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News Shorts Staff -- 8/21/00 Authors Sue Database Firms on Use | Harper Breaks the Billion Mark B&N Sales Rise, Gain Turns to Loss | Amazon Partner Folds Britannica.com Buys Israeli Unit | BAM: Sales Up, But Has Net Loss Yale Press to Launch Softcover Imprint | Kensington Launching Black-Interest Imprint PubEasy, SubrightsTeam Up | Guarnaschelli To Norton | Nawotka Joins 'PW Daily' Authors Sue Database Firms on UseThe Authors Guild has filed a lawsuit against five major companies that offer electronic databases, alleging that freelance articles by thousands of authors have been used without their permission over a period of more than 20 years. The suit was filed in federal district court in New York against Reed Elsevier, which publishes Lexis/Nexis; Dialog; Dow Jones Reuters Interactive; Bell & Howell, which publishes Proquest; and Thomson Corp., which publishes Westlaw. It was brought by Letty Cottin Pogrebin, president of the Guild, along with fellow authors James Gleick, Andrea Dworkin, Tom Dunkel, Marie Winn, Ronald Hayman and Robert Lacey. The plaintiffs are seeking class action status, on behalf of thousands of writers whose work, they claim, has been published on the databases without any compensation to the authors. "Without our permission, and without paying us, these databases are offering consumers electronic access to our work and making millions from it," said Pogrebin. "Since appeals to publishers' sense of fairness have fallen on deaf ears, we have no choice but to seek justice from the databases and economic redress in the courts." There was no immediate comment from the defendants. Meanwhile, a group of freelance writers, including the estate of Jessica Mitford, filed a similar suit in federal court in San Francisco demanding to be paid royalties for use of their material in databases. Two of the defendants were shared with the New York case: Bell & Howell, this time its Information & Learning unit; and Thomson, along with Gale Group and Thomson Business Information; the third defendant was Northern Light Technology Corp. These plaintiffs, including author Gerald Posner, California-based magazine writers Jay Feldman and Michael Castleman and the Mitford estate, are also seeking class action status. --John F. Baker Harper Breaks the Billion MarkA delighted Jane Friedman, HarperCollins president, hailed year-end results that showed the book publishing segment of News Corp. breaking the billion-dollar mark for the first time--along with fourth-quarter results that showed revenues up 29% and operating profit 17% over the prior year, to $218 million and $7 million, respectively. The fiscal year ending June 30 showed revenues up 35% over fiscal 1999, to $1.03 billion, and profits up 85%, to $89 million. "I'm very happy," Friedman told PW from the company sales conference. "I promised the reps last year that we'd be a billion-dollar company." She said the results had been very good "across the board," with all divisions reporting improvement, often very strong improvement. General books, for instance, were up 65% in revenue and 208% in profit during the year; children's, 56% and 91%, respectively: Zondervan, 19% and 30%; and even Harper UK, operating in a "fickle market," and without a CEO for a good part of the year, had achieved 7% revenue growth and 6% in profits. Canada and Australia had also done well, and a "wonderful year" had been aided by the rapid integration of Avon and Morrow into Harper, a move that had also improved results. Harper placed 57 titles on the bestseller lists and had three highly successful Oprah choices in Vinegar Hill, Daughter of Fortune and ThePoisonwood Bible. "We've really been publishing very well--and fiscally responsibly," Friedman said. --John F. Baker B&N Sales Rise, Gain Turns to LossHurt by a $17.9 million "equity in net loss of Barnes&Noble.com," Barnes & Noble Inc., which owns 40% of the online retailer, had a net loss of $8.6 million on sales of $924 million in the second quarter ended July 29. In the same period a year ago, the company had a net profit of $23.5 million. The company was also hurt by net interest expenses of $13.3 million, compared to $5.0 million a year ago. B&N's equity in net loss of B&N.com in the second quarter of 1999 was $6.5 million. Sales for the company as a whole rose 27.1%, from $727 million in the second quarter of 1999, aided by the addition of Babbage's Etc. and Funco, which form the company's video game and entertainment division. The news from traditional bookstores was good, where the company cited strong sales "across all categories," particularly in children's books and bargain books. "The unprecedented success of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," which sold more than 500,000 copies in B&N stores, was especially important. Including B. Dalton, bookstore sales rose 9.6%, to $797 million, from $727 million, while superstore sales rose 12.6% to $713.5 million, representing 90% of the company's bookstore sales. Sales at superstores open at least a year jumped 6.6%. --Staff
