Pearson reported full-year results for 2013, with sales from continuing operations rising 2 percent to £5.177 billion and adjusted operating profit of £736 million, down 21 percent on significant restructuring charges of £135 million and 6% lower margins. The headline for investors is that the company expects another £50 million in restructuring charges in 2014 and warned that adjusted earnings for the coming year will be lower — ranging from 62 to 67 pence per share, compared to 70 pence per share in 2013. As a result, Pearson’s shares are down about 7.5 percent in today’s trading. CEO John Fallon […]
Archives for February 2014
Hilary Clinton to Keynote AAP Meeting
With former secretary of state Hillary Clinton‘s new memoir set for publication on June 1, she will appear at the Association of American Publishers’ annual meeting on March 19 in New York. AAP ceo Tom Allen says, “Hillary Clinton’s unprecedented public service has been marked by tireless commitment to improving learning, quality of life and opportunities for people worldwide. These are priorities shared by our member publishers and reflected in the high-quality works they produce. We are proud to have her address our community at our signature annual event.”
Audible Reduces ACX Royalty Payments
As of March 12, Audible is reducing the royalties it will pay out on audiobooks created through its ACX program. Currently rightsholders earn between 50 and 90 percent depending on the terms, but going forward they will receive a flat rate of 40 percent if the audiobook is distributed exclusively by Audible (both on the site and through Amazon and iTunes) and 25 percent for nonexclusive audiobooks. For royalty share deals, the amounts will be split evenly between the rightsholder and the producer. Audiobooks produced or contracted for before March 12 will still earn the original royalty rates. ACX is […]
Zevin Tops April Indie Next List
Gabrielle Zevin’s The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry from Algonquin is the No. 1 pick on the April Indie Next list. It includes one of our PL Spring/Summer Buzz Books, Maggie Shipstead’s second novel Astonish Me, which you can preview right now in our free ebook. (Another Buzz Book, Sally Green’s Half Bad, which publishes next week, is featured in the today’s WSJ. With rights sold in 45 languages plus a film option, her agent Claire Wilson says the deals total almost $1.6 million.) In other lists, Costco’s Pennie’s Pick for March is the modern classic Winter’s Tale by Mark Helprin. […]
People
Mitchell Ivers has been promoted to vp, editorial director of Threshold Editions, while continuing in his role as vp, senior editor at Gallery Books. Reka Simonsen will join Atheneum as executive editor, effective March 10. Previously she was executive editor at HMH Children’s. Scholastic has hired Heather McIntosh Cassano for the new position of chief experience officer. She will “help redefine and implement Scholastic”s next generation digital experiences for students, teachers, and parents. Leading a company-wide community of user experience designers, prototypers and user researchers, Ms. Cassano will help create a holistic user experience for Scholastic’s customers.” Most recently, she […]
Venture Capitalist Feld Starts Publisher
Longtime venture capitalist, co-founder of the TechStars program and author of five books (with Wiley) Brad Feld at the Foundry Group has started a publishing company. FG Press is launching with Eliot Peper’s techno-thriller UNCOMMON STOCK this month and lists about 7 forthcoming titles in all. Like some other we-know-better tech-driven presses, the books do not currently have common identifiers (like ISBNs) and are only available via the FG Press site for now. Similarly, the press’s descriptive copy relies on the standard issue publishing is broken but can be transformed with magically delicious tech dust theme. They “split everything 50/50” […]