TODAY'S NEWS

Simon & Schuster Has Rough First Quarter
By Jim Milliot
For the second day in a row, one of the country’s largest publishers reported a loss for the first quarter. Late Thursday afternoon Simon & Schuster parent company CBS announced that the publishing house had an operating loss of $2.1 million compared to operating income of $14.6 million in last year’s first period. Sales declined 19.8%, to $161.7 million. On Wednesday, HarperCollins reported almost the same size drop in revenue and a $38 million loss. Read on »

Making Information Pay Conference Charts Changes Brought by Recession
By Jim Milliot
The publishing industry, along with the rest of the economy, is being dramatically transformed by the recession, speakers at BISG’s Making Information Pay conference agreed. Trends that were already occurring--moving from a mass market marketplace to a long tail market and going from an industrial-based economy to knowledge-based are accelerating because of the recession, said Leigh Watson Healy, chief analyst at Outsell. While “flat is the new up,” has become a cliché, it is today’s headline, Healy said. Most industry members interviewed by Healy have modest goals for 2009, she said. Having their company perform at par, or better than industry averages, was one objective, while earning a 10% margin is another. Publishers would like to generate revenue of $215,000 per employee and see 13% of revenue come from new products. Price increases are expected be 5% of less over the next two years. Read on »

Sterling's Leaver Down on Trade Shows, High on Digital Catalogues
By Jim Milliot
On Thursday morning’s Book Industry Study Group panel, Sterling Publishing president Marcus Leaver left no doubt that he is breaking with the traditional ways of doing business. To start, Leaver said he is taking $1 million out of his trade show and conference budget, moving some of those funds to better promote books on a title-by-title basis, mostly online. “The trade show is over,” Leaver declared. Saying he had an enjoyable but largely unproductive time at the London Book Fair, Leaver said he will not go to Frankfurt this year and will send a “scaled back” rights team. Read on »

HBG to Distribute Hachette UK Titles in Canada
Hachette continues to consolidate its North American sales operations in its U.S. division. Beginning January 1, Hachette Book Group USA will take over distribution of Hachette UK’s titles into the Canadian market. Sales will be handled by HBG in New York and fulfilled by HBG’s Indiana warehouse. Publicity and marketing for Hachette UK titles will be handled by Hachette Book Group Canada. This past January, HBG took over sales of its own titles into the Canadian market. HB Fenn will add Hachette UK titles to sell to certain accounts along with HBG books. Read on »

Little, Brown Announces Twilight Publishing Schedule
By Lynn Andriani
Little, Brown has announced the fall schedule for its Twilight Saga publishing program. In addition to a movie tie-in for New Moon, which arrives in theaters November 20, the house will publish a limited special-edition hardcover of Breaking Dawn, along with journals featuring the cover art from the entire series. Read on »

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MORE STORIES

Teicher's ABA Contract Made Public
After being named the new CEO of the American Booksellers Association last month, Oren Teicher's contract with the organization has been made public. Among the main details, Teicher, who succeeded Avin Domnitz, will make $275,000 a year, a notable dip from his predecessor, who received an annual salary of $490,000. Teicher, who signed a five-year contract with the ABA, will also be eligible for the company's employee benefit package. (The ABA has temporarily suspended SEP and 401K contributions for employees.) The organization decided to release details of Teicher's contract in an attempt at better communication with members. The size of Domnitz's salary had angered some members.

Perennial Gets Innovative With 'Love' Campaign
By Rachel Deahl
Harper Perennial, as part of a creative partnership that grew out of a multi-book deal with brand managers/gallery owners Partners & Spade, is getting innovative with a publicity campaign for its May short story collection, Love Begins in Winter. Content from the book, by Simon Van Booy, will literally be front and center at a May 20th publication party with the full text of Van Booy's short story "Tiger, Tiger" appearing on the back wall of the Partners & Spade Gallery, where a publication party is scheduled. Read on »

Monday's Reviews Today: Stephen L. Carter's Latest & A Genocide Survivor
In Stephen L. Carter's "modest" new spy thriller, Jericho, a CIA operative goes to visit her former boss, and lover, now dying of cancer. Per our review: "Fans will miss the fully realized characters and mysterious puzzles of Carter’s more complex, less predictable earlier work." Tracy Kidder, using "an anthropologist’s eye and a novelist’s pen," delivers a "strikingly vivid story" in Strength in What Remains, about a Burundian former medical student and American émigré named Deo who fled the Rwandan genocide. Reminiscent of Dave Eggers's What Is the What, Kidder's account of Deo's life is a "profoundly gripping, hopeful and crucial testament" and "work of the utmost skill, sympathy and moral clarity." Read on »

The PW Morning Report
Color E-Paper; Li’l Kim’s Prison Memoir; Students Dislike New Kindle; Michael J. Foxumentary; NPR’s Top 100 Books; Searches Pick Up Trail of Missing Poet. Read on »

AUTHORS ON THE AIR

Authors on the Air: Serious Barbecue; Elizabeth Edwards; The Many Lives of Alex Rodriguez
Today on Oprah, chef Adam Perry Lang serves up Serious Barbecue: Smoke, Char, Baste, and Brush Your Way to Great Outdoor Cooking (Hyperion, 978-1401323066, $35), which PW said “brings pork, beef, lamb and the lowly chicken to the open flame with a mix of science, anecdote and a wide array of seasonings.” Read On »

PICTURE OF THE DAY

A 'Cracker' in Savannah
Luratta Hannon, author of The Cracker Queen (Gotham), was in Savannah, Ga., on May 2 celebrating the first annual Cracker Queen Day, which took place at Blowin’ Smoke BBQ. Hannon (c.) is pictured here with her friends, Robbi Kearns (l.) and Brantley Moate.
Submit your pictures here

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