June Bookstore Sales Up 3.9%

Bookstore sales rose 3.9% in June 2015 over June 2014, according to estimates released by the U.S. Census Bureau. Sales hit $698 million in the month compared to $672 million last June. Bookstore sales for the first half of 2015 increased 0.2% over the first half of 2014.

Hummingbird Offers E-book Retail Option

Hummingbird Digital Media has created a turnkey program offering an app with a customized storefront that will allow booksellers and others to sell e-books and digital media directly. The HDM catalogue will offer more than 100,000 titles from big and small houses, and there’s no charge to sign on. HDM splits each sale with retailers whose cut will vary depending on whether the book is sold under agency or wholesale pricing.

Sargent Rises In Holtzbrinck Reorg

Macmillan CEO John Sargent will take on more responsibilities at the Holtzbrinck Publishing Group. He has been named executive v-p of Holtzbrinck overseeing the company’s higher education publishing. Sargent will continue to oversee global trade publishing and will report to HP Group CEO Stefan van Holtzbrinck.

Family Christian Sale Approved

U.S. bankruptcy judge John Gregg approved the sale of Family Christian Stores to FC Acquisition for between $52.4 million and $55.7 million. The country’s largest Christian retail chain will remain open after creditors voted overwhelmingly to approve the sale.

Publishers Sue Textbook Reseller

Cengage Learning, McGraw-Hill, and Pearson Education have filed a copyright and trademark infringement suit against a U.S.-based textbook reseller for allegedly importing and selling pirated foreign editions of popular textbooks. Filed in Massachusetts Federal Court, the suit accuses a trio of textbook arbitragers, operating under the name Information Recyclers, with selling counterfeit copies of the publisher’s works.

Quarto “On Track” in First Half 2015

Despite a rise in revenue from $65.6 million in the first half of 2014 to $66.2 million in the first six months of the current year, the U.K.-based Quarto Group’s pretax loss increased to $1.9 million, from $600,000. However, Quarto CEO Marcus Leaver said he was pleased and expected sales and earnings to grow in the second half of the year while the company also reduces its debt. Sales at Quarto Publishing Group USA rose slightly, from $27 million to $27.2 million in the first half of 2015, though profits dipped to $1.8 million from $2 million.