Keep US Posted Calls for Postage Hikes Halt (piworld.com)

Simon & Schuster has acquired Veen Bosch & Keuning, the largest Dutch book publishing house. The acquisition includes all of VBK's imprints in the Netherlands and Belgium, as well as its sister companies, the audiobook producer Thinium, and Bookchoice, a subscription-based platform for e-books and audiobooks. Financial terms of the cash acquisition, which is still subject to review, were not disclosed. The move marks the first major instance of a promised international expansion of S&S, which CEO Jonathan Karp alluded to last year following the acquisition of S&S by private equity firm KKR. The acquisition is also S&S's first of a non-English-language publisher, and provides the company a new foothold in the European market, where "the companies aim to provide a better avenue to sell, produce, and distribute... titles in Europe and to publish more S&S titles locally," as per a release.

Condé Nast has shuttered its print edition of Teen Vogue, adjusting the frequency of various titles, and laying off approximately 80 staffers, Folio: has learned. The cuts represent approximately 2.5 percent of its 3,000 employees, and the company “is expected to complete its final round of cuts by next Thursday,” reports WWD. In addition to the changes at Teen Vogue, GQ, Glamour, Allure, Architectural Digest, Bon Appétit, W and Condé Nast Traveler are among the company’s magazines set to see decreases in print frequency. Vanity Fair, Vogue, Wired, Brides and The New Yorker, however, will remain unaffected and continue to print at the same frequency. Click Read More below for additional information.

Unit sales of print books hit a new high for the week ended March 13, 2021, compared to the similar week in 2020. According to NPD BookScan, units jumped 36.5% last week over the week ended March 14, 2020. A portion of the gain was due to some weakness in 2020 caused by the early impact of the pandemic; unit sales fell 6.2% compared to the similar week in 2019. But, for the most part, the unit sales gain was driven by continued solid demand for print books. Large unit gains, as has been the case for most of 2021, occurred in all the major segments, and the increase was also helped by the release of two adult nonfiction books that hit the top two slots on the overall bestseller list. Nicole Lepera’s How to Do the Work was #1, selling more than 53,000 copies, while Dana Perino’s Everything Will Be Okay was second, selling nearly 51,000 copies. A third new nonfiction title also had a solid first week, with The Code Breaker by Walter Isaacson landing in fifth place on the overall list, selling over 41,000 copies. Overall, print unit adult nonfiction sales increased 27.6% over the comparable week in 2020.