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Small Press Center
NEW YORK, NY, 3/30/98--Lloyd Jassin, member of the board of the Small Press Center in New York, City told Authorlink! that the sale of Random House to German media conglomerate, Bertelsmann AG (and its subsequent merger with Bantam Doubleday Dell) will be a positive move for small publishers. "Until now, large publishers had a choke-hold on US book distribution. With this merger, that will no longer be true, " said Jassin, an attorney specializing in copyright law for publishers and writers. "We see the dawn of a new age of opportunity for smaller voices to get into the marketplace. The merger is positive for small publishers precicely because-- as one publisher put it-- 'size doesn't matter'. The digital age, with online book stores and more efficient distribution, will become a great equalizer in publishing," Jassin said. Karin Taylor, Executive Director of the Small Press Center, agreed. "As the remaining seven multinational conglomerates try to devour each other, they'll become more circumspect about what they publish, and probably even more bottom-line oriented than they are today." "So, it's an exciting time for the 900 small publishers we represent," Taylor said. "In many people's eyes we were the poor cousins. But that's changing. While our budgets are much smaller than big houses, we offer authors the opportunity to develop a longterm relationship with a publisher. At a small house, authors have more time to prove themselves, instead of being dropped after two weeks on the shelf." Small press distributors have become stronger and more sophsiticated, Taylor noted. The Internet has leveled the playing feild for everyone. "When a reader searches by keyword for a certain subject on a bookseller's, site all the books relating to that topic appear. It makes little difference to the reader who published it. On the net, everyone can compete equally." Lloyd Jassin admitted that the merger will be bad for authors in one way. "Advances will get smaller, but they're already shrinking as the midlist gets tighter," he said. "As small presses become stronger, however, there will also be more outlets where good writers can become published. Taylor added that while large houses are becoming more narrow in the range of titles they publish, "small publishers are now going after every topic under the sun." Earlier this month, Bertelsmann annoucned it will acquire America's biggest consumer group publisher, Random House and merge it with Bantam Doubleday Dell by mid-1998. The merged company, to operate as Random House, will become the largest trade publishing company in the world, with annual revenues of about $1.2 billion. Bertelsmann's sales totaled $14 billion last year. The conglomerate embraces 571 companies in more than 50 countries. The BDD/RH deal is subject to approval by government regualtors.
DK Shuffles
NEW YORK, NY, 3/98—DK Publishing, Inc. the US arm of Dorling Kindersley Holdings, plc in the UK, has named new publishers and editorial directors for both the adult and children’s divisions. The move is designed to release more titles appealing specifically to US audiences. Restructuring comes as DK continues to search for a new CEO to replace Kristina Peterson who left the company. Chuck Lang has been named vice president and publisher for DK Adult Books. He also will continue to serve as marketing director, a post he has held for five years. Jeannete Mall will serve as vice president and editorial director. Neal Porter will serve as vice president and publisher of DK Children’s Books, DK Ink, and the mass merchandising unit. Reg Kahney is the new children’s group editorial director With the founding of DK Ink last year, the children's group has become more aggressive in publishing original material. Among spring releases will be a new series of Eyewitness Readers. (Also see DK financial results for the first six months of the year ended December 31, 1997.)
