Thanks to bestsellers like Dan Brown's Inferno and Sheryl Sandberg's Lean In, Random House Inc. boasted record profits for the first half of 2013, parent company Bertelsmann reported Friday in what will be the last earnings announcement for the publisher as a stand-alone unit. Sales, however, dipped slightly.Random House merged with Penguin on July 1 to become the Manhattan-based global publishing giant Penguin Random House.Compared to the same period a year ago, Random House revenue fell 3% to 915 million euros or $1.2 billion. Operating income rose 4% to 117 million euros or $155 million. A Penguin Random spokesman credited the increase in profits to "cost discipline" and strong sales growth overseas in ebooks, which have higher margins than print editions.The dip in sales revenue reflected the comparison with the unusually strong first half of 2012, when the Fifty Shades trilogy was topping bestseller lists. The "mommy porn" novels padded this year's sales as well, however, selling an additional 5 million copies in both print and digital editions.As a portion of worldwide sales, ebooks fell to 20% of the total from 22% a year ago, largely due to the drop-off from Fifty Shades, according to the spokesman.Penguin also recently reported solid results, with a 6% jump in sales and a 14% spike in profits for the first half. Penguin's parent company Pearson owns 47% of the merged company, with Bertelsmann owning the rest."We can all take pride in what we have... Continue reading at 'Crains New York'
[ Crains New York | 2013-08-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
Written By: Philip Jones Publication Date: Tue, 21/06/2011 - 11:46 Editors need to have a "vision" of how the content can be used beyond the traditional book, otherwise they risk losing control of the book to the "digital department", Publishers Launch London heard today. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Tom Tivnan Publication Date: Tue, 21/06/2011 - 15:59 Random House had another stellar week, there was a record for Wilbur Smith and a Father's Day push led to double digit week on week rise in value and volume sales for the trade. RH did not repeat its unprecedented octet of the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Fiction is the leading sales driver of ebooks, and just how dominant that segment has been is clearly seen in a new market study just released by Bowker. According to "20102011 U.S. Book Consumer Demographics & Buying Behaviors Annual Review," fiction accounted for 61% of unit sales in 2010... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-06-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Rachel Bradley Publication Date: Fri, 17/06/2011 - 08:07 A guide to astronomy and a pop-up guide to how the world works are among the shortlisted titles for the first Royal Society Young People's Book Prize in three years. The £10,000 prize was not awarded between 2008 and 2010 due... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Thu, 16/06/2011 - 15:40 Accent Press has bought world rights to a memoir by Hayley Okines, who suffers from a rare genetic condition that means she ages eight times faster than healthy people. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Bookseller Staff Publication Date: Wed, 15/06/2011 - 07:46 Bertelsmann has disbanded its Direct Group division having all-but completed what it described as the scale-back of its book clubs business. Its remaining book club interests, most notably in Germany and Spain, will now be... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Rachel Bradley and Katie Allen Publication Date: Tue, 14/06/2011 - 17:23 Titles from Cressida Cowell, Sita Brahmachari and Jon Mayhew have been selected for Booktrust"s Booked Up programme, which sees 17 titles on offer to all year seven pupils in England. Over 650,000 free books... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Caroline Horn Publication Date: Tue, 14/06/2011 - 12:40 Michael Morpurgo has won the Red House Children's Book Award 2011 for Shadow (HarperCollinsChildren's Books) becoming the only author to win the award three times. Angela McAllister and Alison Edgson's Yuck! That's not a... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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CondeNet UK, the digital business of magazine publisher Condé Nast UK, edged closer to profitability in 2010, reducing its losses to £180,528, according to its latest financial results. Continue reading at Media Week
[ Media Week | 2011-06-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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PCWorld managed to snag previews of some of the pages, although they are a work-in-progress as the pages have not yet been colored or had speech bubbles put in. Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2011-06-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publication Date: Mon, 13/06/2011 - 08:55 Emma Henderson's Orange-shortlisted Grace Williams Says It Loud and the latest novel by American thriller writer Dennis Lehane have been picked for the summer season of "The TV Book Club". Returning on Sunday 26th June on More 4, with repeats on Channel... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Retailing for $185,000, the Espresso Book Machine, developed by On Demand Books, costs more than the annual revenue of some independent bookstores. But with a new partnership with the American Booksellers Association to help get frontlist and midlist titles from mainstream houses (something that... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-06-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publication Date: Fri, 10/06/2011 - 10:36 Octopus has acquired a vegetable cookery title by chef, eco-restauranteur and star of "The People's Supermarket" Arthur Potts Dawson. Publishing director Stephanie Jackson acquired world rights to Eat Your Veg from Sophie Laurimore of Factual... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Fri, 10/06/2011 - 10:45 Orion Books imprint Swordfish has acquired two books by Guardian columnist and TV presenter Charlie Brooker, signing the titles through Jo Unwin at Conville & Walsh. Publisher Rowland White bought world rights in all... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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By restricting purchases unnecessarily, ebooks and e-readers are a bad deal, says free software guru Richard Stallman. Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2011-06-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Thu, 09/06/2011 - 08:05 Murdoch Books has further restructured its workforce following owner Matt Handbury's move into the role of c.e.o. last week. Christine Jones will become managing director of Murdoch Books UK, which has its UK offices in... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Wed, 08/06/2011 - 14:53 The Edinburgh International Book Festival is to be sponsored by Guardian News & Media, in a newly-penned two-year deal. The sponsorship deal will include coverage in the Guardian, the Observer and its books website of... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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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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Unbridled Books is partnering with the American Booksellers Association to promote the organization’s IndieCommerce program. For three days Unbridled is offering 25 of its titles in ebook format for 25 cents exclusively through the approximately 250 independent bookstores that are set up to sell... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-06-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Tue, 07/06/2011 - 09:49 Dawson Books has been bought by the parent company of book wholesaler Bertrams for £20m. Smiths News plc, which owns Bertrams, announced today (7th June) that the wholesaler and Dawson Books would be "fully integrated"... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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