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Levitz Steps Down at DC; Nelson to Head Revamped DC Entertainment
Paul Levitz will step down as president and publisher of DC Comics, which in turn will be reorganized and renamed DC Entertainment. Diane Nelson, formerly president of Warner Premier, Warner Bros. direct-to-DVD unit, will take over as president of DC Entertainment.
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Blu Sky Media Shutting Down
Small press distributor Blu Sky Media Group is going out of business, but has reached an agreement with its bank that gives clients 120 days to find a new home. Blu Sky was the distributor of the self-published hit, The Lace Reader.
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Patterson Signs 17-Book Deal with Hachette
James Patterson has signed a new 17-book deal with Hachette that will include 11 adult novels and six young adult works, in a deal extending through 2012.
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Tyrus Books Brings Star Power to Literacy Efforts
Tyrus Books is teaming up with actor Morgan Freeman for several publishing-related events aimed to improve literacy in the Mississippi Delta.
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Disney Buys Marvel
Disney's $4 billion acquisition of Marvel spurred a flurry of Internet jokes—X-Men: Mutant High School Musical, among them—but jokes aside, this is a union of two publishing and licensing powerhouses. Disney is the world's biggest licensing company, with more than $30 billion a year in licensing revenue.
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A New Look For Vintage Contemporaries
Vintage Contemporaries' cover designs tend to stay with readers: think The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time's red and black minimalism; Empire Falls's vintage movie poster feel; Motherless Brooklyn's black and white grittiness. As the imprint celebrates its 25th anniversary this fall, it is unveiling a spate of new covers for some of its most iconic books by renowned book designer ...
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IPS Adds VeloPress
Boulder, Colo.-based sports publisher VeloPress is the latest house to sign with four-and-a-half year old Ingram Publisher Services (IPS), which will handle both trade sales and fulfillment.
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Skyhorse Ups Printing of Favre Book
Brett Favre's much-covered indecision about leaving the gridiron might prove an unexpected boon for Skyhorse Publishing.
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Breaking Down Disney's Acquisition of Marvel
Can a mouse and a spider make lots of money together? We'll soon find out. The entertainment world was rocked Monday morning by the news that Disney plans to buy Marvel Entertainment for a cool $4 billion. Even the Kingpin would say that's a lot of dough.
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Disney to Acquire Marvel Comics for $4 Billion
In a blockbuster deal that brings together two of the biggest brands in American film, animation and comic books, the Walt Disney Co. has agreed to acquire Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion in cash and stock.
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Random House Down in First Half of 2009
Random House reported that profits are down for the first half of 2009, in its results issued this morning. With revenue sinking largely due to the U.S. division, the publishing unit was boosted by a strong summer, but, ultimately, held down by the tumbling economy.
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Borders Leads Chains Downward
After falling 6.7% in the first quarter, total sales at the nation's three largest bookstore chains fell 7.5% in the second period and were down 7.3% for the first six months of 2009 ended August 1. The decline was driven primarily by the weak performance of Borders, where revenue fell 17.7% in the second quarter.
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Kindle Market Share on the Rise
Desktop and laptop computers were the preferred way for the public to read e-books through the first seven months of 2009, but their market share has been giving way to a host of new devices, according to the latest research from Bowker's PubTrack Consumer service. Of e-book downloads through July, 40% were made to computers, down from 48% at the end of the first quarter.
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Thinking Outside The Bookstore Box
A new breed of booksellers, many of whom got their start in the B2B world, are finding success by altering the traditional independent bookselling model. They retain a commitment to independent bookselling and frequently belong to both their regional booksellers' association and ABA—and they influence the bestsellers by reporting their sales to the New York Times.
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Soapbox: Small Matters
When I left my longstanding, secure executive editor job at DK Publishing, just three months after giving birth to twins, to become U.S. publisher (and the only U.S. employee) for Kyle Books, it might have seemed like a risky move. But just over four months later, DK is laying off more than 100 people and reducing its list by 20% from the 250 titles it currently produces—and I've just acq...
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BBC Audiobooks for Sale
BBC is looking to sell a majority stake in BBC Audiobooks with a sale hoped to be completed by early 2010.
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Leo Lionni’s First Book Turns 50
Five decades ago, graphic artist Leo Lionni was riding on a train with his two young grandchildren. When their behavior turned from angelic to devilish, Lionni took a copy of Life magazine out of his briefcase and ripped out a page featuring a blue, yellow and green design. After tearing the page into small pieces, he used them to tell a story to entertain the rambunctious youngsters. That story became Little Blue and Little Yellow, Lionni’s first picture book...
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Court Denies Amazon's Motion to Dismiss BookLocker Antitrust Lawsuit
Independent print-on-demand publisher and bookseller BookLocker said yesterday a court has denied Amazon’s motion to dismiss the antitrust lawsuit that BookLocker filed against Amazon, meaning that BookLocker can proceed with its case.
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Haights Cross Tries Another Debt Restructuring; Operating Units Unaffected
Haights Cross is working with lenders to restruturing its debt after an exchange offering was called off. The refinancing is not expected to affect Haights' Recorded Books and Triumph Learning divisions.
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Sales Down, Loss Up in “Transitional” Quarter at Borders
With Borders implementing a number of changes to its store layout, revenue fell 17.7% in the second quarter with comp sales at its superstores off 17.4%. Excluding multimedia, comps were down 13%. Borders expects sales to do better in the second half.
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