Intervisual Books
3/24/98—Intervisual Books Inc. (IBI) (NASDAQ:IVBK), leading designer and producer of paper-based pop-up and interactive books and games for children and adults, will acquire The Hunt Creative Group (THCG), subject to stockholder approval and a fairness report. IBI will gain all outstanding THCG stock in exchange for shares of IBI stock. THCG was established in 1994 by Waldo Hunt, IBI's founder and chairman, as a product development company focused on creating innovative book products to expand IBI's product base and increase sales. Under a 1994 agreement between the two companies, IBI partly financed THCG’s product development and THCG earned royalties on sales. By late 1997 THCG had become a major supplier of products to IBI, creating 12 new lines, many of which were released in 1996 and 1997. Sales by IBI of THCG products now total more than $4 million and include such best-selling titles as CHOO-CHOO CHARLIE playset and the RAZZLE DAZZLE foil board books. About $1.5 million in products are scheduled for shipment in 1998. Norman Sheinman, the company's president and chief operating officer, said: "The products produced from concepts created by The Hunt Creative Group have become a significant portion of new sales. This merger will allow us to retain cash that would have been paid in royalties and provides a reasonable return for THCG's creative ingenuity and capital investment." Two new executives have been added to the IBI creative and marketing staffs. Lynette Ruschak joins IBI as director of Creative Services, after having co-founded White Heat Ltd., a children’s book packager. Marcia Gaylor will join IBI April 1 as director of the International Promotions Division. Until recently she served as marketing director of Intervisual Communications Inc. (ICI), formerly the commercial advertising division of IBI. Prior to joining ICI in 1988, Gaylor founded, successfully operated and eventually sold a Chicago-based specialty billboard company Since 1975, IBI has produced and sold more than 1,200 book titles and other products with a retail value of more than $1 billion.
Disney Licenses
NEW YORK,NY 3/24/98—The Walt Disney Co. has granted Kideo Productions Inc., a leading developer and marketer of digitally personalized media products, the rights to manufacture and market a series of photo-personalized books based on Disney characters. Kideo's first book in the series will be released in the Spring, 1998, and will incorporate characters from Disney's popular animated feature, "The Lion King." Kideo's book photo-personalization technology (patent-pending) digitally prints a child's photograph throughout a 24-page book, making the child a character in the story who appears alongside Disney characters. The child's name is also inserted into the book's text, and the child's image appears on the book's cover. Kideo's president and CEO, Richard Bulman, said, "We're incredibly excited to be in business with The Walt Disney Company. Disney and Kideo share a common commitment to providing consumers with the very best in family entertainment, and the addition of Disney characters to our personalized product line is a reflection of that commitment. Disney's characters truly stand alone in terms of their powerful worldwide appeal to children and parents, and we share with The Walt Disney Company great confidence in this product line's tremendous potential." Kideo plans to market its Disney book series through various direct-response channels, as well as through the company's toy, gift, and general merchandise catalog accounts. Kideo's Disney products will also be prominently featured in The Kideo Catalog, Kideo's consumer catalog featuring the company's full line of personalized products, mailed directly to consumer households several times each year. Founded in 1993, Kideo is a leading producer and marketer of photo-personalized media products for the home entertainment market. While Kideo is best known for its line of personalized home videos, it recently expanded its product categories to include photo-personalized Barney videos and books, as well as photo-personalized Disney books. Kideo productions has been awarded "Kids First" and "Parent's Choice" awards for a variety of the company's personalized home video titles, most recently for its "Gregory & Me" personalized home video series for preschool children.
European Commission
BRUSSELS, 3/98— The European Competition Commission, which oversees European antitrust matters, has given the governments of Germany an Austria a mid May deadline to answer charges of possible illegal book price fixing. The pending inquiry comes after a six-year investigation by Commissioner Karel Van Miert.
One Austrian retail chain threatened to sue the Commission in the European Court of Justice for failing to enforce EU rules. The matter is not expected to be settled before late summer.
Independent
3/98-- The American Booksellers Association has filed an antitrust lawsuit against Barnes & Noble Inc. and Borders Group Inc. for allegedly soliciting special discounts on orders and providing preferential advertising promotions. The suit was filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, where the chain stores are expanding. In an ongoing battle between large national chains and independent booksellers, the ABA charges that major chains are structuring illegal deals with publishers, a charge Barnes & Noble has denied. The American Booksellers Association said the chain stores' are violating the 1930 Robinson- Patman Act, which protects small and independent retailers against unfair competition from chain stores.
Borders’ Move
LONDON, 3/16/98—Verdict, a UK-based research firm, predicts the expansion of Borders Group, Inc. superstores into the UK could spark a European book price war, and threaten independent booksellers. Researchers said Borders would likely use lower prices as a key strategy to win market share, thus forcing other booksellers to follow. Borders will open its first UK superstore in London in the near future. Bookselling specialists such as Waterstone’s and Dillons are also expected to build competing superstores. And Barnes & Noble, Inc. may also be considering expansion into the UK. The Verdict report predicted the Internet would play only a small role in UK bookselling between now and 2010, estimating that electronic shopping would account for only 10% of UK book sales.