Amazon Partner FoldsAmazon's partnering strategy took a bit of a tumble this week when its furniture partner, Living.com, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation. Amazon.com's partnering strategy is to buy stakes in other Internet retailers, promote their sites on its site, get positive cash flow in the form of fees or other sometimes huge payments, and hope for some equity appreciation. Other such partners include Audible.com, Greenlight.com and drugstore.com. Based in Austin, Tex., Living.com was formed in July 1999. Only last May Amazon bought an 18% stake in the company--and received a $145- million payment from the struggling furniture retailer, a payment that was cited by some sources as one of the financial burdens that helped sink the company. Soon thereafter, Living.com let go 13% of its employees in an attempt to cut costs. When it closed this week, the company had 275 employees. According to Morningstar.com, Amazon has lost more than $100 million in the last quarter from its equity investees. --John Mutter Britannica.com Buys Israeli UnitLooking to add content, software capabilities and distance-learning expertise to its planned online-learning Web site, Britannica.com, the Internet unit of the noted encyclopedia and information service, has acquired the Centre for Educational Technology Holdings, a subsidiary of the Israel-based Centre for Educational Technology, for an undisclosed stake in Britannica.com. CET (www.cet.co.il) produces digital, multilingual, self-learning titles, software and distance-learning Web platforms for grades K-12 and is one of the largest publishers of textbooks in Israel. CETH will become a part of Britannica Education, a division of Britannica.com. A spokesperson for Britannica.com said the unit will become the "research and development" arm of BritannicaSchool.com, an educational Web site aimed at grades 9-12 slated to launch in September. The acquisition of CETH is expected to enable BritannicaSchool.com to quickly create distance-learning platforms, self-learning software products and services for the k-8 market. Don Yannas, CEO of Britannica.com, said the acquisition "enhances our educational division and accelerates what we can accomplish in both the short and long term. The alliance with CETH will allow us to expand our proficiency and extend our global reach." --Staff BAM: Sales Up, But Has Net LossAided by a big boost in sales of Harry Potter books and "a number of key book categories," Books-A-Million's net sales in the second quarter ended July 29 rose 4.2%, to $93.6 million, from $89.9 million in the same period a year ago. The net loss was $568,000, compared to a net income of $19,000 in the second quarter of 1999. Sales at stores open more than a year rose just 1.2% in the quarter. For the six months ended July 29, net sales rose 6.7%, to $186.7 million, from $175.0 million in the same period last year. The net loss was $97,000, compared to net income of $329,000 in the first six months of 1999. In the first half of this year, comparable store sales rose 3.6%, indicating that sales gains were higher in the first part of the period than in the latter. The company noted that comparisons from quarter to quarter suffered in part because Pokemon was so hot last fiscal year. But Harry Potter apparently worked magic and helped avoid a decline. Clyde B. Anderson, chairman and CEO, noted that among other strong-selling book categories were "business and computers, children's and our Testament Shoppe, fueled by the release of the seventh title in the Left Behind series." Books-A-Million has 182 stores, mostly in the South, as well as a Web site, www.Booksamillion.com; two wholesalers; and NetCentral, an Internet development and service company. --John Mutter Yale Press to Launch Softcover ImprintYale University Press is launching a general-interest trade paperback imprint in September to be called Nota Bene. The inaugural list includes a new translation by Danuta Borchardt of Witold