Powell's Lays Off 31
Citing changing consumer behavior, including a decline in new book sales, as well as rising health-care costs and a sluggish economy, Portland, Ore., indie powerhouse Powell's Books laid off 31 employees, approximately 7% of its unionized workforce.

Sales Down at Lagardère Publishing
With sales of the Twilight series falling from 45 million copies in 2009 to 11 million last year, revenue at Lagardère Publishing declined 4.8%, to 2.16 billion euros ($2.95 billion). The decline in worldwide sales slowed in the fourth quarter compared to the rest of 2010, down 4.1%, although sales in its American division, Hachette Book Group, fell 14%. For the full year, HBG posted a 138% increase in e-book sales, and e-books accounted for 8% of HBG's total revenue. E-book sales gained some traction in the U.K., accounting for 1% of sales last year.

Sales Up, Earnings Down At Indigo
Led by Kobo e-readers and other nonbook items such as gifts and toys, sales at Indigo Books & Music rose 14%, to C$387.6 million, in the third quarter ended January 1, but profits fell to C$30.2 million, from C$34.5 million. On a same-store basis, sales in the chain's superstores rose 2.6% in the quarter, but fell 0.8% in its smaller format outlets. Sales through chapters.indigo.ca were up 6.5%.

For the first nine months of the year, revenue rose 8.9%, to C$806.7 million, while earnings fell to C$23.1 million from C$34.4 million.

Bestler Gets Own Imprint
Emily Bestler, formerly Atria Books executive editorial director, has been promoted to editor-in-chief and senior v-p of Emily Bestler Books, a new Atria Books imprint that will launch in spring 2011, publishing a list of 10–15 titles in both fiction and nonfiction. Sarah Branham, formerly an editor working with Bestler at Atria, has been promoted to senior editor and will report to Peter Borland, Atria v-p and editorial director. Emily Bestler Books is also planning to hire an editor for the new imprint. The current Atria staff will handle publishing, subrights, and publicity operations for Emily Bestler Books.

Lamar Joining Holt
Jill Lamar, who has been overseeing Barnes & Noble's Discover Great New Writers program, has been named editor-in-chief of Henry Holt, succeeding Marjorie Braman. Lamar has been at B&N since 1999.