USPS Finishes FY23 Second Quarter with an Average of 2.5 Days to Deliver

Wiley announced the departure of Brian Napack as President and Chief Executive Officer and the appointment of Matthew Kissner as Interim CEO, effective immediately. Mr. Kissner previously served as Wiley’s Group Executive and Board Chair, as well as Interim CEO from May to December 2017. Wiley will be rescheduling its planned October 12 Investor Day for a later date to be determined. In June, Mr. Napack and Wiley’s executive leadership announced a value creation plan that includes intensifying focus on Wiley’s strongest and most profitable businesses, divesting non-core assets, and rightsizing and streamlining the Company. Mr. Kissner will leverage his in-depth knowledge of Wiley’s operations and his professional experience to execute this plan and ensure a smooth transition. As previously disclosed, Fiscal 2024 is a transition year for the Company with the benefits of the value creation plan expected to be realized in fiscal year 2025 and 2026.

As more than 130,000 pop culture enthusiasts and comics fans flooded downtown San Diego for Comic-Con International, the news was all about lines—literal and literary. At the annual pop culture show, held July 19-23 at the San Diego Convention Center, the lines—the queues—for exclusive releases, signings, screenings and offsite attractions seemed even more immense than usual. The publishing news involved lines as well—new book lines, imprints, and releases. Comic-Con continues to present a growing awareness of the importance of graphic novels in an evolving comics marketplace. Nevertheless, Diamond Comics Distributors announced at its retailer breakfast that graphic novel and comics periodical sales were flat or worse for the year thus far. Graphic Novel sales are down 13% and periodical sales are down 4%, so far, in 2017. No one has been able to pinpoint a single reason for the slide, although various theories—from a lack of hot titles to the end of the New York Times Bestseller list for Graphic Novels—have been floated. Click Read More below for more of the story.

The Association of American Publishers (AAP) joined forces with more than 10,000 creators and coalition partners, including authors, musicians, actors, artists, and photographers, to condemn the theft of creative and intellectual authorship by big tech companies for use in their Generative AI models. In fact, these consumer-facing models and tools would not exist without the books, newspapers, songs, performances, and other invaluable human expressions that were—and continue to be—copied, ingested, and regenerated in blatant disregard of the law. This is a crucial time for AI policy development globally, as authors and their publishers call on their governments and courts to uphold the most fundamental of copyright principles: Reproducing works of authorship, and creating derivatives of them, requires the clear consent of those who created, invested in, and otherwise made them possible in the first place. “The Association of American Publishers is proud to stand with thousands of creators and partner organizations to highlight that human authorship is the basis of Generative AI,” said Maria A. Pallante, President and CEO. “What is true is that creators operate in service to a well-read, informed, and inspired global public, not the unsanctioned, unregulated profits of big tech companies. It goes without saying that technology collaborations are a key part of publishing, but they are built on lawful licenses and respect, not a land grab.”