Publishers Lunch
A large number of Hachette Book Group print
books are not available directly from Amazon.com in timely fashion, showing as
shipping in anywhere from 2 to 5 weeks, even though the same titles are readily
in stock at other booksellers. The NYT takes
note of the unusual situation and elicits a response from HBG spokesperson
Sophie Cottrell, who says Amazon is doing this "for reasons of their
own." Cottrell provided us with the company's full statement, which
we posted last night at PublishersMarketplace -- and our full story in today's
Lunch Deluxe contains extensive details and background you won't find anywhere
else.
After a year of record profits, Simon &
Schuster continued to maintain strong margins, even with declining sales, in
the first quarter of 2014. Sales fell 11 percent to $153 million (down $18
million), but OIBDA was up 8 percent (or $1 million) to $13 million.
Parent company CBS said that sales a year
ago had "benefited from the continued success of fourth quarter 2012
releases," though even in that quarter sales were down 3 percent from the
first quarter of 2012. As CEO Carolyn Reidy told us plainly, "we didn't
have as many strong books as we did the last quarter," including fewer
movie tie-ins. The softness was spread evenly across the company, as "all
of our imprints and groups shared in the same lack of strong titles in the first
quarter." Profits gained because "lower revenues were more than
offset by a decrease in operating expenses" -- including the lower
marketing, royalty and returns costs that go along with lower sales.
At the same time, however,
Reidy noted "we're gearing up for a quite different picture in the second
quarter." Anthony Doerr's All the Light We Cannot See, already receiving
considerable praise, is "one of those books that make a career,"
Reidy said, and they are "working to make that a year-long bestseller from
now to the end of the year." Hillary Clinton's Hard Choices publishes June 10, with
details on her extensive promotional plans still being finalized, and other big
titles coming that month include Mr.
Mercedes by Stephen King.
HarperCollins reported their fiscal third
quarter, ending March 31, with sales rising 14 percent to $354 million and
EBITDA gaining even more, nearly doubling to $53 million (compared to sales of
$311 million and EBITDA of $29 million a year ago). As noted in the
previous quarter, the company cited "the higher contribution to profits
from ebooks and ongoing operational efficiencies coupled with higher
revenues" for the strong earnings.
Veronica Roth's Divergent series
continued to bolster sales, accounting for 8 million net units for the
quarter. eBook revenues represented 26 percent of overall sales for the
quarter, up 46 percent from a year ago (when ebook sales were 21 percent of
quarterly revenues). While the Roth books accounted for some of the ebook
gains, ceo Brian Murray noted with some surprise that "we have been seeing
growth [in ebooks] while the market is flat."
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