September Sales Fall 4%
Bookstore sales fell 4.5% in September, to $1.49 billion, according to estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. Sales for all of retail were flat. Bookstore sales for the first nine months, helped by sales at college bookstores, were up 1.8%, to $12.53 billion.
Rival Buys Books Are Fun
Imagine Nation Books has reached an agreement to acquire certain assets of Reader's Digest's Books Are Fun subsidiary for $17.5 million, a deal that will bring two of the country's largest display marketing companies together. RD had acquired BAF from Imagine Nation founder Earl Kaplan for $380 million. The combined company expects to employ about 700 field reps.
Funke Moves To LB
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers has inked a multibook deal with bestselling author Cornelia Funke, whose previous titles have been published in the U.S. by Scholastic's Chicken House imprint. LBBYR acquired North American rights for a publishing program that will include middle-grade and young adult novels as well as a picture book. Funke's bestselling Inkheart trilogy wrapped up earlier this fall with the publication of Inkdeath. The trilogy has sold more than 2.5 million copies in the U.S. and more than 5.5 million copies worldwide.
RH's Holiday Campaign
Random House is rolling out a Web-based marketing campaign focusing on the message Books = Gifts. The promotion, open to all publishers, is aimed at getting people into bookstores and onto booksellers' Web sites. RH will post the video banners, which feature authors talking about the value of books as gifts, at all its own sites as well as on social networking sites, and is making it available to e-tailers.
Morrow, Food Network Ink Deal
William Morrow and Food Network have entered into a first-look deal to publish co-branded books by FN's talent and based on FN's shows. As part of the venture, Morrow (which will get the right of first refusal) will handle editorial, publicity, marketing, sales and distribution. Food Network will promote the books with on-air and online advertising.
Harper In Deal With 'WSJ'
HarperCollins and the Wall Street Journal are entering into a three-year publishing partnership to develop books written by the WSJ's editors and reporters. Both HC and Dow Jones & Company, which publishes the WSJ, are owned by News Corp. The paper's deal with Crown expired earlier this year.
Amazon and Penguin to Sponsor Second Award
Between February 2 and February 8, 2009, writers with an unpublished English-language novel manuscript may submit their work for the second Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award at www.amazon.com/abna. As they did last year, PW reviewers will participate in the review process. The winner will receive a publishing contract with Penguin, which includes a $25,000 advance.
PW to Debut Cookbooks E-newsletter
PW will launch Cooking the Books, a free e-newsletter, on December 1. The biweekly e-mail will feature cookbook-related news, reviews, interviews and features. It will be edited by Lynn Andriani. To sign up, go to www.publishersweekly.com/cookingthebooks.
RDR Appeals Rowling Decision
Lawyers for RDR Books have filed an appeal to the U. S. Court of Appeals regarding Judge Robert P. Patterson's ruling in J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros.'s copyright infringement suit against the publisher. In September, Judge Patterson ruled in favor of Rowling, issuing a permanent injunction against the publication of The Harry Potter Lexicon by Steven Vander Ark and awarding damages in the amount of $6,750. Rowling claimed the book's content would infringe on her Harry Potter novels.