Publishers Weekly
An article appearing on Bookwire (Publishers’ Weekly) by Jean Richardson speculates that Amazon.com may be planning to open its first distribution center outside the US. According to the article, a distribution center located in an EC country would enable Amazon.com to import US editions into the UK under current EC trading rules, thus posing more competition to British publishers and booksellers. The PW item is based on the fact that Anne Krook, international program director of Amazon.com, and four colleagues attended the recent European Booksellers Federation conference in London. See www.bookwire.com/pw.
One Hundred + Authorlink!
DALLAS, TX/ 4//98--Literary agents and editors are eagerly surfing Authorlink! in search of good writers. In the 19 months since tracking began, more than 350-400 writers are listed; 451+ requests have been made for manuscripts, more than 100 Authorlink! writers have been offered contracts with agents, six works have been sold, and several more sales are pending. About 65-70% of the listed writers have received requests by editors and agents, some receiving mutliple requests. Of those who have received interest, about 30-35% are signed with agents and 6-10% have directly sold their works to publishers during this brief time, with a number of sales pending. The site, which matches literary agents and editors with writers, has received praise from editors at Penguin, UK, Avon, Berkley, Random House, Time-Warner, Bantam Doubleday Dell and other major publishers. See "What People Are Saying About Authorlink!"
Authorlink! Names
Winners of the Authorlink! 1998 International New Author Awards Competition have been named in five fiction and two nonfiction categories, with a dual award given in the nonfiction biography category as the result of a tie. Best of Show winner, Ekatrine Terlinden, will be a guest in Dallas/ Fort Worth May 2 for the ELECTRIFY YOUR WRITING seminar, where Berkley Senior Editor Thomas J. Colgan (Tom Clancy's paperback editor), and other noted editors and agents will speak. Nearly 200 entries were received during the first annual new author competition, from almost every state in the US and several foreign countries. Finalists included writers from York York to California and numerous points between, as well as from Alaska. Entries in some nonfiction categories were grouped into two categories instead of five, due to a limited number of submissions in a few categories. Each first place winner will receive $50 and a free membership to BookStacks Unlimited Frequent Buyer Club. The Best of Show winner will receive $200, and an expense-paid trip to the ELECTRIFY YOUR WRITING conference May 2 in Fort Worth. In addition, winners will receive a free six-month listing in the Author Showcase section of Authorlink! The Best of Show winner will have her listing and the first chapter of the winning novel posted on the site.
Suspense/Mystery/Thriller
The Divided Child -- Ekaterine Terlinden, Long Beach, CA FICTION
Mainstream
NON-FICTION
FICTION FINALISTS Mainstream
Suspense/Mystery/Thriller
Romance
Western/Historical
Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror
NON-FICTION FINALISTS General
Biography
Finals entries are now being judged by a panel of distinguished editors and agents, including: Final selections were judged by recognized editors and literary agents, including:
Nonfiction Market
NEW YORK, NY, 3/98-- Jan Nathan, director of the Publishers Marketing Association, recently returned from the London Bookfair with new insights on the foreign marketplace. The London event, though smaller than the Frankfurt Bookfair, attracted a substantial crowd of publishers from Northern Europe and the emerging nations. Many publishers who didn't travel to Frankfurt, attended the London show. In the Publishers Marketing Association booth this year, Marian Woodall's, " How to Talk So Men Will Listen," gained attention from a number of publishers. Why? "This book meets the right requirements for translation, " said Ms. Nathan. "The book contains information that is not limited to the US market, and it's a 'thin' work, making it affordable to translate." Jan Nathan said that hot topics in demand by foreign publishers this year are books about hypertension, and the human aspects of business. She said poetry and fiction remain difficult to move. "Unless the author is a known entity, houses don't want to take a chance on unknown fiction from unknown authors. We can occasionally place this sort of product, but it is a much more difficult sale than non-fiction," she said. "It helps to have newspaper or journal clips from the US, but it still gets down to economics, and whether or not the publishing house considers it can sell enough in one year to make a profit," she concluded.
