Gannett Announces Further Debt Reduction

The Coalition for Paper Options (CPO) – the only stand-alone coalition devoted exclusively to protecting citizen access to paper-based information – proudly welcomes its newest members: the Association for Print Technologies (formerly NPES) and the Idealliance. These new members have joined with Printing Industries of America, the American Forest & Paper Association, the Envelope Manufacturers Association and a host of individual corporations in the paper manufacturing, printing and mailing industries as financial supporters of the Coalition for Paper Options’ efforts to protect access to paper-based resources and information. “By supporting the Coalition for Paper Options, the paper, printing and mailing industry is speaking out in a loud and unified voice against government efforts to limit access to important paper-based information,” said John Runyan, executive director of the Coalition for Paper Options. “Our coalition, however, is not just about industry, as evidenced by a wide range of consumer, senior, and rural groups which are also active members. We are all united in making sure that our nation embraces technology without penalizing citizens who still need or prefer traditional access to paper-based services offered by government and the private sector.” Click Read More below for additional information.

Despite a drop in sales in 2017 and store closings, the mood was mostly upbeat at the 2018 Diamond Retailer summit, held April 6-8 in conjunction with the C2E2 pop culture convention in Chicago. Many retailers indicated to PW that they are beginning to see a slight upturn in sales in recent months. But this comes after a year in which sales were down in every category. According to figures released by Diamond Comics Distributors—which distributes comics and graphic novels to a network of about 2,000 specialty comics shops around the country—periodical comics sales were down 10% in 2017 compared to 2016, graphic novels declined 9% and the number of direct market stores served by Diamond slipped about 1%. Click Read More below for additional information.

Driven by strong sales from a host of new titles, unit sales of print books jumped 24.8% in the week ended Aug. 8, 2020, over the comparable week in 2019, at outlets that report to NPD BookScan. The biggest gain came in the young adult fiction segment, where unit sales skyrocketed 168.8% over the week ended Aug. 10, 2019. The category received a huge boost from the release of Stephenie Meyer’s Midnight Sun, which sold more than 524,000 copies in its first week. The juvenile fiction segment had an 18.8% gain over 2019, led by a new Jeff Kinney title, Rowley Jefferson’s Awesome Friendly Adventure, which sold nearly 46,000 copies in its first week. Two new releases drove up sales in the adult nonfiction category 23.1% over 2019.