Gombrowicz's novel Ferdydurke, with a new foreword by Susan Sontag; Paul Tillich's The Courage to Be, with a new introduction by Peter J. Gomes; and The Yale Dictionary of Art and Artists, a paperback original by Erika Langmuir and Norbert Lynton. YUP publicity director Alison Pratt told PW, "There are some classics on our list that were appropriate for every bookstore. We've always done paperbacks, but they didn't look like trade paperbacks." The NB books, which are intended to compete head-on with trade paperbacks from large trade houses, will be issued in uniform 5 x 8 formats with flexible soft covers. Pratt noted that NB provides a way for the 92-year-old press, which publishes 230 new titles a year, to mine its backlist and reissue books like Martin Heidegger's Introduction to Metaphysics or a second edition of Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar's The Madwoman in the Attic. Publishing director Tina C. Weiner calls the series of 15 to 20 trade paperbacks a season "a select list within our list." NB will include paperback originals and backlist titles as well as reprints from trade houses in history, religion, current affairs, science, reference, biography and occasionally fiction. "NB is a response to the marketplace," said Weiner. "Bookstores have been very positive." --Judith Rosen Kensington Launching Black-Interest ImprintKensington Publishing will launch Dafina Books, a new line of fiction and nonfiction titles aimed at an African-American audience, in September. Kensington's executive editor, Karen Thomas, created and will oversee the imprint that will publish 12 titles annually in all formats--hardcover, trade paper and mass market paper--on topics from general fiction to mysteries, alternative health and inspirational works. The debut list includes Lookin' for Luv, original fiction by Carl Weber; Souls of My Sisters: Black Women Break Their Silence, Tell Their Stories and Heal Their Spirit by Dawn Marie Daniels and Candace Sandy; and Like a Natural Woman: The Black Women's Guide to Alternative Healing by Ziba Kashef. In a statement, Thomas noted that Dafina gives Kensington "the opportunity to encompass [its African-American interest titles] under one imprint." In 1998, Kensington sold its Arabesque line of African-American romance novels to BET Holdings (News, June 29, 1998). However, Kensington continues to represent Arabesque to the trade, carry the line in its catalogue and provide editorial consultation. --Diane Patrick
PubEasy, SubrightsTeam UpPubEasy.com, an online inquiry and book-ordering service to the book trade, and Subrights.com, an online rights marketplace, have formed a strategic alliance. The alliance will deliver information to their clients about the online services that both firms offer. The agreement will place links between the two Web sites, allowing PubEasy.com's clients easy access to Subrights.com's online rights marketplace. It will in turn provide Subrights.com clients an easy link to the network of booksellers and publishers that use PubEasy.com's services. The two online vendors will announce other aspects of the alliance in the future. J l Fishman, CEO of Subrights.com, said the alliance "gives us a chance to inform our community of the unequaled opportunity for business-to-business efficiency that today's Internet environment provides." --Staff Guarnaschelli To NortonMaria Guarnaschelli, for more than 20 years one of the premier cookbook editors, is moving to W.W. Norton at the end of the month as a v-p and senior editor in the trade department. Guarnaschelli was most recently at Scribner, where she was also a v-p and senior editor, and oversaw the updating of the bestselling Joy of Cooking. In 17 years at William Morrow, Guarnaschelli published, among other books, Steven Pinker's The Language Instinct and Deborah Tannen's bestselling You Just Don't Understand, as well as such noted cookbooks as The Cake Bible and The Splendid Table. --Staff Nawotka Joins 'PW Daily'Edward Nawotka has joined Publishers Weekly as associate editor of PW Daily for Booksellers. He comes to PW from Zipidee.com, an online bookstore, where he managed the European books division. His previous experience includes five years as a business journalist and two years with Doubleday Book Shops. He has an M.F.A from Columbia University and an M.A. from University College, Dublin. He can be reached at enawotka@cahners.com. --Staff | |||||
News Shorts
Aug 21, 2000
A version of this article appeared in the 08/21/2000 issue of Publishers Weekly under the headline:
