Locus, December 2012
Page 5
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THE DATA FILE
PW Best of 2012 • Amazon’s Best of 2012 • Humble eBook Bundle • SFWA Launches YA Group • Fictionwise Closes • Amazon News • Frazetta and Suydam Art Stolen • 2012 Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Nominees • Eaton Journal Launched • Announcements • Financial News • International Rights • Other Rights • Audiobooks Received • Publications Received • Catalogs Received • Hurricane Sandy Brings New York to a Standstill
PW BEST OF 2012
Publishers Weekly released its lists of the best books of 2012. The SF/Fantasy/Horror list is: The Troupe by Robert Jackson Bennett (Orbit), The Killing Moon by N.K. Jemisin (Orbit), At the Mouth of the River of Bees by Kij Johnson (Small Beer), The Games by Ted Kosmatka (Del Rey), Wonders of the Invisible World by Patricia A. McKillip (Tachyon), The Shape of Desire by Sharon Shinn (Ace), and The Weird by Ann & Jeff VanderMeer, eds. (Tor). The Fiction category includes Magnificence by Lydia Millet (Norton) and This Is How You Lose Her by Junot Díaz (Riverhead). The Children’s Fiction list includes The Diviners by Libba Bray (Little, Brown), Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore (Dial), In a Glass Grimmly by Adam Gidwitz (Dutton), The Brides of Rollrock Island by Margo Lanagan (Knopf), Cinder by Marissa Meyer (Feiwel and Friends), The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen (Scholastic), The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater (Scholastic), and Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein (Hyperion). For the complete lists:
AMAZON’S BEST OF 2012
Online bookseller Amazon.com has released its annual array of lists to promote the best books of 2012, with editors’ selections in various categories.
The Editor’s Picks: Top 100 list includes the following genre (or related) titles: #19 This Is How You Lose Her, Junot Dìaz (Riverhead); #33 Every Day, David Levithan (Knopf); #39 The Twelve, Justin Cronin (Ballantine); #51 The Last Policeman, Ben Winters (Quirk); #53 The Snow Child, Eowyn Ivey (Reagan Arthur); #56 Shadow and Bone, Leigh Bardugo (Holt); #61 Telegraph Avenue, Michael Chabon (Harper); #71 Suddenly, a Knock on the Door: Stories, Etgar Keret (Farrar, Straus and Giroux).
Editor’s picks in SF/F are: #1 The Twelve, Justin Cronin (Ballantine); #2 Shadow of Night, by Deborah E. Harkness (Viking); #3 The Wind Through the Keyhole: A Dark Tower Novel, Stephen King (Scribner); #4 Redshirts, John Scalzi (Tor) ; #5 The Long Earth, Terry Pratchett & Stephen Baxter (Harper); #6 The Mongoliad: Book One, Neal Stephenson, Erik Bear, Greg Bear & Joseph Brassey (47North); #7 Year Zero, Robert H. Reid (Del Rey); #8 Railsea, China Miéville (Del Rey); #9 Seed, Ania Ahlborn (47North); #10 The Weird, Ann & Jeff VanderMeer, eds. (Tor).
The Teen list has: #1 Reached, Ally Condie (Dutton); #4 Days of Blood & Starlight, Laini Taylor (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers); #5 Insurgent, Veronica Roth (Katherine Tegen); #7 Dodger, Terry Pratchett (Doubleday Children’s); #8 The Raven Boys, Maggie Stiefvater (Scholastic); #9 Every Day, David Levithan (Knopf); #10 Seraphina, Rachel Hartman (Random House Books for Young Readers); #12 Pandemonium, Lauren Oliver (HarperCollins).
The Romance category includes: #4 Gunnmetal Magic, Ilona Andrews (Ace) and #6 Lothaire, Kresley Cole (Pocket).
HUMBLE EBOOK BUNDLE
Humble Bundle Inc. launched their first ‘‘Humble eBook bundle’’ in October 2012, selling a collection of e-books on a ‘‘pay-what-you-want’’ basis for two weeks, with revenue split among the authors, Humble Bundle itself, and three charities: The Electric Frontier Foundation, The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, and Child’s Play Charity. As in all Humble Bundles, buyers were able to choose what portion of their payments went to charity, the content creators, or Humble itself. The sale raised over $1.2 million from 84,219 purchases, with readers choosing to pay an average of $14.28 for the selection of DRM-free SF/F e-books and comic collections.
