New York, NY (Authorlink News, September 23, 2009)— Book sales tracked by the Association of American Publishers (AAP) for the month of July increased by 2.0 percent at $1.54 billion and were up by 1.9 percent for the year.
The Adult Hardcover category was up by 6.9 percent in July with sales of $88.7 million; year-to-date sales were down by 15.5 percent. Adult Paperback sales increased 9.0 percent for the month ($124.0 million) but decreased by 11.2 percent for the year. The Adult Mass Market category was down 13.5 percent for July with sales totaling $68.2 million; sales were down by 5.3 percent year-to-date. The Children’s/YA Hardcover category decreased by 5.4 percent for the month with sales of $55.8 million, but sales for year-to-date were up by 22.2 percent. The Children’s/YA Paperback category was up by 4.1 percent in July with sales totaling $58.2 million; sales increased by 2.0 percent for the year.
Audio Book sales posted an increase of 3.5 percent in July with sales totaling $11.7 million; sales to-date decreased by 29.9 percent. E-books sales reached $16.2 million, reflecting a 213.5 percent increase for July, and a 173.9 percent year to-date. Religious Books saw a decrease of 9.3 percent for the month with sales totaling $42.4 million; sales were down by 8.1 percent for the year.
Sales of University Press Hardcover books reflected a 15.1 percent decrease in July with sales of $5.2 million; sales decreased by 8.6 percent for the year. University Press Paperback sales posted a decrease of 3.2 percent for the month with sales totaling $8.8 million; sales were down 5.5 percent for the year. Sales in the Professional and Scholarly category were up by 13.2 percent in July ($117.7 million) but decreased by 2.3 percent for the year.
Higher Education publishing sales rose by 0.9 percent for the month ($941.5 million) and increased 19.0 percent for the year. Finally, the net El-Hi (elementary/high school) basal and supplemental K-12 category posted a decrease of 32.2 percent in July with sales of $675.9 million; the category was down by 27.6 percent for the year.
The Association of American Publishers is the national trade association of the U.S. book publishing industry. AAP’s more than 300 members include most of the major commercial publishers in the United States, as well as smaller and non-profit publishers, university presses and scholarly societies—small and large. AAP members publish hardcover and paperback books in every field, educational materials for the elementary, secondary, postsecondary, and professional markets, scholarly journals, computer software, and electronic products and services. The protection of intellectual property rights in all media, the defense of the freedom to read and the freedom to publish at home and abroad, and the promotion of reading and literacy are among the Association’s highest priorities.
NOTE: All sales figures cited in this release are domestic net sales
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Monday, September 21, 2009
Government Urges Court
to Reject Google Settlement
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Authorlink News, Septemer 21, 2009)--The Department of Justice today advised the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York that while it should not accept the class action settlement in The Authors Guild Inc. et al. v. Google Inc. as proposed due to concerns of the United States regarding class action, copyright and antitrust law, the parties should be encouraged to continue their productive discussions to address those concerns. In its statement of interest filed with the court, the Department stated:
"Given the parties’ express commitment to ongoing discussions to address concerns already raised and the possibility that such discussions could lead to a settlement agreement that could legally be approved by the Court, the public interest would best be served by direction from the Court encouraging the continuation of those discussions between the parties and, if the Court so chooses, by some direction as to those aspects of the Proposed Settlement that need to be improved. Because a properly structured settlement agreement in this case offers the potential for important societal benefits, the United States does not want the opportunity or momentum to be lost."
In its filing, the Department proposed that the parties consider a number of changes to the agreement that may help address the United States’ concerns, including imposing limitations on the most open-ended provisions for future licensing, eliminating potential conflicts among class members, providing additional protections for unknown rights holders, addressing the concerns of foreign authors and publishers, eliminating the joint-pricing mechanisms among publishers and authors, and, whatever the settlement’s ultimate scope, providing some mechanism by which Google’s competitors can gain comparable access.
The settlement agreement between Google and the authors and publishers aims to resolve copyright infringement claims brought against Google by the Authors Guild and five major publishers in 2005 raised by Google’s efforts to digitally scan books contained in several libraries and make them searchable on the Internet. The District Court’s hearing on the proposed settlement is scheduled to take place on October 7, 2009.
Google, the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers said they will consider the points raised by the Justice Department, and will address them as court proceedings continue.
European opponents to the settlement have called for the EU to investigate the proposed deal, charging it will allow Google to dominate the digital books industry. " A group of opponents, including Microsoft-backed ICOMP and the German publishers and booksellers association, says the settlement is unacceptable in its present form and violates the rights of copyright holders and authors. The group also said the settlement will lead to a de facto monopoly.
"Given the parties’ express commitment to ongoing discussions to address concerns already raised and the possibility that such discussions could lead to a settlement agreement that could legally be approved by the Court, the public interest would best be served by direction from the Court encouraging the continuation of those discussions between the parties and, if the Court so chooses, by some direction as to those aspects of the Proposed Settlement that need to be improved. Because a properly structured settlement agreement in this case offers the potential for important societal benefits, the United States does not want the opportunity or momentum to be lost."
