As The Independent's sales fall to a new low, will anyone take it on?

The Independent is a calling card across the world, the paper's former owner, Tony O'Reilly, once told me. It was one of the major reasons he fought so hard to acquire the Indy and why he was prepared to lose so much money afterwards as its publisher.He understood that it was the title that gave the paper much of its global cachet. It also accounted, at least in part, for its initial sales success in Britain.Even if the paper's claim to independence was somewhat suspect - independence from what? - it cannot be denied that it championed liberal journalism. And O'Reilly, who disagreed with some of the output, did not interfere editorially.Gradually, however, its losses forced him to institute a continual round of cutbacks. Along the way, there were editorial innovations overseen by editor Simon Kelner, such as the format switch from broadsheet to compact, the poster-style front pages and the adoption of the "viewspaper" editorial approach.O'Reilly's single most devastating decision was to misread the onset of the digital revolution, which led to a disastrous delay in creating a worthwhile website. Meanwhile, despite occasional moments when it defied the industry's overall downward circulation trend, sales fell away. By the time O'Reilly's cash-strapped company, Independent News & Media, sold the Independent to Alexander Lebedev in March 2010, the paper was selling 184,000 (which included 53,000 bulks).Rightly, Lebedev and his team could see that hopes of reversing that... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2014-01-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Horrid Henry sales hit 17m mark

Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Thu, 08/09/2011 - 15:40 UK sales for Francesca Simon's Horrid Henry series have hit 17m, Orion has announced. The figure includes Commonwealth sales and sales through channels including school book clubs. Nielsen BookScan figures, which started four... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-09-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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How Independent Publishers Are Keeping Paper Costs Down

Despite enormous amounts of attention directed towards digital efforts in the magazine industry, many independent publishers still count print as their main business and most reliable source of revenue. As the paper market continues to fluctuate, publishers are finding new ways to keep the price... Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2011-09-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sales rise and profit jumps at Profile

Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Tue, 06/09/2011 - 15:28 Profile has reported a 3% sales rise to £7.35m for the year to end 31st March 2011, with profits up 69% to £405,000. M.d. Andrew Franklin said the publisher was delighted to announce these "healthy" results on the day that it... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-09-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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BRC says August book sales "tough"

Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Tue, 06/09/2011 - 09:00 Book sales throughout the UK in August have remained "tough" according to the British Retail Consortium, as it reported general retail sales were down by 0.6% compared to last year on a like-for-like basis. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-09-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Physical book sales slump 4% month-on-month

Written By: Philip Stone Publication Date: Mon, 05/09/2011 - 14:05 Spending on printed books slumped 4% in August, with sales plummeting to a seven-year low for the month, according to Nielsen BookScan data. A total of £107.5m spent on physical books at UK booksellers in the four weeks to 27th... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-09-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Mass-Market Paperbacks Sales in Decline

A Kindle reader on a train in Cambridge, Mass. E-book best-seller lists are full of genre novels. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2011-09-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Digital more than 10% of RH UK sales

Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Wed, 31/08/2011 - 10:05 E-book sales now account for over 10% of Random House Group UK sales, as worldwide earnings for parent company Random House surged despite a dip in sales. In the first six months of 2011, Random House worldwide reported... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Finland's largest bookchain on verge of sale

Written By: Raili Seppänen Publication Date: Wed, 31/08/2011 - 14:55 The largest bookshop chain in Finland is on the verge of being sold to the country's second-largest publisher, in a deal worth €27.5m (£24.3m). The deal will see Otava become the sole owner of Suomalainen Kirjakauppa, so long... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Barnes & Noble predicts £1.1bn Nook sales

Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Tue, 30/08/2011 - 15:39 Barnes & Noble has said it expects its Nook ebook business to earn it $1.8bn (£1.1bn) by the end of its latest financial year. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Barnes & Noble predicts £1.1bn sales from Nook businesses

Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Tue, 30/08/2011 - 15:39 Barnes & Noble has said it expects its Nook ebook business to earn it $1.8bn (£1.1bn) by the end of its latest financial year. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Five Reasons Why Paper Prices Could Drop This Fall

Despite the decline of paper product use among publishers, prices for paper haven’t fallen the way many hoped they would. Some say that this is the result of demand meeting supply, while others think pricing is about to change for the publishers’ benefit. Terry Choate, president of Making... Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2011-08-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Profit and sales up at Haynes

Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Fri, 26/08/2011 - 09:04 Manuals and DIY publisher Haynes Publishing has reported pre-tax profits of £7.18m, up from £7.17m in 2010, for the year ended 31st May 2011. Like-for-like sales were up 1% to £33.76m from £33.31m in 2010. Segmental... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Report: Tablet Sales to Cut Magazine Paper Use 20 Percent by 2015

Even paper-focused companies are predicting a major fall for the printed page in the coming years. Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2011-08-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Book sales slump £1m in riot-riddled week

Written By: Philip Stone Publication Date: Tue, 16/08/2011 - 16:03 Spending on printed books slumped £1.1m last week, as the UK riots caused retailers to shut stores early and the public to avoid the high street. Although bookshops remained largely unscathed during the rioting, spending... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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French government lauds independents

Written By: Barbara Casassus Publication Date: Mon, 15/08/2011 - 08:41 Paris bookshop Shakespeare & Co is among the 46 bookshops to be nationally recognised as libraires indépendantes de référence (LIR). read more Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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HarperCollins ebook sales 11% of revenue

Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Thu, 11/08/2011 - 09:10 HarperCollins ebook sales now comprise 11% of its total revenue, the company has said following parent NewsCorp's latest results. As has now become customary, figures for HarperCollins were not stripped out. There was no... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Indigo sales: digital hike, print decline.

Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Thu, 11/08/2011 - 09:20 Canadian retailer Indigo Books & Music has reported 170% acceleration in digital sales growth, but blamed a drop in overall revenue for its first quarter on declining physical book sales. Indigo attributed the hike in its... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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July books spending hits seven year low

Written By: Philip Stone Publication Date: Thu, 04/08/2011 - 15:50 Spending on physical books in July slumped to its lowest level in seven years as ebooks continue to encroach onto traditional bookseller territory. According to Nielsen BookScan data, £111.5m was spent on printed books in the... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Digital and high r.r.p.s hitting hardback sales

Written By: Charlotte Williams and Philip Stone Publication Date: Fri, 05/08/2011 - 09:00 Publishers and independent booksellers are stressing the importance of "working harder" on hardback fiction titles, as sales of the format fell by £3.2m over the first half of 2011. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Digital sales double at S&S, international "booming"

Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Wed, 03/08/2011 - 09:20 Digital sales more than doubled at Simon & Schuster in its second-quarter but did not offset the decline in print. However, the publisher reported an increase in profits of 12% off the back of the shift to digital and... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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