This is the first book promotion Humble Bundle has done, though they have previously sold video game and music bundles on the same ‘‘pay-what-you-want’’ basis, and have raised over $7 million for charity so far. Titles included in the package were: Pump Six and Other Stories, Paolo Bacigalupi; Zoo City, Lauren Beukes; Pirate Cinema, Cory Doctorow; Invasion: The Secret World Chronicles, Mercedes Lackey, Steve Libby, Dennis Lee & Cody Martin; Stranger Things Happen and Magic for Beginners, Kelly Link. The site tracks and displays the average donation amount, and those who chose to pay more than the average also received Signal to Noise by Neil Gaiman & Dave McKean and Old Man’s War by John Scalzi. Partway through the promotion, a number of webcomic collections were also added.
Cory Doctorow, who helped organize the bundle, called it ‘‘an unequivocal success. It connected readers with writers, demonstrated the success of treating people as you’d like to be treated, exposed new readers to a wide variety of material, and most of all, made one metric FUCKLOAD of money.’’
SFWA LAUNCHES YA GROUP
The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association has announced the formation of SFWA Middle Grade and Young Adult writers, ‘‘a special interest group supporting SFWA’s middle grade and young adult author members.’’ The group was launched in June 2012, and is finishing a six-month trial period. It is open only to active and associate SFWA members who meet eligibility requirements, including YA/MG publications in qualifying markets, or to affiliate members who work in the YA/MG field. The aim is ‘‘to create an integral community within SFWA that is comprised of MG and YA SFWA authors for mutual support and knowledge sharing, recognizing that MG and YA SFWA authors work in markets with demands that are different from adult SF/F/H. Secondarily, this group aims to provide information to the broader SFWA membership about MG and YA via educational outreach on the SFWA blog, the SFWA discussion forums, the SFWA Bulletin, and at SF/F conventions.’’ The group is led by a three-person steering committee: Malinda Lo, Jenn Reese, and Janni Lee Simmer. For more, contact the committee at
FICTIONWISE CLOSES
E-book retailer Fictionwise.com announced in mid-November that it would ‘‘wind down its operation’’ on December 4, 2012, with customers in the US losing access to books on December 21 and international customers on January 31, 2013. US and UK customers have the option to transfer their accounts (and the purchased titles) to Barnes and Noble’s Nook store. Fictionwise was one of the earliest and most successful e-book retailers, launching on June 5, 2000. In 2009, Barnes & Noble acquired Fictionwise for $15.7 million, announcing plans to integrate the site into their digital operations.
AMAZON NEWS
Online bookseller Amazon has been taking advantage of a tax loophole for European sales, but that loophole may be closed soon. Amazon is registered as a Luxembourg company, and enjoyed that country’s low 3% Value Added Tax (VAT) charge on all their sales to UK readers, versus the 20% charged in the UK. The European commission of the European Union has demanded that Luxembourg increase its VAT rate for all digital services from 3% to 15% or face fines. The commission made similar demands of France, which offers online retailers a 7% tax rate.
The British government is going after Amazon directly, too, with representatives of that company (along with Google and Starbucks) called to answer questions from the Public Accounts Committee in Parliament, where Members of Parliament demanded to know how the American corporations justified ‘‘practising tax avoidance on an industrial scale’’ by paying so little in UK taxes while doing so much business there. Chair Margaret Hodge said, ‘‘We’re not accusing you of being illegal, we’re accusing you of being immoral.’’ All of the companies have their European headquarters in countries with lower corporate tax rates. Amazon’s public policy director, Andrew Cecil, appeared before the committee, but Hodge accused him of avoiding questions, calling his responses ‘‘unacceptable nonsense’’ and vowing to summon senior executives to answer for their policies.
Amazon set off a minor panic among authors and publish
ers in the US when the ‘‘buy’’ buttons for Kindle books published by Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin, Random House, and Simon & Schuster all vanished on the evening of November 8, 2012, making the e-books unavailable for purchase from the Kindle store. Portions of the Internet exploded with conspiracy theories, with many noting that only publishers who use the agency model were affected. The Kindle team put out a statement late that night explaining that ‘‘the Kindle store is experiencing a technical issue. We’re working to correct it.’’ By the next morning the ‘‘issue’’ was fixed, though what exactly caused the glitch was never explained.
The worry over the vanishing buy buttons was reasonable. A recent study by Bowker Market Research indicates that e-book sales accounted for 22% of all book sales in the second quarter of 2012 – and 27% of those sales come from Amazon, by far the single largest seller of e-books.
FRAZETTA AND SUYDAM ART STOLEN
Several pieces of art were stolen from the New York studio of artist Arthur Suydam, including Suydam’s own painting, ‘‘Alien Genocide’’ and a drawing by the late Frank Frazetta, ‘‘Little Devil’’. The artist asks that anyone with information about the theft or the whereabouts of the art contact him at
2012 ROMANTIC TIMES REVIEWERS’ CHOICE NOMINEES
Romantic Times Book Reviews has announced the nominees for their 2012 Reviewers’ Choice Awards. There are over a dozen categories of SF/fantasy/horror interest, with a few of the most prominent included below.
