TODAY'S NEWS

S&S Picks Up in Third Quarter
by Jim Milliot
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. Read on »

S&S Sets 'Secret' Follow-up
Simon & Schuster is hoping that it can conjure up its own Christmas miracle this year with the addition of a new title, The Secret Daily Teachings, a follow-up to its mega-hit by Rhonda Byrne The Secret. The Secret Daily Teachings will be shipped December 9 and S&S has announced a first printing of 750,000 copies. S&S says the 736-page book provides “365 brand new insights that build on The Secret's powerful truths, your knowledge of the law of attraction is about to expand far beyond what you can imagine. More joy, abundance, and blessings -- every single day of the year." 

Indigo Second Quarter Results Down
by Joshua Kerbel
Indigo Books & Music Inc.’s net earnings and revenue were down in the second quarter compared to last year. Revenue for the quarter was C$205.3 million ($169 million), down from C$209.2 million last year, while net earnings fell to C$3.2 million versus C$3.3 million the previous year. The decrease in net earnings is due to the company moving from non-taxable to taxable status. Indigo attributed the difficulty in growing year over year top line revenue due to the success of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows last year.

On a comparable store basis, and excluding Harry Potter from last year's numbers, Indigo and Chapters superstores posted 2.0% growth, while Coles small format stores were up 7.4%. Sales from Indigo's online channel, chapters.indigo.ca, decreased 19.8% to C$21.1 million.

Kenyon Signs Six-Book Deal with SMP
by Matthew Thornton
St. Martin’s publisher Matthew Shear and senior editor Monique Patterson have signed Sherrilyn Kenyon to a major six-book deal brokered by Merrilee Heifetz at Writers House, who sold North American rights. Per the new deal, Kenyon will write three new Dark-Hunter novels, to be published in hardcover and then mass market paperback, as well as three mass market original Dream-Hunter novels. According to Patterson, on the heels of this past August’s bestselling Acheron, these new titles will continue to “usher readers into a stunning new arc in her epic series.”

No word on pub dates for any of these titles yet; SMP still has 11 titles by the prolific Kenyon under contract that haven’t yet been published, including a new YA series called Nevermore as well as manga versions of two Dark-Hunter novels. Kenyon’s next Dark-Hunter novel, Bad Moon Rising, will come out next August, and her next Dream-Hunter novel, Dream Warrior, is due out in February.

To date, SMP has published 17 Kenyon novels, beginning with 2002’s Fantasy Lover. There are over 15 million copies of Kenyon’s books in print.

Dutton Signs Coben to New Three-Book Deal
By Lynn Andriani
Thriller writer Harlan Coben has signed a three-book deal with Dutton, his publisher for the past six years. Dutton president and publisher Brian Tart acquired North American rights from Lisa Erbach Vance of the Aaron Priest Literary Agency. Senior Editor Ben Sevier will edit, and New American Library will publish the books in paperback. The new books are slated for 2010, 2011 and 2012.

Coben’s most recent thriller, Hold Tight, debuted at the top spot on both the New York Times and London Times bestseller lists in April 2008. Coben has written 16 novels, and Dutton will publish his next, Long Lost, in April 2009. He has been with Dutton for the past six years, and has been published in more than 37 languages. Film adaptations of several of Coben’s works are in the works, with The Innocent most recently sold to Plum Pictures, and the French adaptation of Tell No One now being released in American theaters.

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Job Moves
Matt Weiland has been named senior editor at Ecco. Weiland, for the past two years, has been deputy editor of The Paris Review. Before that he was at Columbia University Press and, prior to that, The New Press and Granta magazine.

At Hyperion Marie Coolman has been named executive director of publicity. Coolman, a veteran of the industry who's worked on over 100 publicity campaigns, was most recently at Hudson Street Press and Plume.

Joe Gallagher has joined NYU Press as an e-marketing specialist. Gallagher arrives from the Massachusetts Poetry Outreach Project where he handled the website and e-marketing campaigns. Gallagher is also the founder and creator of Mushroom Cloud Press, and online company publishing short plays by and for high school students nationwide.

AUTHORS ON THE AIR

Authors on the Air: Maya Angelou; Feeding Fussy Eaters; I Don't
This morning, Maya Angelou visited Today with Letter to My Daughter (Random House, 978-1400066124, $25; RH Audio unabridged CD, $25), her first original collection of writing to be published in ten years. From PW’s review: “From the mellifluous voice of a venerable American icon comes anecdotal vignettes drawn from a compelling life and written in Angelou's erudite prose... it's also earnest and offered with warmth.” Read on »

PICTURE OF THE DAY

At the Whitings
Last night the ten winning authors of the Whiting Writers’ Award received their honor—which comes with a $50,000 prize—at a ceremony in Manhattan. The winners are pictured here, along with guest speaker Barry Lopez. Front row (l. to r): Dael Orlandersmith; Donovan Hohn; Lopez; Rick Hilles; and Julie Sheehan. Back row (l to r): Lysley Tenorio; Mischa Berlinski; Manuel Muñoz; Laleh Khadivi; Benjamin Percy and Douglas Kearney. Submit your pictures here »

JOB OF THE DAY

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