Scholastic Has Lackluster First Quarter
Despite drops in first-quarter sales for the period ended August 31, Scholastic said it will meet its forecast for total 2011 sales of between $1.9 billion and $2 billion and earnings per share from continuing operations in the $1.95 to $2.20 range. First-quarter sales fell 7.8%, to $290.9 million, and the net loss increased to $35.2 million, from $23 million in the same period in 2010. Sales fell in children's books and in educational publishing.
DC Comics Stays in NYC; Digital Moves
DC Entertainment will move its digital and multimedia operations to Burbank, Calif., and keep its print publishing operations in New York City, where DC Comics has been for 75 years. DCE president Diane Nelson said to expect layoffs, rumored to be as high as 50 people.
Farley Steps Down at Macmillan Children's
Dan Farley will step down as president and publisher of Macmillan Children's Publishing Group sometime in the next few months.
Court Strikes Down Oregon Obscenity Laws
The Ninth Circuit found two Oregon statutes aimed at preventing the sex abuse of children to be unconstitutional. The statutes were found to be overly broad and, as written, could be applied to ordinary novels.
Errata: Canada Report
In our special report on Canada that is bound into today's issue, we incorrectly stated, in our "Digital Dance" story (p. 12), that a Nigella Lawson app was produced and marketed by Random UK and Random House of Canada together; Random UK produced it and Random Canada worked with Random UK to market it in Canada. Among the list of Random House Canada authors with international backgrounds appearing on the fall list, referred to in our opening article (p. 6), Arnaldur Indridason was listed as hailing from Iceland; he's from Norway. And Lisa Marten of Sweden is not on this fall's list, as stated, but her countryman, Jo Nesbø, is.