Book Industry Wants Sarah Palin’s Star Power
Booksellers and publishers are worried the economy will make for a miserable Christmas shopping season:
Like many businesses across the retail sector, the publishing industry has been hit by a raft of doom and gloom in the past few weeks. Leonard S. Riggio, chairman and largest shareholder of Barnes & Noble, said in an internal memorandum predicting a dreadful holiday shopping season, as first reported in The Wall Street Journal last week, that “never in all my years as a bookseller have I seen a retail climate as poor as the one we are in.”
Last week HarperCollins, the books division of the News Corporation, reported that fiscal first-quarter operating income had slid to $3 million from $36 million a year earlier, despite its publication of the Oprah Winfrey-anointed novel “The Story of Edgar Sawtelle” by David Wroblewski. A week earlier Doubleday Publishing Group, a unit of Random House, laid off 16 people, a 10 percent cut in staff. At the time the company said the move did not presage further layoffs in other publishing divisions, but industry insiders said they would not be surprised to see more.
Also this month Rodale, the magazine and book publisher, laid off 14 people in its book division, a little more than 7 percent of the staff.
Long before the current financial crisis, Borders Group, struggling against online and big-box retailers, had announced it was looking at a potential sale of itself. Given current economic conditions, publishers are nervously watching to see what happens with the company.
So it’s no surprise agents and publishers want to sign Gov. Sarah Palin to a book deal. The book industry loves star power, an already-built audience, and free marketing.
“Booksellers and Publishers Nervous as Holiday Season Approaches”
Slid to 3 million dollars from 36 million dollars– so HarperCollins lost $33 million dollars?? I must be reading that wrong. Almost makes me feel bad for renting all my books from BookSwim, but with the prices the retailers set, I’m not surprised people are cutting back on their book purchasing.