Indigo Results Down
Indigo Books & Music revenue for the second quarter fell to C$205.3 million ($169 million), down from C$209.2 million last year, while net earnings fell to C$3.2 million (C$3.3 million the previous year). Indigo attributed the difficulty in growing year-over-year top-line revenue to the success of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows last year. On a comparable-store basis, and excluding Harry Potter, Indigo and Chapters superstores posted 2.0% growth, while Coles's small-format stores were up 7.4%. Sales from Indigo's online channel, chapters.indigo.ca, decreased 19.8% to C$21.1 million.
New Hybrid From BD&L
The New York Times: The Complete Front Pages 1851—2008, coming from Black Dog & Leventhal this month, is BD&L's latest hybrid work, combining DVD and database technology and online access to supplement the 456-page reference project. The book—which has a 75,000 first printing—offers 300 facsimile reproductions of some of the most significant front pages from the NYT, supported by three DVDs that provide the paper's remaining 54,000-plus front pages. Once readers are online, they can use the DVD to click through to the New York Times database and read complete articles.
Online Catalogues From ATL
Above the Treeline has begun a beta test for a new interactive online catalogue, in collaboration with eight houses and with the endorsement of the American Booksellers Association. The online catalogue, called Edelweiss, is designed to cut publishers' printing costs and improve the effectiveness of their sales forces, while providing booksellers with an alternative to individual paper catalogues from different publishers.
Giroux, Harvey Memorials Set
Memorials for both Dan Harvey and Robert Giroux have been set. Giroux's service, which will feature speeches and readings by various colleagues and friends, is set for Wednesday, December 10, at St. Paul's Chapel at Columbia University. Contact madeleine.asher@fsgbooks.com to attend.
Harvey's memorial is set for November 20 at 6 p.m. at the Bruno Walter Auditorium in the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center.
