S has seen steady sales of brand name authors, Reidy said, but sales of trade paperback backlist has been soft, something she attributed to consumers cutting back on spending.
To help keep profits healthy, S&S has been watching headcount for several months, giving extra scrutiny to filling open positions. Print runs have also been tightened up. While gas prices have fallen in recent weeks, Reidy doesn’t expect to see the benefits from that any time soon.
Despite the improvement in the quarter, sales for the first nine months of the year were off 5%, to $612.6 million, and profits were down 14%, to $52.6 million. Reidy is hopeful that as the economy calms down a bit and the election is over, consumers will regain some confidence in their own economic situation in time to spend some money on holiday gifts. “We’ve got some great books,” she said. Among them are Flynn’s Extreme Measures, which Reidy said is the author’s fastest selling title yet, while the Man Booker winner White Tiger “has been climbing the charts” with 200,000 copies now in print. Other titles by established authors include A Most Wanted Man by John LeCarre, Stephen King’s Just After Sunset, the latest in the You series, You: Being Beautiful, and Rick Warren’s The Purpose of Christmas. A Peter Pan popup book and Olivia gift set are the top items in the children’s area. And to take advantage of the economic downturn S&S has added Don’t Get Caught with Your Skirts Down and Where to Invest Your Money Now. She is also high on an early January title, The Great Depression Ahead: How to Prosper in the Crash That Followed the Greatest Boom in History.
