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  • A Down Year for Random House

    by Jim Milliot | 03/30/2009 @ 06:00AM

    With operating EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) falling significantly faster than sales last year, Random House's return on sales was 8.0% in 2008, the lowest since 2004, when the return rate was 7.8%. Moreover, the 137 million euros in operating EBIT is before special items of 50 million euros associated with restructuring, severance and other allowances taken by parent company Bertel...

  • Jordan Fenn: Canadian Publisher Does Things Differently

    by Lynn Andriani | 03/30/2009 @ 06:00AM

    While many heads of publishing houses have worked their way up through editorial, Jordan Fenn started out as a sales rep for H.B. Fenn and Company, the Toronto publishing company his father, Harold B. Fenn, started in 1982 (actually, Jordan's very first job was sweeping the warehouse floors). Fenn, now publisher of Key Porter Books and Fenn Publishing and v-p of H.

  • HarperCollins to Use Electronic Catalogue for Fall Books

    by Jim Milliot | 03/30/2009 @ 06:00AM

    With its announcement last week that it is moving from print to digital catalogues beginning with its fall list, HarperCollins became the first major trade house to abandon print catalogues in favor of electronic versions, but other publishers are certain to make the move as well. Ten publishers just finished participating in a beta test of Edelweiss, an interactive catalogue created by John Ru...

  • The JIST of It: Jobs: Career Advice Publisher Flourishing

    by Claire Kirch | 03/23/2009 @ 06:00AM

    Talk about silver linings. For one small Midwestern publisher, the deepening recession, and the federal response to it, has breathed new life into the press's bread-and-butter titles on career advice. If a country is in need of a major stimulus package, it surely bodes well for the publisher with a book about jobs in that package—particularly a publisher whose acronym stands for Job Infor...

  • B&N Digital Initiatives Coming, Riggio Promises

    | 03/19/2009 @ 03:30PM

    Barnes & Noble has a broad range of digital initiatives in development, CEO Steve Riggio said, though he declined to reveal when any new services maybe rolled out.

  • Harlequin Books Hits 60

    by Lynn Andriani | 03/16/2009 @ 06:00AM

    This year marks romance publisher Harlequin's 60th anniversary, and despite the economy, the house has reason to celebrate. Financially, it just posted a solid year, with revenue rising 2.2%, to C$472.9 million ($379 million), and operating profit increasing 11.2%, to C$67.4 million. Culturally, the house has represented women's fiction so strongly over the years that its book jackets are going...

  • Amazon Expands Worldwide Presence

    | 03/16/2009 @ 06:00AM

    The attention Amazon's digital initiatives have received has overshadowed to some extent the growing global reach of the e-tailer. In 2008, Amazon's international sales rose 33%, to $8.9 billion, and accounted for 47% of its total revenue, compared to 45% in 2007. The company shipped products to more than 200 countries last year.

  • Earnings Up at Hachette

    | 03/12/2009 @ 02:32PM

    Strong profit growth in the U.S. helped boost overall earnings at Hachette.

  • Sale of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Trade Moving Ahead

    by Jim Milliot & Judith Rosen | 03/12/2009 @ 01:30PM

    Sources say four bidders remain interested in acquiring the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt trade and reference group.

  • Carmichael’s Wins Bookseller of the Year; Benton Rep Winner

    | 03/11/2009 @ 02:22PM

    Carmichael’s Bookstore has been voted PW’s Bookseller of the Year, while Tom Benton has taken the award as Rep of the Year. Carmichael’s finished first in a close race with several other nominees, while Benton had a more comfortable edge.

  • Currency Issues, U.S. Economy Result in Down Quarter at Wiley

    by Jim Milliot | 03/09/2009 @ 09:39PM

    The “unprecedented” impact of foreign exchange had a dramatic negative impact of John Wiley’s results for the third quarter ended January 31. Revenue for the company fell 13% on a reported basis, and declined 2% without the affect from currency translations. Operating income fell 7%, to $63.3 million, on a reported based.

  • Merkh Joining Simon and Schuster's Howard Books

    | 03/09/2009 @ 04:14PM

    The former Nelson senior v-p Jonathan Merkh has been named to head Simon and Schuster's Howard Books imprint.

  • The Kindle for iPhone: Good App with Flaws

    By Jonathan Segura | 03/09/2009 @ 02:49PM

    A few days after Amazon released its Kindle for iPhone app, it became the top book-related download, nudging out the Stanza and Fictionwise eReader applications.

  • Amazon.com Stock Gets Upgrade

    | 03/09/2009 @ 01:34PM

    Piper Jaffray upgraded Amazon's stock from neutral to buy.

  • Crown Publishing's Good Causes

    | 03/09/2009 @ 06:00AM

    The book industry may be struggling, but Crown and Three Rivers recently concluded four deals with charitable or human rights agendas. Three Rivers editor Brett Valley has acquired two books by John Prendergast, coauthor (with actor Don Cheadle) of Not On Our Watch. The first, Making Good: How to End Genocide, Femicide and Child Slavery, is a call to arms to stop atrocities in Africa and beyond...

  • Amazon's Kindle 2: Still Cool, Even Easier

    By Calvin Reid | 03/09/2009 @ 06:00AM

    Since I also reviewed the original Kindle, I'm afraid this review may sound like I copied my old one (Nov. 29, 2007). The Kindle 2, Amazon's upgrade of its original wireless handheld reading device, is an improvement in pretty much every way over the first one—which actually worked quite well. The Kindle 2 has all of the features that made Kindle 1 such a hot device for digital reading...

  • All Units Contribute To Record 2008 At Penguin USA

    By Jim Milliot | 03/09/2009 @ 06:00AM

    As part of its record year in 2008, Penguin USA reported that 13 of its imprints had #1 New York Times bestsellers last year, and CEO David Shanks noted that the gains posted by the company were throughout the company's various divisions, including mass market paperback and trade paperback. As it is currently organized, Penguin is divided into three large groups—adult, Penguin Young Reade...

  • B&N Buys Fictionwise; Will Start e-Bookstore

    by Jim Milliot | 03/05/2009 @ 02:32PM

    Barnes & Noble has acquired the independent e-book retailer Fictionwise for $15.7 million and said it plans to open its own e-bookstore later this year.

  • A Million Kindles by Thanksgiving?

    by Jim Milliot | 03/04/2009 @ 08:26PM

    Morgan Stanley predicts that Amazon will sell a million Kindles by Thanksgiving, but the company remained tightlipped on any numbers regarding the e-book reader.

  • Amazon Joins the iPhone App Market

    | 03/04/2009 @ 03:12PM

    Amazon has become the latest company to create an application that will let consumers download books to their iPhone and iPod devices. Its new Kindle for iPhone and iPod touch software will provide access to all 240,000 e-books available for the Kindle.

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