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Houghton Mifflin Cleans House at Harcourt San Diego
As part of its integration of Harcourt into the newly formed Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Trade & Reference Publishers division, staffers in the old Harcourt San Diego office were told their fates this week. The majority of staffers at the office--which Houghton said would close this summer--were not offered relocation packages to the east coast.
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Sweet Valley High: Back in Session
In 1983, Bantam published the first of Francine Pascal’s Sweet Valley High novels, starring a pair of twins: sweet, studious Elizabeth and scheming, snobby Jessica. Sales of the 156 novels in the series reached 60 million copies. Now Random House Children’s Books is introducing these teenage twins to a new generation of readers.
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Archipelago Wins Miriam Bass; AAP Indie Meeting Set
The Brooklyn-based not-for-profit literary press, Archipelago Books, has been awarded this year's Miriam Bass prize. The AAP has also announced the speaker line-up for its annual small and independent annual meeting program.
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B&N Launches How-To Site Quamut.com
Barnes & Noble announced today its launch of Quamut.com, a how-to Web site. The site offers free online guides on more than 1,000 topics, and is supported through display ads, Google AdSense ads, and the sale of PDFs and printed charts.
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Used Titles Drive Book Sales at Hastings
Used books helped to drive up same store sales at Hastings Entertainment by 2.1% in the year ended January 31. The electronics segment had the strongest gains, with music sales falling sharply again.
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Bertelsmann/Random House By the Numbers
18.76 billion: Worldwide sales for Bertelsmann, in euros ($24.4 billion), in 2007 19.30 billion: Worldwide sales for Bertelsmann, in euros, in 2006 1.84 billion: Worldwide sales for Random House, in euros ($2.39 billion), in 2007 1.95 billion: Worldwide sales for Random House, in euros, in 2006 173 million: Random House earnings before interest & taxes, in euros ($225 million), in 2007 182 ...
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Publishers Keeping An Eye on Borders
Publishers had a wide range of reactions following last week's dual announcements from Borders Group that it is considering selling the company and had also received $42.5 million in financing from Pershing Capital Management, its largest shareholder, which has also offered to buy the company's international operations for $125 million.
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Amazon Completes Audible Acquisition
Amazon has completed its $300 million purchase of Audible, making the distributor of digital audio and Amazon subsidiary.
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Random Results Off; B’mann May Sell Clubs
Citing a weak dollar and slowing consumer spending sales and earnings fell at Random House in 2007. Random chairman Peter Olson also noted that the publisher suffered from a lack of megaselling hardcovers. The news was far worse at the Direct Group where a bad performance in the U.S. (home to the former Bookspan), resulted in a 4% decline in sales and a 91% drop in earnings. Bertelsmann said it will consider selling the Direct Group.
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Just Books Up for Sale
After six years running the Old Greenwich, Conn.-based Just Books Too, the Lawton family is putting the store up for sale, along with its neighboring coffee shop, Arcadia Coffee Company.
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‘Pigeon’ Fans Want An... Answer
How high can Pigeon fly? Hyperion hopes that the arrival of the latest addition to Mo Willems’s picture book series next month will only add to Pigeon’s mischievous appeal. The new book, which boasts a 250,000-copy first printing, is currently referred to as The Pigeon Wants A...; the full title will not be revealed until the book’s April 1 pub date.
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The Lion, the Witch and the Web
In 2005, the film The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe earned more than $750 million worldwide. HarperCollins sold more than 17 million units of Narnia products during the six-month period leading up to that film’s release. Now, the publisher is launching Read It Before You See It, a digital marketing campaign that aims to bring more readers into the fold in advance of the May release of The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.
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Bestselling Chinese Series Makes U.S. Debut
Last August, HarperCollins U.K. acquired the first eight titles in Hongying Yang’s Naughty Ma Xiaotao series (there are 18 in all), which have been renamed Mo’s Mischief; this April the books will be published simultaneously in Britain and the U.S.
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A Rowling Recap
Last week Rowling and Warner Bros. issued a response to a filing by RDR Books, the Michigan publisher that plans to release Harry Potter Lexicon, based on material posted on a Harry Potter fan Web site.
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Q&A with 'Hotlanta' Authors
Children's Bookshelf spoke with Denene Millner and Mitzi Miller, co-authors of
Hotlanta (Scholastic/Point, Apr.), first in a three-book series about two affluent African-American teens, and the mystery they get embroiled in. -
B&N Sees Tough Year Ahead
Barnes & Noble said it expects same store sales to be "slightly positive" in 2008 as the country's largest bookstore chain confronts what it calls an uncertain economic environment and a competitive bookselling market. Sales for 2007 rose 2.8%.
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Rinaldi Leaving Bloomsbury for Rodale
Bloomsbury USA president and publisher Karen Rinaldi is leaving the company after nine years to join Rodale Books where she will oversee the publisher's book group with responsibility for marketing Rodale's titles across all platforms. Her departure comes about a month after Bloomsbury cut seven jobs.
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U.S. Drives Gains at Penguin
Solid sales and earnings gains at Penguin Group USA led the profit perfomance for the entire Penguin group where earnings rose 12% to $148 million. Worldwide sales were flat at about $1.69 billion. Excluding currency fluctuations, sales were up 3% and earnings 20%.
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Kate Braestrup and Joshua Ferris Win Barnes & Noble Discover Prize
Two Little, Brown authors took the top prize yesterday in Barnes & Noble’s 15th annual Discover Great New Writers Awards, which, according to B&N, "honor the works of exceptionally talented writers featured in the Barnes & Noble 'Discover Great New Writers' program during the previous year.”
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Random Buys Monacelli Press
Random House has acquired the visual arts book publisher The Monacelli Press, which will operate as a standalone imprint of Random House Inc. Founder Gianfranco Monacelli will continue to direct the press from RH's New York offices.
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