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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Other news stories related to: "As The Independent's sales fall to a new low, will anyone take it on?"


The Stranger’s Child leads the way in Booker sales

Written By: Philip Stone Publication Date: Thu, 04/08/2011 - 09:30 Man Booker Prize bookies favourite Alan Hollinghurst is proving the most popular of the longlisted titles among the book buying public. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #longlisted titles


Independent bookstores look to life after Borders

Jay Hancock: Is the death of Borders a bell that tolls for the book trade? Or a business opportunity? Continue reading at Baltimore Sun

[ Baltimore Sun | 2011-07-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #business opportunity #book trade #independent bookstores


Living Oasis owner puts chain up for sale

Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Fri, 29/07/2011 - 09:19 The owner of Living Oasis is in talks with a “third party” to buy the chain after he closed two of his four remaining shops. Ray George, chairman of the Nationwide Christian Trust (NCT), which bought 19 former Wesley Owen... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #current climate #ray george #living oasis


Digital makes 75% of Informa sales

Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Tue, 26/07/2011 - 08:55 Digital is accounting for 75% of Taylor & Francis' parent company Informa's publishing sales, as it revealed half-year profits increased by 14.3% to £55.2m. For the first half of 2011, Informa's sales increased by 1.7% to... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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AOL Ad Sales Boss Jeff Levick Out

Looks like it's shake-up time again at AOL. In a memo to AOLers today, CEO Tim Armstrong announced a batch of management changes. The latest major casualty of AOL’s continuing comeback? Ad sales boss Jeff Levick, one of Armstrong’s earliest hires who joined the company from Google in 2009. “Jeff... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2011-07-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #digital content #ned brody #panel discussion #helped lead


Borders seeks court approval for closing-down sales

Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Thu, 21/07/2011 - 09:10 Borders goes to court today to seek approval for liquidators to launch closing down sales across its stores. It is expected the sales will bring in between $250m and $284m the bankrupt book chain owes to creditors. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #court today


Reports: Reader’s Digest, Wenner Media Up For Sale

Reader's Digest Association is on the block, seeking a price of around $1 billion, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal, which says the company may sell off piece by piece rather than as a whole. Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2011-07-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Future restructures business as revenue falls

Magazine publisher Future is restructuring its business in the UK and US following a 5% fall in group revenues over the past nine months. Continue reading at Media Week

[ Media Week | 2011-07-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Dragon Tattoo hits 2m UK sales

Written By: Philip Stone Publication Date: Wed, 13/07/2011 - 15:38 Stieg Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Quercus), the first book in the late Swedish journalist's Millennium thriller trilogy, has become only the sixth adult novel to sell more than two million copies since records... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #records began #million copies


Fathers Day fails to boost June book sales - BRC

Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Tue, 12/07/2011 - 09:37 Widespread offers and Fathers Day failed to affect book sales falling in June compared to 2010, according to the British Retail Consortium. Figures out today show total sales in the UK were up 1.5% last month in comparison to... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Print book sales decline in first half of 2011

Written By: Charlotte Williams and Philip Stone Publication Date: Fri, 08/07/2011 - 09:55 Print sales across the book market have dropped by 3% in the first six months of 2011, compared to the same period last year, with Jamie Oliver the bestselling author over the period, ahead of Julia... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Independent ebook site launches

Written By: Caroline Horn Publication Date: Fri, 08/07/2011 - 08:36 A blogging site that aims to boost authors' independent ebook sales has been created by writers Katherine Roberts and Susan Price in response to a significant contraction in many authors' earnings. Roberts said: "The whole of... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #longer term #ebooks offer


WHS sales drop 4% like-for-like

Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Thu, 07/07/2011 - 09:02 WH Smith’s like-for-like sales have dropped 4%, but the bookseller remains "confident" about its final year results, it said today. In the 18 weeks to 2nd July, WHS total group sales decreased by 1% and like-for-like sales... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Academic sales decline in first six months

Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Thu, 07/07/2011 - 14:31 Sales of print books in the academic, specialist and higher education publishing market have slumped in the first half of the year, with one publisher seeing a decline of 22% in print sales. But academic publishers pointed to... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Dawn retains top spot but fiction sales slump on 2010

Written By: Philip Stone Publication Date: Tue, 05/07/2011 - 16:04 Dawn French’s début novel, A Tiny Bit Marvellous (Penguin), retains its position at the summit of The Official UK Top 50 week-on-week, thanks to a promotional appearance on ITV’s “This Morning”, and a “£2.99 if you spend £10”... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #wh smith


Book Depository to "operate independently" of Amazon

Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Mon, 04/07/2011 - 16:00 The Book Depository has said it will continue to operate independently of Amazon, as the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) said it was "too early" to say if today's takeover of the online bookseller would trigger an investigation.... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #continuing growth #online bookseller #operate independently #book depository


Borders US agrees sale to Najafi

Written By: Bookseller Staff Publication Date: Fri, 01/07/2011 - 09:13 Borders in the US has agreed to sell to private investment firm Najafi for $215m (£135m), it has been announced today. The Borders Group bookselling chain is now seeking bankruptcy court approval for the agreement, which if... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Profit up at Waterstone's despite sales dip

Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Thu, 30/06/2011 - 09:41 Waterstone’s increased profit by £6.7m last year as like-for-like sales fell by 3.8%, according to financial results released today. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Self-published author hits one million Kindle sales

Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Mon, 20/06/2011 - 14:31 John Locke has become the first self-published author to sell more than one million ebooks through Amazon. The author used Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing platform to publish and sell his titles. He joins Stieg Larsson,... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Grisham top as children's book sales soar

Written By: Philip Stone Publication Date: Tue, 07/06/2011 - 15:44 Thanks in part to a "better than half price" deal at Waterstone's, John Grisham tops the Official UK Top 50 for the first time in five and a half years. The Confession (Arrow), the Arkansas-born legal thriller writer's 23rd... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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