It is an industry like no other, with profit margins to rival Google – and it was created by one of Britain’s most notorious tycoons: Robert Maxwell. By Stephen BuranyiIn 2011, Claudio Aspesi, a senior investment analyst at Bernstein Research in London, made a bet that the dominant firm in one of the most lucrative industries in the world was headed for a crash. Reed-Elsevier, a multinational publishing giant with annual revenues exceeding £6bn, was an investor’s darling. It was one of the few publishers that had successfully managed the transition to the internet, and a recent company report was predicting yet another year of growth. Aspesi, though, had reason to believe that that prediction – along with those of every other major financial analyst – was wrong.The core of Elsevier’s operation is in scientific journals, the weekly or monthly publications in which scientists share their results. Despite the narrow audience, scientific publishing is a remarkably big business. With total global revenues of more than £19bn, it weighs in somewhere between the recording and the film industries in size, but it is far more profitable. In 2010, Elsevier’s scientific publishing arm reported profits of £724m on just over £2bn in revenue. It was a 36% margin – higher than Apple, Google, or Amazon posted that year. Related: The high-tech war on science fraud Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2017-06-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Bookseller Staff Publication Date: Mon, 23/05/2011 - 09:40 The takeover of Waterstone's by Alexander Mamut is cause for celebration among the publishing industry, Faber c.e.o. Stephen Page has said. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Fri, 20/05/2011 - 08:34 Random House and Bloomsbury have begun "buddying" programmes to support their local libraries and library authorities. More than 20 Random House staff have volunteered to be part of a pilot scheme pioneered by deputy group... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Barbara Casassus Publication Date: Thu, 19/05/2011 - 09:58 Fewer French booksellers think publishers are "serious and reliable" than they did 10 years ago, a survey has revealed. Among 430 representative outlets surveyed in a poll taken for French trade weekly Livres Hebdo between... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Wed, 18/05/2011 - 14:47 Amazon.com has announced the launch of its second publishing imprint this month, with Thomas & Mercer to focus on mysteries and thrillers. The imprint is named after the streets that flank Amazon's Seattle headquarters and... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Tue, 17/05/2011 - 08:15 Corvus has acquired seven books from self-published author Nick Alexander, whose title The Missing Boyfriend was in the top 10 in the Kindle paid-for charts for six weeks. Senior editor Laura Palmer bought world English... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Tue, 17/05/2011 - 08:29 There are opportunities for genuine growth and a renewed vitality in bricks and mortar bookselling if the business model is reinvented, Oren Teicher, c.e.o. of the American Booksellers Association (ABA), told the Book... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Apple's attempts at limiting publisher requests for consumer data and the conversion of first-time downloads into regular users have been two of the larger stumbling blocks for magazine publishers building a business around apps. A new report from digital publishing vendor Yudu Media suggests... Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2011-05-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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For the second year, Yale University will offer a publishing course aimed at long-time magazine industry professionals, slated to begin on with a keynote address from Richard Stolley, senior editorial adviser at Time Inc., on Sunday, July 10. The course will run through Friday, July 15. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2011-05-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Mon, 16/05/2011 - 09:06 The Bodley Head has acquired a title looking at the operation that searched for, and finally killed, Osama bin Laden, by al-Qaeda expert Peter Bergen. Publishing director Will Sulkin acquired UK and Commonwealth rights to... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Tue, 17/05/2011 - 09:00 Quercus has been crowned 2011's best publisher at The Bookseller Industry Awards, as Sainsbury's scooped the Bookseller of the Year award. Quercus was presented with the Bonnier Publisher of the Year Award at the black-tie... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Fri, 13/05/2011 - 08:30 The Who guitarist Pete Townshend and "Little Britain" star David Walliams are the latest figures to have memoirs put in front of publishers, as the trade shows no sign of losing its appetite for celebrity autobiographies. Ed... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Fri, 13/05/2011 - 08:38 Literary agents Curtis Brown and Blake Friedman have said they are planning to follow Ed Victor's move into publishing, after he announced an ebook and print-on-demand venture earlier this week. Curtis Brown m.d. Jonathan... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Thu, 12/05/2011 - 09:23 Group profit at Random House parent company Bertelsmann more than doubled to 94m (£81.9m) in its first quarter. For the three months to 31st March, consolidated revenues increased to 3.63bn (£3.16bn) from 3.56bn (£3.10bn).... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Philip Jones Publication Date: Thu, 12/05/2011 - 09:31 Publishers should not overspend in the fight against piracy, and should use their authors to present a "human face" in the battle for hearts and minds, a panel discussion at the World e-Reading Congress declared. The industry... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Thu, 12/05/2011 - 15:34 Random House UK's switch to the agency model this week could lead other publishers to follow suit, despite the Office of Fair Trading investigating ebook pricing. The publisher's switch on Tuesday meant it has around... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Philip Jones Publication Date: Thu, 12/05/2011 - 15:36 Publishers need to diversify and compete head-on with other media in order to deflect the 'one-screen' effect of tablet devices, a panel discussion at the World e-Reading Congress declared. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Barbara Casassus Publication Date: Wed, 11/05/2011 - 08:11 French publishers Albin Michel, Flammarion and Gallimard are suing Google for having scanned 9,797 books without prior permission for its Google Book Search programme, a publishing source told The Bookseller. Lawyers for... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Bookseller Staff Publication Date: Wed, 11/05/2011 - 10:46 Publishers selling direct to readers, printers folding and more agents becoming publishers are some of the implications of digital, claims former Borders chairman Luke Johnson. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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German publisher said it was confident for annual sales after reporting strong revenue growth thanks to its expansion abroad and into its digital business. Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2011-05-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Tue, 10/05/2011 - 12:22 The Ed Victor Literary Agency, one of the most powerful agencies in London, has launched its own ebook and print on demand venture, focusing initially on putting back into circulation out of print books or those on which... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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