Bookstore Sales Up in November
Bookstore sales rose 2% in November, to $1.06 billion, according to preliminary estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. For the entire retail segment, sales were up 6.7% in November. For the first 11 months of 2005, bookstore sales were off 2.2%, to $13.83 billion.
New Publisher At Watson-Guptill
Amy Rhodes has been named publisher and general manager of Watson-Guptill Publications and its imprints, effective at the end of the month. Rhodes, most recently publisher of trade books at Rodale, succeeds Watson-Guptill publisher and general manager Bob Ferro, who retired last fall.
Glusman to Harmony
John Glusman has been named v-p and executive editor at Crown's Harmony Books imprint. Glusman stepped down as editor-in-chief of Farrar, Straus & Giroux at the end of October. At Harmony, Glusman will acquire a range of titles and report directly to v-p and publisher Shaye Areheart.
Cairns Exits Bowker
Bowker president Michael Cairns stepped down last week. Gary Aiello, executive v-p and general manager of Bowker's publishing/retail division, has assumed Cairns's duties until a permanent replacement can be found.
Allender Moving to Scholastic
David Allender, currently director of children's publishing at Workman, will join Scholastic at the end of January as v-p and editorial director of Scholastic Book Clubs, a new position. He will be in charge of guiding editorial strategy and product merchandising for a range of special clubs, and will report to Judy Newman, president of Scholastic Book Clubs and Scholastic at Home.
'Half-Blood' in Paper
Scholastic will release the paperback edition of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince on July 25. The 672-page edition, which is slated to have a retail price of $9.99, will go to press for an initial two million copies. The latest print run will bring the tally of Potter books in print in the U.S. to over 120 million.
Oprah Picks 'Night'
Even as the James Frey controversy continued to percolate, Oprah forged ahead, choosing Elie Wiesel's Nobel Prize—winning Holocaust memoir, Night,as her newest book club selection. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, which only retrieved the paperback rights to Night from Bantam at the end of the year, has shipped one million trade paperbacks along with 150,000 hardcovers of its new Marion Wiesel translation edition.
Tenet Signs With HC
Former CIA director George Tenet's memoir has gone to HarperCollins. The book, tentatively titled At the Center of the Storm, is scheduled to come out in 2006. Though Tenet was rumored to have inked a $4-million deal with Crown for his story in 2004, his lawyer Robert Barnett said that there was never an official agreement for the book at any house.
Courier Results Up
Total revenue rose 13% at Courier Corp. in the first quarter ended Dec. 24, 2005, to $57.7 million; net income increased 18%, to $4.5 million. Sales in Courier's printing operations, led by strong gains in the education market, rose 12%, to $48.2 million, while its publishing sales increased 6%, to $10.9 million. The company reiterated that it expects sales for all of fiscal 2006 to increase between 14% and 16%.
Charlesbridge Buys Lickle
Charlesbridge Publishing has acquired the publishing rights to the Lickle Publishing children's book list, including Lickle's Come Look with Me art appreciation series.