Wired Ventures,
SAN FRANCISCO, CA, 3/25/98--In an innovative co-branding partnership between a major book retailer and a prominent media company, Barnes & Noble (NYSE:BKS) and Wired Ventures have teamed up to bring added value to shopping for books, both online and in Barnes & Noble stores across the country. Wired Digital, the online media division of Wired Ventures Inc., launched an online bookstore sponsored by Barnes & Noble. Available on Wired's online market place Shop Wired (accessible via http://www..hotbot.com the site will feature selected Wired titles such as Marshall Macluhan's seminal The Medium is the Massage, and the latest must read for Web designers, HotWired Style. In addition the site will feature Wired editors' book recommendations, as well as reviews, commentary, preview chapters, and additional links to the latest catalog of Wired books. After previewing the Wired selections, readers can link directly to BarnesandNoble.com to purchase the books online. The partnership also extends offline, now that visitors to selected Barnes & Noble locations will have an opportunity to get even more perspective from Wired. Select Barnes & Noble locations now feature special in-store Wired displays leading off of Barnes & Noble's new nonfiction title sections, that will host a selection of related cyber-business and culture titles recommended by Wired editors, along with the current issue of Wired magazine, and a selection of Wired Books. In addition to enhancing the new nonfiction section in-store, the display invites visitors to browse the online bookstore by directing them to the Wired/Barnes & Noble URL (http://www.hotbot.com). Wired magazine is a division of Wired Ventures Inc., a global, diversified media company that creates branded content for print and online services. Its current businesses include Wired magazine, Wired Books, and Wired Digital, which produces original Web content, including HotWired, and Wired News, and its search products HotBot and NewsBot.
Chapters, Inc.,
Chapters Inc., Canada's largest book retailer, and The Globe and Mail, a Canadian newspaper, will jointly develop a web site combining content with bookselling. The new site (www.chaptersglobe.com) will be launched this fall, offering more than two million book titles for sale through Chapters. The site will also feature The Globe and Mail's book reviews and bestseller lists. All books will be sourced from Canadian publishers and distributors and readers will receive a Canadian edition whenever possible.
Harcourt Brace
BURLINGTON, MASS,3/24/98-- Harcourt Brace & Company, one of the world's premier educational publishers, has chosen award-winning software by Open Market Inc. (NASDAQ: OMKT), to run its centralized Internet commerce infrastructure. Known as Transact(TM), the new software will help the publisher boost sales of existing products, such as books and journal subscriptions. The company also plans to create new online products and services and expand into new markets. "We needed to make it easier for our imprints to move into the online business by removing their concerns about how to actually conduct commerce on the Internet," said Chris Jordan, director of the Harcourt Brace Internet Commerce Group. "We wanted to allow our businesses to concentrate on what they do best in terms of creating, marketing, and selling content, while not requiring them to learn new Internet-based skill sets." "Our primary reason for choosing Transact was that it fit our model very nicely," Jordan said. "It allows us to centralize the transaction processing, security, and financial processing, while still allowing divisional control over content and distribution." "Harcourt Brace is an excellent example of a leading publisher leveraging the potential of the Web via Internet commerce," said Gary Eichhorn, president and CEO of Open Market. "They've been very aggressive in adapting their business to this brand-new business medium." The Open Market Internet Commerce Solution Transact adds critical back-office business management functionality to publishers' new or existing web sites -- leveraging their investment in content development and management activities. This frees publishers such as Harcourt Brace to concentrate on what they do best: developing and marketing compelling content. Harcourt Brace & Company is a leading global multiple-media publisher and service provider to established educational, trade, and professional markets as well as to emerging for-profit educational, career training, and assessment markets. One of the most diversified education companies in the world, Harcourt Brace covers the learning spectrum from traditional classroom publishing to computer-based testing, supplemental publishing, and distance learning. Open Market, Inc., founded in 1994,. provides high-performance application software products and professional services that allow its customers to engage in business-to-consumer and business-to-business Internet commerce, information commerce, and commercial publishing. Among Open Market's distinguished roster of global customers are five of the world's ten-largest telecommunications firms and more than 700 publishers. The company, headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts, can be reached by calling 1.888.OPEN.MKT or by visiting http://www.openmarket.com.
