Karp Gets Warner Imprint



Former Random House editor-in-chief Jonathan Karp has landed at Time Warner Books as publisher and editor-in-chief of Warner Twelve, an imprint that will debut in spring 2007. Karp will report to Warner Books publisher Jamie Raab, who said the new hardcover imprint fills an important niche. "I would say we're extremely successful with blockbuster fiction, and I think Jon's going to bring in a certain kind of nonfiction," Raab said.

BEA to L.A. in 2008

BookExpo America will return to the Los Angeles convention center in 2008, the site of the 2003 meeting. Before the trip to California, BEA will make stops in Washington, D.C., next year and back to New York in 2007.

MBI Buys Voyageur

MBI Publishing has acquired Voyageur Press in a deal that will add travel and nature titles to MBI's core transportation and hobby lines. Voyageur will become an imprint of MBI, and Voyageur's six distribution clients will be added to MBI's distribution roster of 25. Voyageur publishes about 40 books annually and has a backlist of 200 titles.

Wiley's '05 Acquisitions

John Wiley paid $11 million for Sybex Inc., the company said in its year-end filing. The computer book publisher had 2004 revenue of more than $10 million. The deal was completed May 31. Among other Wiley purchases in fiscal 2005, the company paid $4.6 million for the U.K. educational publisher Whurr Publishers. The rights to the life sciences reference portfolio of the Macmillan Nature Publishing Group cost approximately $4.5 million. Wiley also paid $1.7 million to acquire the global rights to publish classic investment titles from Marketplace Books.

Rush Convicted

Paul Rush, founder and former president of now-defunct audiobook retailer Earful of Books Inc., was convicted earlier this month on 17 counts of fraud and money laundering. The conviction stemmed from attempts by Rush to keep Earful of Books afloat in 2000 and 2001. As part of that effort, Rush obtained loans totaling more than $1.5 million from Texas banks using a forged signature. Related charges against him included the 2001 theft of $529,000 from a friend's family trust. Earful abruptly shut down operations in April 2002, and the company filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Sentencing is set for September 16.

Mixed Courier Third Quarter

Third-quarter sales in Courier Corp.'s publishing group, which consists of Dover Publications and Research & Education Association, fell 4%, to $9.9 million, partially offsetting a 8% increase, to $50.6 million, in the company's manufacturing segment. Total revenue was up 6%, to $58.6 million, and net income increased 13%, to $5.8 million.

An 11% decline in sales to retailers was the major factor behind the drop in publishing sales. Direct-to-consumer sales rose 13%. On the manufacturing side, sales to the education market slowed somewhat in the quarter, rising 8%, but sales were still ahead 16% for the nine months of the year. Sales to the religious market were up 8% in the quarter, but down 1% through nine months, while sales in the specialty trade segment fell 3% in the period, but were up 3% for the year to date.

Trudy in the Black

After several years of losses, children's book publisher Trudy Corp. generated earnings of $266,744 in the fiscal year ended March 31. The company had a net loss of $1.7 million in fiscal 2004. Revenue in fiscal '05 jumped 67%, to $6.3 million. The sales increase was attributed mainly to higher sales of Disney-related novelty and audio CD products. Sales were up through most distribution channels.

Norton to Donate $600,000

W.W. Norton will donate a total of $600,000 from the proceeds of its 9/11 Commission Report to three organizations that the publisher said can help carry out the report's recommendations. The Center for Catastrophe Preparedness and Response, the International Center for Enterprise Preparedness and the Paul Nitze School of Advanced International Studies will each receive $200,000. Norton sold about one million copies of the $10 trade paperback.

BAM Buyback

Books-A-Million reported last week that it will acquire 57,223 of its shares at $10 per share. The buyback is the result of a Dutch auction announced earlier this month for which Books-A-Million said it was prepared to acquire up to four million of its shares at prices ranging from $8.75 to $10. The buyback will cost BAM $572,230.