Supreme Court To Consider Cross-Media Ownership Rules (mediapost.com)

With all major categories posting huge gains, unit sales of print books jumped 22.7% for the week ended Jan. 16, 2021, over the comparable week in 2020, at outlets that report to NPD BookScan. The biggest gains came in the YA categories, with fiction up 47.6% and nonfiction rising 46.9%. The release of Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas, which sold nearly 18,000 copies, helped to lift YA fiction. In YA nonfiction, Stamped by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi was the top title, selling more than 4,100 copies. Juvenile fiction sales rose 30.7% over the week ended Jan. 18, 2020, led by Little Blue Truck’s Valentine by Alice Schertle, which sold just over 28,000 copies, and Dav Pilkey’s Cat Kid Comic Club, which sold nearly 22,000 copies. Juvenile nonfiction sales rose 28.8% over 2020. Two educational titles led the way: Crystal Radke’s My First Learn-to-Write Workbook sold more than 7,000 copies, and Big Preschool Workbook sold 6,400 copies. Adult fiction unit sales rose almost 30% over 2020.

The National Retail Federation (NRF) shared its forecast on the state of U.S. retail and consumers in 2024. The organization predicted that things would largely continue on the same track as 2023. “The resiliency of consumers continues to power the American economy, and we are confident there will be moderate but steady growth through the end of the year,” NRF president and CEO Matthew Shay said in a virtual panel on March 20. “Successful retailers offer consumers products and services when, where and how they want to shop with prices they want to pay.” The group invited industry experts and retail leaders to share more about what they expect to see in 2024.

The Taunton Press has sold Fine Cooking, the preferred media platform for avid cooking enthusiasts, to Meredith Corporation. Meredith’s national media group reaches nearly 200 million American consumers every month, including 80% of US millennials. It is a leader in creating content across media platforms and life stages in key consumer interest areas such as celebrity, food, lifestyle, home, parenting, beauty, fashion, news and sports. Meredith also features robust brand licensing activities including more than 3,000 SKUs of branded products at 5,000 Walmart stores across the US and at walmart.com., as well as innovative business-to-business marketing solutions provided by Meredith Xcelerated Marketing.