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Go Read This | Author Ray Connolly explains why he is publishing his latest novel chapter by chapter, online | Books | The Guardian
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Panel Picking: SXSW 2011
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Movie adaptation – No Country for Old Men
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Go Oisín
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Irish Educational publisher CJ Fallon has worked with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) to launch a localised version of HMH’s internationally used Destination Maths.

The site is based on CJ Fallon’s Mathemagic series and can be access on the website DestinationMaths.ie.

HMH, formerly know as Riverdeep, is headed by Irishman Barry O’Callaghan. Earlier this year it underwent a radical refinancing that wiped put considerable shareholder value.

The division behind this development is HMH Innovation based in Dublin.

CJ Fallon is one of Ireland’s oldest and best known educational publishers.

Dublin has joined Edinburgh, Iowa City, and Melbourne in the ranks of UNESCO’s Cities of Literature within the UNESCO Creative Cities Network.

The announcement was made today by the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Gerry Breen, who said ‘I am absolutely delighted about this achievement – which confirms what Dubliners have known for years – this is a city that has always produced – and continues to produce – great writers.’

A new website has been launched with news and information about the designation and literature events in Dublin city at DublinCityOfLiterature.ie

Dublin’s designation is only the fourth such award. It follows a campaign headed by Dublin City Libraries that drew upon the support and expertise of the city’s literary, arts, tourism, publishing and political resources and organisations.

Cities hoping to qualify for the award must meet the following criterea:

* Quality, quantity and diversity of editorial initiatives and publishing houses
* Quality and quantity of educational programmes focusing on domestic or foreign literature in primary and secondary schools as well as universities
* Urban environment in which literature, drama and/or poetry play an integral role;
* Experience in hosting literary events and festivals aiming at promoting domestic and foreign literature;
Libraries, bookstores and public or private cultural centres dedicated to the preservation, promotion and dissemination of domestic and foreign literature
* Active effort by the publishing sector to translate literary works from diverse national languages and foreign literature
* Active involvement of media, including new media, in promoting literature and strengthening the market for literary products

Penguin Ireland MD, Michael McLoughlin, has revealed that Penguin Ireland sold only 100 ebooks in 2009.

Speaking at the Irish Branch Conference of the Booksellers Association in the Hilton Hotel, Dublin, Saturday, McLoughlin said that so far in 2010 Penguin Ireland had sold over 1000 ebooks and he expected that sales would increase over time.

McLoughlin also said that Penguin as a whole expect digital sales to reach a minimum of 15% of all sales over the next five years.

In a wide ranging speech McLoughlin said that change would come to Ireland and that Publishers ‘can’t wait another year or two, because everything is changing so fast’. He finished his speech with the thought that this Autumn would see the ‘first digital Christmas, the question is how big is it going to be?’

McLoughlin’s speech came just a few days before the launch of the Apple iPad which many commentators expect to bring even greater change to book publishing. Penguin Ireland recently overtook Gill & Macmillan to become Ireland’s largest trade publisher, although Gill & Macmillan remains larger when educational publishing is counted.

Hughes & Hughes may now have closed but bookshops of many varieties still trade near their former locations.

Irish Publishing News offers a list of the bookshops nearby that can offer books to keep readers looking for new releases or bargain books happy.

In this edition: Wexford

Sadly our knowledge of Wexford Bookshops is much more limited than for Dublin stores but we’ve listed the ones we know of. If you have any more info about them, comment or e-mail and I will update the listings!

Byrne’s
Byrne’s have two stores in the Wexford area one at 31 North Main Street which is pretty books focused and one at Clonard Retail Park which is more toy focused.

The Book Centre
The Book Centre at 5 South Main Street Wexford is part of the small chain of Book Centre stores. They are generally excellent and offer a range that is impressive.

Selskar Bookshop Ltd
On Selskar Street, Selskar bookshop sells both general and education books.

photo credit: psd

On the face it might seem like a crazy suggestion that Penguin Ireland, less than a decade after being set up could possibly be the largest Irish-based trade publisher.

When you look at the headline figures for sales from the Irish Consumer Market as compiled by Nielsen Bookscan*, that seems to reinforce that impression. Gill & MacMillan, who are clearly the largest Irish-based publisher had 2009 sales figure of 284,827 units and €4,601,032.25 in value spread across 988 ISBNs. See the data in a google spreadsheet here.

Penguin Ireland had in comparison sales in 2009 of 208,467 units and € 2,858,771.43 spread across only 120 ISBNs. See the data in a google spreadsheet here.

Clearly Gill & MacMillan, as a publisher, is bigger. BUT that is for the whole market. If we wanted to see the figure for just trade sales we’d need to subtract the titles that fall outside the trade (which for Gill & MacMillan is a substantial chunk of their sales) the results are quite different.

As can be seen in the spreadsheet I have gone through each of the 988 G&M titles and assigned a T for Trade or E for Education to each one. Feel free to check the titles I’ve assigned to Trade and those I have assign to Education, where I was in doubt I checked the Gill & MacMillan website, but errors can happen in large data-sets like this. It would require a large error for the result to change markedly.

