Sales, Earnings Fall at Simon &Schuster
Jim Milliot &Calvin Reid -- 5/1/00
Revenues at Simon & Schuster fell 8%, to $112.8 million, for the first quarter ended March 31, 2000, and the company reported a net loss of $7 million, compared to net income of $1.3 million in the first period of 1999.
S&S president Jack Romanos said he wasn't surprised by the results. "We had a very strong first quarter last year that made for unfavorable comparisons," Romanos told PW. Comparisons were particularly difficult at Pocket Books, which had two Stephen King titles and an Oprah selection in last year's opening quarter. The results also reflect a decline in revenue from S&S's interactive division, where several products scheduled to be shipped in the first quarter will not be released until the current quarter. Romanos said he remains optimistic that S&S will have a good year. "Our publishing schedule is more balanced this year," Romanos said, noting that the strongest part of the S&S list "will kick in later in the year."
Web Promo for MacLaine
Elsewhere at S&S, Pocket will jump-start the publication of Shirley MacLaine's new book, The Camino: A Journey of the Spirit, with a series of daily live streaming Web casts and live online chat sessions supported by a network of links to online retailers and subject-related Web sites. Adam Rothberg, v-p, corporate communications, at S&S, told PW that the campaign is probably the most elaborate online promotional event the publisher has ever done. Traditional print and broadcast media events won't begin until weeks later.
Beginning May 1, MacLaine, spiritual author and Oscar-winning actress, will conduct a series of live interviews using streaming video via some of the Web's most heavily trafficked and popular sites, including msnbc.com, yahoo.com and cnn.com. The interviews will be conducted by WNYC's Leonard Lopate; each interview will be followed by a 30-minute online chat with MacLaine. Online events will continue in the days to follow, with additional interviews and chats with MacLaine scheduled on about.com, aol.com, beliefnet.com, oxygen.com, ivillage.com, webMD.com and many other sites.
Judith Curr, president and publisher of Pocket Books, said, "Readers will be able to participate in her journey and interact in a way that is simply not possible in traditional media." MacLaine added that she is "very excited about using the Web to connect with my readers instantly and without the usual buffers."
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