PW Daily

In This Issue: Wednesday, November 22, 2006 Past Issues
Music Slows Borders Sales
Jack Leaving 'Granta'
Reviews in the News, Interview, Authors on the Air
 
Music Slows Borders Sales
by Jim Milliot
Total revenue at Borders Group rose 1.7% in the third quarter ended October 28, to $851.6 million, and the company reported a net loss of $39.1 million in the quarter, compared to a loss of $14.1 million in last year's third period.

Although sales at its domestic superstores rose 1.8% in the period, to $583.2 million, comparable-store sales in those outlets were down 0.7%. CFO Ed Wilhelm explained that while comparable-store sales of books rose 1%, poor sales in the music category dragged down the overall comparision. And unlike Barnes & Noble, where comparable-store sales at superstores rose 2%, Borders did not see an improvement in bestseller sales in the quarter. "Bestseller sales were still down a little, although they showed some improvement in late October," Wilhelm said. Backlist titles drove the improvement in comp sales.

Sales in the Waldenbook specialty retail segment dropped 10.5%, to $123.8 million, as same-store sales fell 5% and the company closed seven locations. Wilhelm said that going forward, the company is likely to increase the pace at which it closes mall-based Walden outlets. The retailer has been closing 40 to 50 mall stores per year and had 652 outlets at the end of the third period.

International sales rose 14.9%, but sames-store sales were off 0.3%, as continued weakness in the U.K. offset gains in Asia Pacific stores.

For the fourth quarter, Borders predicted that same-store sales in its superstores will range from flat to an increase in the low single digits--the same range given by B&N. Wilhelm noted that as bestseller sales improved late last month, store traffic picked up; he is hoping that trend will continue into the fourth quarter as more big books hit shelves.

 
Jack Leaving 'Granta'
Ian Jack will step down in June as editor of Granta after 12 years on the job. Speaking about Jack's departure, publisher Sigrid Rausing said the magazine "owes a huge debt" to him, adding that she hopes he will continue to contribute to the publication. Jack, whose successor has not yet been named, explained that after editing “nearly 50 issues of the magazine, which is about the same number as my predecessor, Bill Buford, there comes a time when you recognize you can do a thing too long.”
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Review in the News
  Posner on Plagiarism
Kaavya Viswanathan. Doris Kearns Goodwin. Stephen Ambrose. The list of writers accused of plagiarism has been growing. But what is plagiarism exactly, and how should it be dealt with? Richard Posner, a judge on the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals and an expert on intellectual property, examines these issues in a timely new book that everyone in publishing would do well to read. Here is an advance look at PW's review, which will run in the November 27 issue.
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Interview
  A Conversation with Nathaniel Mackey
Nathaniel Mackey's Splay Anthem (Reviews, Apr. 3, 2006)—a sprawling sequence of experimental poems that interweaves jazz, eroticism, African spirituality and American conscience—won this year's Nation Book Award for poetry. PW caught up with Mackey last week to talk about the state of poetry.
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Authors on the Air
  Assassination Memories; Relentless Buchwald; Turkey Love
James Swanson; Art Buchwald; Alex Kershaw; Chris Gardner; Jeff Cohen; Karen Page and Andrew Dorenburg; Alicia Shepard; Andrew F. Smith; Richard Bausch; Charles Frazier; Jeanne Bice; Lauren Bacall; Snoop Dogg.
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Picture of the Day
  Going Mercantile
At the Mercantile Library Center for Fiction's recent awards night, Knopf editor Gary Fisketjon and author Robert Coover were both presented with honorary awards. Pictured here (l. to r.) are: Fisketjon; Noreeen Tomassi, director of Center for Fiction; and Robert Coover.
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