In any case, when you complete this task (You can see the calculations here) and sort for Trade, Gill & MacMillan had trade sales in 2009 of 179,559 units and €2,686,016.04. Penguin’s titles are all Trade books. That means that Penguin’s sales are 28,908 units and €172,755.39 larger than Gill & MacMillan’s trade business, making Penguin Ireland the largest Irish-based Trade Publisher.

~~~
Note: Nielsen Bookscan does not reflect sales of all books sold and depending on the title can reflect anything for 30-80%, the more commercial the title, the more likely it is to be recorded with accuracy.

Note: Irish-based may seem a strange way to analyse the Irish market, but considering the massive impact the UK based publishers have on the Irish market, I think it is a reasonable standard to use.

UPDATED: LINKS FOR FRIDAY 15th JANUARY 2010

Barry O’Callaghan (CEO of EMPG) spoke on Morning Ireland this morning. The Audio is at the end of the RTÉ article.

Wednesday saw the news leak out slowly and some of the media outlets you might have expected to report in Educational Media Publishing Group‘s troubles didn’t.

This morning most of them seem to have made up for that. What is clear is that the massive debts are to be restructured leaving a group of Irish investors seriously out of pocket.

In a radio interview on RTÉ on Thursday 14th January Barry O’Callaghan confirmed that the group was restructuring and that there would be a loss of value in the order of SEVERAL BILLION. He was personally losing several hundred million.

I’ve updated this list of stories with the newest links:

The Irish Times -1 -:

BARRY O’CALLAGHAN, the chief executive of Education Media and Publishing Group (EMPG), has told The Irish Times that he is not “broke” and he will honour every financial commitment on his investments, including the millions of euro owed to Anglo Irish Bank in relation to his equity stake in the educational publisher.

The Irish Times – 2- :

In a telephone interview with The Irish Times yesterday, O’Callaghan said this is “unfortunate” but the global economic meltdown of the past 18 months changed the rules of the game.

“I’m taking the brunt on that more than anyone else and it slightly bemuses me that I’m being positioned as the bad guy,” he said. “It’s just bad luck for me and my fellow shareholders. It’s nothing different from the people who bought houses [in the boom].”

Daily Finance:

Indeed, HMH may emerge from this debt-ridden mess with its heart still beating, ready to conduct business as usual. (In keeping with this motif, O’Callaghan will stay on as the head of the restructured company.) But O’Callaghan and CFO Michael Muldowney’s plea to company employees not to “allow yourselves to become distracted by speculation or rumors in the marketplace” doesn’t look to be heeded anytime soon — especially if the restructuring plan fails to stem the bleeding debt after all.

Publishing Perspectives:

O’Callaghan, who was once deemed the youngest billionaire in Ireland, told the Irish Times on Friday that he would repay much of his debt and would not fire any of the 300 people employed in Dublin. What’s perhaps even more surprising, he promised to go ahead with a commitment to create another 450 jobs at the company’s Irish headquarters.

The Financial Times:

The educational publisher, which competes with Pearson, owner of the Financial Times, is hoping to avoid a bankruptcy process by getting a consensual agreement in the next two or three weeks to cut total debt from about $7bn to just under $3bn.

The proposal would convert about half of EMPG’s $5bn in first lien debt and all of the $2bn second lien loans to equity, according to two people familiar with its terms. Second lien lenders have yet to approve terms which could give first lien lenders about 90 per cent of the equity.

Irish Independent – 1- :

EMPG’s €350m R&D centre in Dublin, announced to huge fanfare by Tanaiste Mary Coughlan in September 2008, will not be affected as the publishing giant restructures it finances, the company insisted last night.

It is understood that 200 people work in the Dublin city centre office, with plans to hike the overall figure to 450 over the next four years.

“The R&D centre is not affected by the refinancing,” said one source. “In fact, the project is currently delivering ahead of schedule.”

Irish Independent – 2-:

EMPG has been moving closer and closer to the edge of painful restructuring for some time. Headroom on its loan covenants has been getting tighter.

It is understood the company was in danger of missing a bond payment this week, but forbearance has been extended by its creditors until the end of the month.

This should give the company some badly needed breathing space in order to get a deal over the line.

The Irish Times:

This will change the shareholder structure and could leave Irish private investors, who between them currently control 5.5 per cent of EMPG, owning little or nothing of the business.

The Irish investors have put more than $475 million into the company in the past four years through Dublin-based stockbroker Davy. An informed source said yesterday that the investors would be left with a “minimal” stake.

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt parent company Education and Media Publishing Group (EMPG) is in discussions about a financial restructuring that could see the business taken over by its bankers, according to reports from Ireland.

In August last year the company restructured in order to reduce its $7bn (£4.3m) in debts, a move that saw its founder Barry O’Callaghan’s equity stake diluted.

Wall Street Journal (Reg Required):

Irish-American educational software publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Co.’s U.S.-based holding company said Wednesday it will undergo a “comprehensive balance sheet restructuring.”

