BISG Annual Meeting Examines Sustainability on a Number of Levels (publishersweekly.com)

With another strong showing by the juvenile nonfiction category, unit sales of print books rose 16.6% in the week ended July 18, 2020, over the comparable week in 2019, at outlets that report to NPD BookScan. Units were up 40.9% in juvenile nonfiction from the week ended July 20, 2019, led by a new surge of sales for one of this year’s biggest bestsellers, My First Learn-to-Write Workbook by Crystal Radke, which sold nearly 40,000 copies in the week. The adult nonfiction category also did well, with unit sales increasing 19.9% over 2019, helped by Mary L. Trump’s Too Much and Never Enough, which sold 337,473 print copies in its first week. White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo was #2 in the category, selling nearly 49,000 copies.

The Association of American Publishers (AAP) welcomes the release of the 2018 Special 301 Report by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR). The Report highlights key markets in which publishers have significant copyright concerns and face market-access barriers. The Report is a critical tool for policymakers to identify barriers that impede the ability of U.S. copyright owners to compete in foreign markets. The Report notes that the U.S. “remains deeply troubled by the ambiguous education-related exception to copyright that has significantly damaged the market for educational publishers and authors.” This overbroad fair dealing exception for education has led to systematic, uncompensated copying and confusing guidance to courts. Reform is necessary to instill balance into the law and ensure that authors and publishers are appropriately compensated for the use of their works. Click Read More below for additional information.

*Strengthened financial position during the quarter, ending with $2.4 billion in cash *Disciplined management of expenses and inventory resulted in positive operating cash flow *Second quarter net sales decrease (22.9%) *Second quarter diluted earnings per share of $0.30; adjusted loss per share(2) of ($0.25)