Book Critics
3/98—The National Book Critics Circle announced its 1997 awards in a late March ceremony at New York University's Tishman Auditorium. The winners are:
General Non-Fiction
Fiction
Biography and Autobiography
Poetry
Criticism
People
DK APPOINTS MULTIMEDIA VP: DK Publishing, Inc., owned by Dorling Kindersley Publishing, Ltd. Holdings plc, has appointed Mark Stollar to the newly created position of VP Sales & Marketing of Multimedia. The company plans to grow its educational multimedia business worldwide, and to focus on increasing the US market. DK is recognized the world over as the creators of cutting-edge, innovative, reference edutainment, including the best-selling, award-winning David Macaulay's The Way Things Work. While the retail market in the US proved disappointing for all muiltimedia producers, DK's products have continued to sell strongly worldwide and through the education marketplace and DK Family Learning, the direct selling arm of DK Publishing. Stollar's position at DK will be to manage the product line and look for ways to grow in the US. Prior to joining DK, Stollar was VP Sales and Marketing at Kaplan Interactive. Stollar also served as the Director of Marketing at Scholastic New Media where he started the Scholastic Software Club, and built it into one of the leading resellers of educational software in the home market. DK Multimedia is a division of DK Publishing, Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of UK publisher Dorling Kindersley Publishing, Ltd. SF CHRONICLE NAMES BOOK EDITOR: The San Francisco Chronicle has named David Kipen as new Books Editor. Kipen formerly contributed to the Los Angeles Times Book Review and served as senior editor at Buzz.
Authorlink.com
DALLAS, TX March, 1998--Authorlink! (http://www.authorlink.com) the online information service for editors, literary agents and writers, marks its second anniversary this month with a score of successes. Now rated as one of the “most useful sites on the web” by Microsoft’s One Click Away E-zine, Authorlink! carries major publishing industry news and matches manuscripts by both published and aspiring writers with interested editors and agents. Authorlink! was the first site of its kind to offer such a manuscript clearing house for editors and agents, and already has a loyal annual readership of more than 65,000 publishing professionals and writers. Simon & Schuster Online joined the site as a key sponsor last December, as one of the first major book publishers to partner with an online writers’ service. Authorlink! has filled requests by editors and agents for more than 400 manuscripts and has been responsible for signing nearly 100 writers with top literary agencies since its March, 1996 launch. Already, it has helped make sales to Carol Publishing Group, Greenwood Publishing Group, John Wiley & Sons, and has a number of other sales pending. Among its many interesting connections, Authorlink! has linked an Italian literary agency with an American Indian folklorist, and a publisher in China with an American mystery writer. All manuscripts undergo evaluation. Each accepted writer lists a short synopsis, manuscript excerpt, and author resume on Authorlink! Listings are organized by categories. Editors and agents browse free and request work that interests them. On May 2, 1998, Authorlink! will sponsor its first “Electrify Your Writing” seminar, a one-day event cosponsored by Fort Worth Star Telegram Online Services. Featured speakers for the Fort Worth, TX meeting will include Thomas J. Colgan, Senior Editor of Berkley Publishing Group (Tom Clancy’s editor); Laurie Chittenden, editor, Simon & Schuster; Anne Coviello, online and marketing manager for Simon & Schuster Online; William Clark, literary agent with the well-known Vines Agency, Inc., New York, and David H. Smith, owner of DHS Literary, Dallas. On April 22, 1998 Authorlink! will sponsor its first live chat with MIRA Books, an imprint of Canadian publisher, Harlequin Enterprises. Guest speakers for the one-hour event with writers will be Dianne Moggy, senior editor and editorial coordinator, MIRA Books; Randall Toye, Editorial Director, Harlequin Enterprises; Amy Moore, Editor,MIRA Books; Martha Kennan, Assistant Editor, and Heather Locken, editorial assistant. For its first International New Author Awards Competition this year, Authorlink! attracted nearly 200 entrants, and featured nine New York editors and agents as judges of the final round. Winners will be announced April 15. “We anticipate tremendous growth during 1998,” said Doris Booth, editor-in-chief and founder of Authorlink! “And we will unveil a number of new and exciting services for publishers, agents and writers later this year.