In its filing, the Department proposed that the parties consider a number of changes to the agreement that may help address the United States’ concerns, including imposing limitations on the most open-ended provisions for future licensing, eliminating potential conflicts among class members, providing additional protections for unknown rights holders, addressing the concerns of foreign authors and publishers, eliminating the joint-pricing mechanisms among publishers and authors, and, whatever the settlement’s ultimate scope, providing some mechanism by which Google’s competitors can gain comparable access.
The settlement agreement between Google and the authors and publishers aims to resolve copyright infringement claims brought against Google by the Authors Guild and five major publishers in 2005 raised by Google’s efforts to digitally scan books contained in several libraries and make them searchable on the Internet. The District Court’s hearing on the proposed settlement is scheduled to take place on October 7, 2009.
Google, the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers said they will consider the points raised by the Justice Department, and will address them as court proceedings continue.
European opponents to the settlement have called for the EU to investigate the proposed deal, charging it will allow Google to dominate the digital books industry. " A group of opponents, including Microsoft-backed ICOMP and the German publishers and booksellers association, says the settlement is unacceptable in its present form and violates the rights of copyright holders and authors. The group also said the settlement will lead to a de facto monopoly.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Hachette Livre, Lightning Source
Team Up on POD
PARIS (Authorlink News, September 15, 2009)--Hachette Livre of France, the world’s second largest publisher of trade books, and Lightning Source Inc., an Ingram Content Group company, have entered into a joint venture to offer print-on-demand (POD) services to the French book market.
Lightning Source, the leading provider of POD services, enhances book sales for publishers with innovative, low cost and minimum risk printing solutions. The new POD operation announced today will be located at Hachette Livre’s distribution facility in Maurepas, near Paris, and is expected to be operational in the first quarter of 2010.
Phase 1 of the joint venture will enable Hachette to vastly extend the range of services it makes available to both Hachette-controlled publishing houses and to third party customers of its distribution facility. With the successful completion of Phase 1, Phase 2 of the joint venture will be launched giving independent publishers the option to participate in the POD program, regardless of ownership or distribution contracts.
The two companies have already identified many thousands of titles from Hachette owned publishing companies as POD candidates, based upon not only their physical characteristics but also their sales profile. In addition, the new venture holds out the promise of bringing titles back into print that have been lost to the market for many years.
Arnaud Nourry, Chairman and CEO of Hachette Livre, said: “The joint venture with Lightning Source in France is a strategic move that will allow Hachette to make leading edge digital technology available to all its business partners, no matter how small. Its implications are considerable. No book entered into the program will ever be out of print. The turnaround between incoming order and shipping is so short that copies can be delivered to point of sale as fast as if they were pulled from inventory, and mint-like in terms of quality. It is the perfect solution for low volume backlist and out-of-print books. At a time when “out of print” books are the subject of much attention, POD offers a convincing solution. I am delighted we could partner with the world’s leader in this technology, and look forward to a long, successful relationship.”
John R. Ingram, Chairman of Ingram Content Group Inc., said the joint venture is a significant step forward in the company’s international expansion. Lightning Source serves more than 9,000 publishers worldwide and prints some 1.4 million books each month.
“We have had a terrific working relationship with Hachette, both in the U.S. and U.K. for many years, and are extremely delighted to strengthen both of our businesses through this joint venture in Hachette’s home market,” Mr. Ingram said.
David “Skip” Prichard, President and CEO of Ingram Content Group, said: “We are very excited about this innovative partnership with Hachette. It allows us to build out our globally distributed print capabilities in one of the largest book markets in Europe, and to bring the huge financial and cultural benefits that print-on-demand offers to the French book market.”
“Print-on-demand is about so much more than just printing books,” Mr. Prichard continued. “The on-demand model is revolutionizing the very manner in which books are being published and distributed.”
ABOUT HACHETTE LIVRE
Hachette Livre, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lagardère SCA, is the world’s second largest trade book publisher with sales of €2,159 million ($3.175 million). It is #1 in France, #1 in the UK, #2 in Spain and #5 in the USA. It publishes over 17,000 new titles a year under more than one hundred different imprints in a dozen languages, but mainly in French, English and Spanish. It covers all segments of trade publishing: General fiction and non-fiction, mass market pocket books, books for young readers, illustrated books, travel guides, school books, as well as partworks. Its headquarters are in Paris, France. Visit the web site at www.hachette.com
ABOUT LIGHTNING SOURCE
Lightning Source Inc. is part of Ingram Content Group Inc. which provides a broad range of physical and digital services to the book industry. Ingram’s operating units are Ingram Book Company, Lightning Source Inc., Ingram Digital, Ingram Periodicals Inc., Ingram International Inc., Ingram Library Services Inc., Spring Arbor Distributors Inc., Ingram Publisher Services Inc., Tennessee Book Company LLC, Coutts Information Services, and Ingram Marketing Group Inc. For more information, visit www.lightningsource.com and www.ingramcontent.com
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