Wiley Looks to Cut $80 Million in Costs

In reporting third quarter results for the period ended January 31, John Wiley & Sons announced further plans to change its operations and cut costs by $80 million to accommodate the transition from print to digital.

Sales, Earnings Fell at Harlequin in 2012

Slowing growth in digital sales contributed to a 7.2% decline in sales at Harlequin in 2012, to C$426.5 million, while operating earnings fell 11.6%, to C$72.8 million, parent company Torstar reported Wednesday morning.

AAP Monthly Statshot, October

Industry Stocks: February Performers

Reader's Digest Files for Chapter 11

Reader’s Digest is once again restructuring its debt and in the process has filed for Chapter 11 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.

Sales Up at S&S, But Profits Dip

Simon & Schuster finished 2012 with a bump in sales to $790 million from $787 million in 2011, but operating income dipped to $80 million from $83 million due in part to costs associated with settling three e-book price fixing cases brought by the Department of Justice, 49 states plus the consumer class action.

Rowman & Littlefield Sales Up; Will Focus on R&L Branding

As part of its strategy to expand in the academic, professional and reference markets, Rowman & Littlefield will consolidate a number of its imprints under its flagship Rowman & Littlefield imprint.

Charges Lead to Loss at McGraw-Hill Education

A large write-off resulted in a $239 million loss at McGraw-Hill Education for 2012.

Higher E-book Sales Lead to Lower Revenues at Hachette Book Group

Lagardere reported that revenue for its publishing operations rose 1.9% in 2012 to 2.08 billion euros, with France turning in the strongest performance. In the U.S., sales for the full year dropped 3.4% at Hachette Book Group despite a 1.2% increase in units.

Nelson Boosts HarperCollins Again

The inclusion of Thomas Nelson in HarperCollins’s second quarter ended December 31 helped improve earnings in parent company News Corp.’s publishing segment, the conglomerate reported Wednesday.

Industry Stocks: January Performers

A disappointing holiday season was a big factor in driving down the stock price of Barnes & Noble in January as its share price fell 11.6% in the month, the largest decline of stocks on the Publishers Weekly Stock Index.

AAP Monthly StatShot, September 2012

Audiobooks and e-books had the strongest September among publishing categories with sales of audio downloads up 18.9%, while sales of physical audio rose 13.1% and adult e-book sales increased 30.6%.

Adult Trade a Bright Spot in September

September was not a particularly good month for the publishing industry with steep declines posted by the K-12 instructional materials, higher education course materials, and professional books segments only partially offset by small gains in the adult books and university press categories, according to AAP’s StatShot report.

Penguin 2012 Revenue to Be Flat; Merger Timing Uncertain

In its trading update for 2012, Pearson said it expects Penguin revenue for the last year to be about flat with 2011, excluding the impact of exchange rates.

The Children's Digital Market: Still Uncharted Territory

The growing complexity of the children's digital market was parsed by industry experts at the Publishers Launch Conference in New York on January 15, as panelists and speakers agreed that the transition from print to digital will not be a clean, easy movement and that things are still very much in the experimentation stage.

Industry Stocks Posted Big Gains In 2012

Led by a 44.9% increase in the stock price of Amazon, the Publishers Weekly Stock Index jumped 23.5% in 2012, easily beating the 7.3% gain posted by the Dow Jones Industrial Average in the year.

HarperCollins By The Numbers: December 2012

The recent story of HarperCollins in terms of sales and other figures.

HarperCollins Results Fell in Fiscal 2012

As it prepares to spin off its publishing, education and Australian broadcasting and cable assets into a separate company, News Corp. filed a proxy statement with the SEC Friday morning that showed HarperCollins with revenue of $1.19 billion in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2012, and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of $86 million. Sales were off 1% compared to fiscal 2011, while EBITDA was down 8% from $93 million.

Earnings Fell 24% at Scholastic on 10% Sales Drop

As it warned in November, sales and earnings fell at Scholastic for the second quarter ended November 30, with revenue down 10%, to $616.2 million, and net income off 24%, to $61.8 million. Sales were down in all of the publisher’s operating groups.

Vantage Press Closes

Vantage Press, one of the original ‘vanity’ publishing businesses, has closed three years after its acquisition by media investment banker David Lamb. In a letter to creditors received by PW, law firm Hendel & Collins of Springfield, Mass. writes, “Vantage does not have sufficient revenue to sustain itself as a going concern. It has, therefore, ceased all business operations.”