EDC Earnings Up, Sales Down

Despite a 3% decline in revenue in the fiscal year ended February 29, to $26.3 million, net earnings at Educational Development Corp. increased to $1.4 million, from $1.2 million. At the end of its fiscal year in February, EDC announced that it would no longer sell its titles through Amazon. By cutting ties with Amazon, EDC hopes its home show unit, which had 6,100 home sales reps at the end of the year, will receive a boost.

Hachette Debuts Redhook Imprint

Redhook is a new commercial fiction imprint within Hachette’s Orbit unit. Its first title will be Hawk Quest, a historical epic by Robert Lyndon, coming in April 2013. The new imprint will publish one or two titles a month in all formats (including digital-only titles) and plans to add staff.

Correction

In last week’s Deals column, Robert Tanenbaum’s Echoes of My Soul was incorrectly listed as a novel; it is a true crime book. Additionally, Kensington bought North American rights (not world rights).

Harper Goes Global

Using digital distribution and POD vendors, HarperCollins has launched a program called HarperCollins 360, which will make its English language titles—about 50,000 print and 40,000 e-books—available around the globe. Availability will be limited only by rights, not technology or geography.

Bookstore Sales Rose in April

Bookstore sales bounced back a bit in April, rising 3.8%, to $907 million, after falling 2.3% in the first quarter of 2012, according to the U.S. Census Bureau estimates. The April increase lowered the four-month decline to 1.3%, with sales of $4.84 billion in the January–April period.

Warner Acquires Alloy

Warner Bros. Television Group has reached a deal with ZelnickMedia to buy book packager Alloy Entertainment. Alloy president Les Morgenstein will stay on to direct the company. AE packages about 25 books a year aimed primarily at 10–29-year-old females and a number of its series have been made into television series and movies by Warner.

McIntosh Named COO

At RH

Madeline McIntosh has been promoted to chief operating officer of Random House effective immediately. McIntosh rejoined RH from Amazon in 2009 and has been president, sales, operations and digital, responsible for RH’s digital and print sales, operations among other duties.