Inside publishing circles, a recent New York Times article about Barnes & Noble was taken to task for being overly celebratory of the chain’s performance and position in the market. While it’s true that Barnes & Noble is performing somewhat better than before, that’s not saying much in an industry where sales have increased by record amounts over the past two years. Fortunately for us all, Michael Cader of Publishers Lunch has been tracking over time what CEO James Daunt reveals about the chain’s performance. He writes (subscription required) that the “unreported news is the chain had a bad Christmas selling season and lost ground.” Other hard truths: the chain halved its staff at the corporate office, and local bookselling staff was reduced as well. Cader surmises that these rosy stories are meant to position the chain favorably for sale: “The clock is ticking on Elliott Advisors hoping to exit their investment in bookselling, both in the US and in the UK, particularly as rising interest rates make the debt applied to those book chains less appealing.”
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
