Barnes & Noble Sells More Books & other US news

PublishersLunch

Barnes & Noble reported third quarterearnings Tuesday and, consistent with their holiday sales update, businessincreased at the retail stores. At $1.494 billion, store sales were up 2overall; same-store sales rose 2.8 percent, and the company said "retailcore" comparable sales, excluding devices, accessories and warranties,rose 4.2 percent compared to a year ago. (Those increases are all slightlysmaller than the growth reported for the nine-week holiday period on its own)BN.com sales rose 32 percent to $420 million, on the rising Nook business butwith "a decline in online physical product sales"; college salesslid, "due to a shift from selling new and used textbooks to lower pricedtextbook rentals." Total sales for the quarter of $2.439 million were up 5percent from a year ago.

CEO William Lynch says in the release that"our traffic and sales in stores were the highest we've seen in fiveyears." He reports that "physical book sales at our stores increasedmore than 4 percent over last year, and our merchandising changes in ourjuvenile business and our toys & games department experienced double-digitrevenue growth." The Nook business continues to grow "and accordingto some of the largest US publishers, we maintained or slightly gained share inthe eBook market during the third quarter."

The overall Nook business grew 38 percentto $542 million, and Nook device sales rose 64 percent. Digital content saleswas up 85 percent on a comparable basis. (When reporting the Nook business onits own, the company reports the full consumer price of agency ebooks ratherthan just the commission, though in their official income statement they onlybook the commissions.)

In the conference call with analysts,executives underscored the success of the BN stores. Mitchell Klipper said"the landlords love us now more than ever" and "are just notletting us leave." He said most of their leases are being renewed and"the rents are coming down" at 95 of every 100 stores. He expectsthat trend "to continue for the next two or three years."Release

People: Coady Leaving Picador As Part of EditorialRestructuring

President and publisher of Picador andeditor-at-large at Macmillan FrancesCoady will be leaving the company as part of an editorialrestructuring of the paperback imprint, according to a company-wide memo sentby ceo John Sargent late Thursday to staff (and confirmed to us Friday.)"Over time," Sargent wrote, "the Picador list has largelygravitated toward FSG, and more recently Holt. At the same time, we have seenshifts in the distribution of Picador paperbacks. The structural/financialmodel, constructed in another time, has become less meaningful. So we need tochange, and to reinvigorate Picador."

As a result, going forward Picador staffwill report to FSG publisher Jonathan Galassi and Holt publisher Steve Rubin inwhat Sargent said would "clarify hardcover/paperback editorialresponsibility for key titles" and give the originating publishers"greater control" and Picador a "stronger marketing focus."Sargent added that he "cannot stress enough that SMP books can continue tobe featured in Picador when it makes sense. In fact I hope these changes willmake that more likely, not less."

Coady joined Picador in 2000 and beganacquiring hardcover titles for Holt (under the Frances Coady Books imprint),Metropolitan, and FSG in 2007. She has published authors including Naomi Klein,Richard Powers, Paul Auster, Siri Hustvedt, Andrea Levy, Joseph O'Connor, andAlan Bennett.

Coady's last day at Macmillan is March 2,after which she will work with Macmillan in an independent freelance editorialcapacity "while also being free to pursue new publishing projects here andin the UK."

Jeremy Lin Will Wait for A Book Deal

Following unclear reports from earlier lastweek on whether or not there has been active solicitation for a book deal forNew York Knicks sensation Jeremy Lin, over the weekend there was a clarifyingstatement from agent Richard Abate--who was working with Lin's management inpreliminary fashion, but is not doing so now.

Abate said: "Earlier this month,Mr. Lin's representatives asked me to arrange meetings to explore thepossibility of a book deal. As the frenzy surrounding Mr. Lin has escalated,his representatives wisely decided to postpone those meetings until they canapproach the development of a book project with the thoughtful consideration itdeserves."

Abate added that "Mr. Lin's representative are notentertaining book offers at this time, so I'm not currently acting on theirbehalf."

Hachette Wins Back Disney and Hyperion DistributionBusiness

Hachettehas won back distribution for the Disney Book Group and Hyperion, which hadmoved to HarperCollins in 2007. Under the preliminary agreement between theparties, "the move to Hachette is contemplated to take place in Spring2013." Hachette already distributes Disney's Marvel unit and thatrelationship has been extended as well. HBG took over Canadian sales anddistribution for Disney in spring 2011 after the bankruptcy of HB Fenn.