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AAP November Sales Report
Based on reports from the 88 companies that are part of the Association of American Publishers' sales reporting program, it looks like the educational, professional, and digital categories will finish 2010 with gains in the year, while the print trade categories will post a decline.
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NBN Cuts Seven in Sales Realignment
National Book Network has realigned it sales force with the aim of moving resources from bricks-and-mortar stores to special markets and digital delivery, NBN president Rich Freese said. As a result, seven position were eliminated. "We needed to realign to reflect the realities of the marketplace," Freese said. In addition, Gail Kump, head of new business development, is leaving the company.
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Stocks Rise Again in 2010
After plunging in 2008 and skyrocketing in 2009, the Publishers Weekly Stock Index settled down in 2010, posting a solid 14.0% gain in the year, an increase that was slightly ahead of the 11.0% increase turned in by the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
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Units Had Modest Decline in 2010
Total unit sales fell 4.5% in 2010, to 717.6 million, at the bookselling outlets tracked by Nielsen BookScan. The decline follows a 3.3% drop in 2009. While some of the decline in print sales was offset by skyrocketing e-book sales, it is unclear if e-book sales jumped enough to totally make up the 34.1 million units that were lost on the print side.
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Tyrus, Busted Flush Merger Falls Through
Benjamin LeRoy, publisher of Tyrus Books in Madison, Wis., and McKenna Jordan, owner of Murder By The Book bookstore in Houston, Tex., announced that Busted Flush Press will not merge with Tyrus after all. Busted Flush is the publisher of out-of-print hardboiled crime novels founded in 2005 by Jordan’s husband, the late David Thompson. Thompson, the assistant manager at Murder By The Book, died unexpectedly in September, the day before a contract between him and LeRoy was to be signed. -
The 2010 Decision: Bush, Larsson Tops
Although there were still a few days left in the 2010 selling season at press time, the clear winners for the year are already in: in nonfiction the unlikely combination of George Bush, Chelsea Handler, and Elizabeth Gilbert ruled Nielsen BookScan's nonfiction list, while Stieg Larsson, in a mix of hardcover, trade paperback, and mass market paperback, took five of the top 10 fiction spots.
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S&S Will Hit Profit, But Not Revenue, Targets
In a year-end letter to employees that dealt heavily with digital developments and their impact on the industry and Simon & Schuster, company CEO Carolyn Reidy thanked the publisher's worldwide staff for their efforts in helping the company achieve its profit targets, despite revenues falling below expectations.
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Scholastic Sales Up, But Not Enough
Despite higher sales and earnings, second quarter results for the period ended November 30 were below expectations at Scholastic and the publisher lowered its guidance for the full year. Scholastic chairman Dick Robinson attributed the shortfall to lower spending by school districts and lower than expected sales in its book club segment. Higher digital investments also impacted earnings.
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AAP October Sales Report
E-book sales growth slowed in October, but still easily outdistanced the growth rates in any other subject category, according to AAP's monthly sales estimates.
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Crunch Time For Borders
Borders release of its third-quarter results last Thursday confirmed the trend among the nation's largest bookstore chains—falling sales from bricks-and-mortar stores and less space devoted to books.
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Borders Sales Disappoint, Loss Soars; Liquidity Issues Arise
Borders third quarter results, released just after the market closed Thursday afternoon, provided little sign that the company is turning around as total revenue fell 17.6%, to $470.9 million and comparable store sales dropped 12.6%.
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Mixed Second Quarter for Wiley
Second quarter revenue at John Wiley for the period ended October 31 fell 1%, to $442 million, although net income increased 16%, to $53.6 million. Excluding the impact of foreign exchange, revenue was up 1%. Revenue was up in Wiley’s Higher Education segment, but down in the Professional/Trade and Scientific/Technical/Medical/Scholarly categories.
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E-Book Growth Slows, Still Up 112% in October
Facing some harder comparisons, e-book sales posted their slowest growth rates in 2010 in October. Still, sales jumped 112.4%, to $40.7 million, from the 14 publishers who reported results to the AAP's monthly sales program.
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Industry Stocks: November Performances
Following several months of gains, both the Publishers Weekly Stock Index and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell back slightly in November (although the Dow recovered all of its November losses on the first day of trading in December, rising 249 points).
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Digital the Difference at B&N
Sales trends at Barnes & Noble are taking on a familiar pattern: flat to declining print book sales at the trade stores offset in part by the sale of Nook devices, children's products, and other nonbook merchandise, and booming sales at Barnes&Noble.com led by sales of physical books and e-content.
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Results Improve at Continuum
The academic publisher Continuum, which has offices in New York and London, reported its first positive EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) in four years in for fiscal 2010 ended June 30. The publisher had EBITDA of 256,000 pounds compared to negative EBITDA of 740,000 pounds in fiscal 2009.
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Led by Printing, Courier Returns to Profitability
Led by its manufacturing business, total sales rose 3% at Courier Corp. for the fiscal year ended September 25, to $257.1 million and the company returned to profitability, posting net income of $7.1 million compared to a loss of $3.1 million in fiscal 2009. The fiscal 2009 loss included one-time charges of $20.4 million, while the fiscal 2010 results included a $4.7 million impairment charge associated with Creative Homeowner.
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Print Declines Offset Digital Gains
As e-books become a bigger part of the publishing sales mix, the key question for the book industry is whether the entire revenue pie will grow or shrink. If e-book sales merely displace sales of print books, total revenue will likely decline because of the generally lower prices of e-books. If e-books increase unit sales, however, revenue could grow.
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Langenscheidt Closing its U.S. Division
In one of the most vivid examples yet of digital's impact on traditional print businesses, the German-based Langenscheidt Publishing Group is closing Langenscheidt Publishers Inc., its U.S. division. Best known for its maps, atlases, travel guides and language reference materials, Langenscheidt has been struggling with declining sales in all areas for several years.
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E-Books Bright Spot in Bleak September
As sales in the traditional trade segments plunged in September, e-book sales jumped 158.1%, according to the monthly sales estimates released by the Association of American Publishers. Sales for the 14 publishers that reported e-book sales hit $39.9 million in the month, and were up 188.4% in the first nine months of the year to $304.6 million. In contrast, sales in the three adult trade segments all fell by more than double digits.
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