B&T Buys Blackwell North America
Baker & Taylor has acquired Blackwell Book Services North America from the U.K.—based Blackwell Inc. As part of the deal, B&T also bought Blackwell's Australia-based library supplier James Bennett, while Blackwell U.K. acquired B&T's Lindsay and Croft business in the U.K. BNA has offices in Portland, Ore,. and Blackwood, N.J., and will become part of B&T's YBP Library Services unit. The transition to the YBP platform will take about a year, and will include moving BNA's customer service and sales operation in Portland to YBP's Contoocook, N.H., offices, and transferring inventory from the New Jersey facility to B&T's Indianapolis warehouse. After the integration is completed, Blackwell's facilities will be closed.
'Kirkus' to Close
The pre-publication book review Kirkus Reviews is being closed by parent company Nielsen Media Business, along with Editor & Publisher, eliminating a total of 18 jobs. Kirkus's offices will be closed by the end of the year. It was unclear last week what will happen to the Kirkus archive of reviews, but Nielsen said it has no plans to try and save the Kirkus brand.
Wiley Up in Quarter
A 14% sales increase in its higher education segment and a 9% gain in the professional/trade category led to a 4% revenue increase at John Wiley in the second quarter ended October 31. Sales were up 3% on a currency neutral basis. Net income rose to $46.3 million, from $40.1 million. Within the professional/trade segment, sales growth was strongest in the U.S., U.K., Germany, and Australia, Wiley reported, while double-digit growth in China, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand was partially offset by declines in Hong Kong and India. The addition of the Meredith line of titles, the agreement with Graduate Management Admissions Council, Food Network TV authors, CliffsNotes and e-books, all helped to drive sales.
For the first half of the fiscal year total revenue rose slightly, to $836.3 million, from $833.6 million, and net income increased 4%, to $73.1 million.
Author Solutions, On Demand in Pact
Author Solutions has inked a deal with On Demand Books, owner of the Espresso Book Machine, to provide writers with online tools to publish, distribute, print, and market their books in retail locations via the Espresso Book Machine. As part of the agreement, Author Solutions has created and will operate Web-based self-publishing services that will be available to Espresso retailers, who can then offer the services under their own branded Web sites. Writers can use the online services from remote locations or on in-store computer monitors, and have books printed while they wait.
