Second Quarter Sales Dip at BAM
Lower sales led to a higher net loss at Books-A-Million in the second quarter, which ended Aug. 1. Revenue dipped 0.4% over the same quarter last year, slipping to $107.9 million, while the net loss rose to $5.8 million from $3 million. Comparable store sales fell 0.3%.
July Sales Jump at EDC
July sales at Educational Development Corp. jumped 74.7% over July 2014, hitting $4.3 million. The gain follows a strong increase in first-quarter sales, which rose 34%. The increases for both the quarter and July were due to a big gain in the company’s direct-sales business. In this unit, July sales rose 126%, to $2.9 million.
Author Solutions Case Ends With Settlement
On Aug. 12, federal judge Denise Cote ordered the closely watched case against self-publishing service provider Author Solutions to be discontinued without prejudice, after being informed by the parties that a settlement has been reached, following a court-ordered conference held on Aug. 11. A settlement was not unexpected, coming just weeks after Cote dealt the plaintiff authors’ case a presumably fatal blow by denying class-action status. Terms were not disclosed.
Charges of Discrimination, Lack of Diversity Leveled Against AWP
An article on the Huffington Post by Red Hen Press founder Kate Gale attempted to combat recent charges that the Association of Writers and Writing Programs programming has lacked diversity. After her post drew widespread criticism, Gale apologized for any hurt she’d caused and emphasized that the Los Angeles literary press she cofounded has always been committed to diversity and inclusion. AWP executive director David Fenza said that nobody associated with the organization asked Gale to write the original post, or to retract it (though she did).
New HC India CEO Named
Ananth Padmanabhan, senior v-p of sales at Penguin Random House India, has been named CEO of HarperCollins India. The appointment was less than a week after HC India announced that its longtime head, P.M. Sukumar, is leaving the company.