Science Fiction Novel: The Hydrogen Sonata, Iain M. Banks (Orbit US); The Twelve, Justin Cronin (Ballantine); Blackout, Mira Grant (Orbit US); Redshirts, John Scalzi (Tor); Sorry Please Thank You, Charles Yu (Pantheon). Epic Fantasy Novel: Range of Ghosts, Elizabeth Bear (Tor); Seven Princes, John R. Fultz (Orbit US); King of Thorns, Mark Lawrence (Ace); Sharps, K.J. Parker (Orbit US). Fantasy Novel: Ironskin, Tina Connolly (Tor); The Shadowed Sun, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit US); Glamour in Glass, Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor); Cast in Peril, Michelle Sagara (Luna); All Spell Breaks Loose, Lisa Shearin (Ace). Urban Fantasy Novel: White Horse, Alex Adams (Atria); The Isis Collar, Cat Adams (Tor); Thirteen, Kelley Armstrong (Dutton); Summoning the Night, Jenn Bennett (Pocket); Fair Game, Patricia Briggs (Ace); Blue-Blooded Vamp, Jaye Wells (Orbit); Urban Fantasy Protagonist: Endgame, Ann Aguirre (Ace); Alien Diplomacy, Gini Koch (DAW); Shadow Heir, Richelle Mead (Zebra); Tempest’s Fury, Nicole Peeler (Orbit); Even White Trash Zombies Get the Blues, Diana Rowland (DAW). Young Adult Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Novel: Every Other Day, Jennifer Lynn Barnes (Egmont USA); Loss, Jackie Morse Kessler (Graphia); Carnival of Souls, Melissa Marr (Harper); Fated, Alyson Noël (St. Martin’s Griffin); Destined, Aprilynne Pike (HarperTeen); The Raven Boys, Maggie Stiefvater (Scholastic); Days of Blood and Starlight, Laini Taylor (Little, Brown). Young Adult Fantasy/Futuristic/Science Fiction Novel: Onyx, Jennifer L. Armentrout (Entangled); Bitterblue, Kristin Cashore (Dial); Tempest, Julie Cross (Thomas Dunne); Cinder, Marissa Meyer (Feiwel & Friends); Unraveling, Elizabeth Norris (Balzer + Bray); Insurgent, Veronica Roth (Katherine Tegen). Young Adult Protagonist: Shadow and Bone, Leigh Bardugo (Holt); Dearly, Beloved, Lia Habel (Del Rey); Sacrifice, Cayla Kluver (Harlequin Teen); Every Day, David Levithan (Knopf); Velveteen, Daniel Marks (Delacorte); Necromancing the Stone, Lish McBride (Holt). Winners will be announced at the Romantic Times Book Lovers’ Convention May 1-5, 2013 in Kansas City MO. A complete lists of nominees in all categories can be found at
The Data File continues after ads.
EATON JOURNAL LAUNCHED
The Eaton Collection of Science Fiction & Fantasy at the University of California in Riverside announced they are launching the Eaton Journal of Archival Research in Science Fiction. This bi-annual, peer-reviewed, open-access, online journal is now soliciting articles for the first issue, scheduled for publication April 10, 2013. Each issue will feature three types of articles: scholarly (with a significant research component); methodological/pedagogical; and those that focus on neglected authors, upcoming archives, and other research opportunities.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Odyssey Writing Workshops Charitable Trust has announced its online classes for Winter 2013: ‘‘Three-Act Structure in Fantastic Fiction’’ taught by Jeanne Cavelos (January 2-30, 2013); ‘‘Getting the Big Picture: The Key to Revising Your Novel’’ taught by Barbara Ashford (January 7 - February 4, 2013); and ‘‘Bodies & Heartbeats: Crafting Character from the Inside Out’’ taught by Elaine Isaak (January 23 - February 20, 2013). Application deadlines for the classes are December 7, 11, and 27, respectively. For details, or to apply, see
FINANCIAL NEWS
AAP’s Statshot program shows strong sales in the first six months of 2012, with adult titles up 8.3% and children’s/young adult up 40.7% from the previous year. Mass Market paperbacks took the biggest hit, down 20.3% YTD. E-book sales continued to show dramatic growth, with sales for adult e-books up 34.4% YTD to $621.3 million, and children’s/YA e-books year-to-date sales soaring up 251.5% to $146.4 million. Adult hardcover sales for the year were up 2.1%, earning $556.2 million YTD; adult trade paperbacks did the best, bringing in $720.8 million, up 5.2%, boosted in no small part to the sales of the hit Fifty Shades trilogy. YA/children’s print sales were up 15.4% YTD; both print and e-book children’s/YA sales were helped by sales of The Hunger Games titles.