The holding company–the U.S.-based Education Media & Publishing Group–said: “We and our financial and legal advisors are in advanced discussions with the company’s debt holders regarding potential alternatives that would result in a comprehensive balance sheet restructuring to put the company on a stronger financial footing.”

Publisher Lunch – 1 - (Reg Required):

Two debt restructurings last year still left Houghton Mifflin Harcourt parent company Education and Media Publishing Group (EMPG) straining to sustain their debt obligations and covenants, and reports from Ireland indicate yet another restructuring is in the works that would wipe out equity-holders entirely and turn the company over to its secured lenders.

Publisher Lunch – 2 - (Reg Required):

“Moreover, certain of our lenders have committed to make substantial new investments in the company in connection with this restructuring. Significantly, the plan will enhance liquidity and the company expects to have over $600M of new working capital to support growth initiatives.”

The Irish Independent:

Education Media & Publishing Group, the parent company of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, said it is in discussions with its debt holders aimed at a “comprehensive” financial restructuring.

EMPG is holding talks to put it on a “stronger financial footing,” it said today in an e-mailed statement.

“These developments have no adverse effect on our day-to- day operations, on our employees, or on the nature and quality of the services we provide to our customers and business partners,” it said in the statement.

UPDATE: For more links and discussion, see the Morning Update post!

Education Media Publishing Group, owner of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, is in financial restructuring talks that could see shareholders lose most of their equity according to RTÉ.ie and an Fine Gael (An Irish Opposition Party) Spokesperson, George Lee:

Educational media company EMPG, formerly Riverdeep, has confirmed it is in discussions which will result in ‘comprehensive’ financial restructuring.

Fine Gael said it appears that Irish shareholders will lose all of their investments as a result. ‘Many of these investors were funded through large loans from Anglo Irish Bank, which is now wholly owned by Irish taxpayers’, Fine Gael’s George Lee stated.

RTE News understands stockbroking company Davy has been in touch with a number of investors informing them that their equity has been wiped out.

RTÉ also got a quote from the company:

‘These developments have no adverse effect on our day-to-day operations, on our employees, or on the nature and quality of the service we provide to our customers and business partners,’ the statement said.

FOR MORE
The Bookseller:

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt parent company Education and Media Publishing Group (EMPG) is in discussions about a financial restructuring that could see the business taken over by its bankers, according to reports from Ireland.

In August last year the company restructured in order to reduce its $7bn (£4.3m) in debts, a move that saw its founder Barry O’Callaghan’s equity stake diluted.

Wall Street Journal (Reg Required):

Irish-American educational software publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Co.’s U.S.-based holding company said Wednesday it will undergo a “comprehensive balance sheet restructuring.”

The holding company–the U.S.-based Education Media & Publishing Group–said: “We and our financial and legal advisors are in advanced discussions with the company’s debt holders regarding potential alternatives that would result in a comprehensive balance sheet restructuring to put the company on a stronger financial footing.”

Publisher Lunch – 1 - (Reg Required):

Two debt restructurings last year still left Houghton Mifflin Harcourt parent company Education and Media Publishing Group (EMPG) straining to sustain their debt obligations and covenants, and reports from Ireland indicate yet another restructuring is in the works that would wipe out equity-holders entirely and turn the company over to its secured lenders.

Publisher Lunch – 2 - (Reg Required):

“Moreover, certain of our lenders have committed to make substantial new investments in the company in connection with this restructuring. Significantly, the plan will enhance liquidity and the company expects to have over $600M of new working capital to support growth initiatives.”

The Irish Independent:

Education Media & Publishing Group, the parent company of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, said it is in discussions with its debt holders aimed at a “comprehensive” financial restructuring.

EMPG is holding talks to put it on a “stronger financial footing,” it said today in an e-mailed statement.

“These developments have no adverse effect on our day-to- day operations, on our employees, or on the nature and quality of the services we provide to our customers and business partners,” it said in the statement.

The History Press, Ireland's Tweet

Nonsuch Ireland started life in 2005 as an imprint of Alan Sutton’s UK based NPI Media Group. Throughout the collapse of NPI (read this Bookseller story for more) and the emergence of The History Press, Nonsuch has remained stable under the leadership of Ronan Colgan.

However, in a Tweet from their Twitter account, Nonsuch announced the full re-brand to The, History Press Ireland along with a change of web address. The new site also carries the following message:

Nonsuch Ireland has become THP Ireland. As always, we aim to bring you the finest in Irish non-fiction and local history writing. Our wide range of titles covers history, maritime and military, sport and photography. THP Ireland is a member of Publishing Ireland, the Irish Publishing Association. All THP Ireland titles currently offer free shipping throughout the world.

(Full Disclosure: in what feels like another time, Eoin Purcell was one of three founding commissioning editors at Nonsuch Ireland)