PEARSON, Plc
LONDON, ENG, 3/98—Pearson, Plc., which owns Penguin/Putnam in the US, has reported $476.9 million (285.9 million pounds) in pre-tax profits for 1997, a substantial increase over $420 million for the previous year. Reflecting the strong pound, profits from operations rose 15 percent to $539 million, and adjusted earnings per share increased 14 percent. Pearson CEO Marjorie Scardino said the company plans to continue delivering double-digit earnings growth again this year, and to double Pearson's market value over five years. . Scardino is an American, and the only female CEO of a major British company. Integration last year of Putnam Berkley into Pearson's Penguin publishing unit significantly influenced the growth in profits, while the educational publishing unit, Addison Wesley Longman also showed solid operating profits before restructuring charges. The company plans to continue focusing on business information, educational publishing and TV and entertainment, while selling non-core assets like its minority stakes.
Dorling Kindersley
LONDON, ENG, 3/98--- London-based Dorling Kindersley, Holdings, plc reported significantly lower profits for the first half of its fiscal year, ending December 31, 1997. The company owns DK Publishing, Inc. in the US. Pretax profits declined 40 percent to $6.8 million (4.1 million pounds). The loss was attributed to currency exchange rates from its operations in Germany and France, and the US, and on a tough CD-ROM multimedia market. Among the compnay’s reference book and CD-ROM titles are: "The Dorling Kindersley World Atlas" and "Eyewitness Children's Encyclopedia." Despite the decline, Dorling Kindersley remains optimistic about the long term, and is relying on its US unit, DK Publishing, to help it earn about nine million pounds for the year ending in June. The multimedia division will shift its attention to educational titles, and will cut its staff 30% by this June. In addition, Dorling Kindersley plans to increase overall sales through its direct-selling operations, which includes about 22,900 commissioned sales distributors who give in-home presentations.
Books-A-Million
Books-A-Million, Inc. (NASDAQ/NM:BAMM) has increased net sales to a record $113.0 million for the fourth quarter of fiscal 1998, representing a 16 percent increase from $97.1 million the previous year. Earnings before interest, taxes and depreciation for the fourth quarter increased 37 percent to $14.4 million (from $10.5 million in the same period of 1997). Net income for the final three months of fiscal 1998 was $6.4 million, or $0.37 per diluted share (compared with $4.3 million, or $0.25 per diluted share, a year earlier. The company expects to open 25 new superstores during fiscal 1999.
Scholastic Boosts
Scholastic Corporation (NASDAQ: SCHL) improved operations for the third quarter ended February 28, 1998, with a 13 percent increase in net revenues. Increases were due to stronger sales to book and software clubs, and at book fairs. The company reported $239.0 million, a record for the quarter, compared to $210.7 million in the previous year’s period. Net loss for the third quarter narrowed to $3.1 million ($0.19 per basic and diluted share), compared to a net loss of $12.5 million ($0.78 per basic and diluted share) in the same period last year.
Golden Books
Golden Books Family Entertainment, Inc. reported revenues of $243.5 million for the year ended December 27, 1997, a significant decrease from the previous year’ revenues of $258.4 million for the eleven months ended December 28, '96). The company posted a net loss of $49.7 million or $2.18 per share for FY '97, compared to a net loss of $197.5 million or $8.73 per share for FY '96. Gross profit for FY '97 rose $15.7 million to $67.3 million, a 30.4 percent increase from $51.6 million before one-time charges of $28.4 million associated with the strategic redirection of the company for FY '96. The gross profit margin increased to 27.6 percent for FY '97 compared to 20.0 for FY ’96. | |
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