BookStats sales data for 2011, as analyzed by Publishers Weekly, shows print sales declining faster than increased digital sales can make up, with total book sales falling to $27.2 billion, a 2.5% decrease from 2010. Juvenile fiction had the best showing in trade sales, with 2011 taking in $2.78 million, up from $2.48 million the previous year, an 11.9% increase, due largely to a 378.3% increase in e-book sales. Adult fiction sales were down 6.1% to $4.29 million, despite an 116.4% increase in e-book sales for the category, thanks to a 23.1% decline in Adult Hardcover sales and a 31.8% decline in Mass Market.
Nielsen BookScan data for shows a sharp dip in backlist sales for the first part of 2012 (through July 22), with adult print fiction backlist sales down 30% compared to the same period from last year, and non-fiction down 13%.
Amazon reported its second-quarter total sales up 29%, to $12.83 billion; third-quarter net sales rose 27% to $13.8 billion, compared to last year’s $10.88 billion in the same period. Still, the company posted a net loss of $274 million for the quarter due to investments in items including new Kindles and new warehouses. Amazon’s share of book spending rose from 23% to 29% in the first quarter of 2012, according to Bowker data. The rise in Amazon’s business is attributed to the collapse of Borders, and the ever-increasing sales of e-books corresponding to the decline in print sales.
Simon & Schuster’s third quarter report showed sales down 5% to $210 million compared to the previous year. Digital sales were up 20%, with e-books making up 19% of sales. For the first nine months of 2012, earnings (OIBDA) fell 9% to $53 million, thanks to costs accrued from the Department of Justice e-book price-fixing lawsuit and settlement.
Barnes & Noble’s first fiscal quarter exceeded expectations. Their earnings (EBIDTA) for the quarter were $4 million, up from last year’s $24 million loss. Overall sales were $1.453 billion, up 2.5%, but still failed to meet market expectations. The Nook failed to increase its business, showing first quarter losses of $57 million; decreased prices on existing devices and ‘‘continued investments in the Nook business’’ were blamed for the loss.
News Corporation reported their overall publishing numbers for the first quarter of fiscal year 2013, ending September 30, 2012, were down, but HarperCollins, which is no longer broken out in their figures, had a ‘‘solid’’ quarter, thanks to the purchase of Thomas Nelson in July, leading to a ‘‘significant increase’’ in revenue
Lagardere’s third quarter sales went up 4.2% to E626 million (up 0.1% after currency fluctuations are accounted for). English-language Ge
neral Literature saw a 7.3% rise in US sales and 17% rise in UK sales, attributed to sales of J.K. Rowling’s The Casual Vacancy. E-books were 20% of total third-quarter Adult trade book sales in both the US and the UK.
Bowker reported that the price of e-books declined in 2011, with the average price of an adult fiction e-book falling from an average of $5.69 in 2010 to $5.24 in 2011. Nonfiction saw even greater losses, with the average price falling 28.5% to $6.47. The falling prices drove down the average purchase price of all books, most notably in the third quarter where the average book price fell from $13.05 in 2010 to $12.62 in 2011
The number of self-published books has almost tripled since 2006 in the US; according to Bowker, 235,625 print and e-titles were self-published in 2011. Print books account for 63% of the total, but e-books are seeing greater increases, with production up 129% since 2006, compared to only a 33% rise in print titles.
INTERNATIONAL RIGHTS
Norwegian rights to Deadlocked and Dead Ever After by Charlaine Harris sold to Cappelen Damm via Ib Lauritzen at Bookman on behalf of Brady McReynolds at JABberwocky.
Complex Chinese rights to Michael Chabon’s Telegraph Avenue went to Linking via Gray Tan of The Grayhawk Agency on behalf of Rachel Vogel at Mary Evans.
Kazak rights to Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code sold to Turan-Asia via Andrew Nurnberg Associates Baltic on behalf of Heide Lange of Sanford J. Greenburger Associates. Czech audio rights to The Da Vinci Code, Angels & Demons, and Deception Point sold to Tyumpanum via Andrew Nurnberg Associates Prague on behalf of Lange.
Spanish rights to Osama by Lavie Tidhar went to Anik Lapointe at RBA Libros via Louisa Pritchard at LPA.
French rights to Cassandra Clare’s The Dark Artifices trilogy and The Shadowhunters’ Codex sold to Pocket Jeunesse via Heather Baror-Shapiro of Baror International in association with Scovil Galen Ghosh Literary Agency.
Spanish rights to Jim Butcher’s Academ’s Fury went to RBA Libros via International Editors on behalf of Jennifer Jackson of the Donald Maass Literary Agency.