Jim Milliot

1 week ago | publishersweekly.com | Jim Milliot

One day after announcing that Ellie Berger will step down as president of Scholastic Trade Publishing, the publisher has announced plans to integrate its trade publishing, book fairs, and books clubs businesses into the Scholastic Children’s Book Group. Sasha Quinton, most recently president of the Reading Events Group, which includes the fairs and clubs, has been named to lead the combined group as EVP and president.

1 week ago | publishersweekly.com | Jim Milliot

The Walt Disney Company’s book operations have undergone a series of changes over the years as the company has morphed into a media and entertainment colossus. Disney Publishing’s most recent big pivot came in 2020, when it sold 1,110 children’s titles to Hachette Book Group and made the decision to focus on acquiring global content that it can leverage across multiple platforms and media.

1 week ago | publishersweekly.com | Jim Milliot

Ellie Berger, a steadfast presence at Scholastic for 40 years, will step down as president of Scholastic Trade Publishing and EVP of the company on June 11. Berger began at Scholastic in 1985 as an associate managing editor and was named publisher of the trade division in 2006. In 2007 she was promoted to president of the group, succeeding Lisa Holton.

2 weeks ago | publishersweekly.com | Jim Milliot

Like they have since sales and profits peaked in the fiscal year ended February 28, 2021, executives at Educational Development Corp. devoted the bulk of the fiscal year ended February 28, 2025, to attempt to get their financial house in order. The end of the pandemic left EDC, which features a multi-level sales force plus a traditional publishing arm, with too much inventory and a rapidly declining home rep sales team as children returned to school and home-based reps found other jobs.

2 weeks ago | publishersweekly.com | Jim Milliot

After a sluggish January and February, sales at the 1,325 publishers who report results to AAP’s StatShot program posted a 7.3% increase in March. With the increase, sales for the first quarter of 2025 moved into positive territory, up 1% over the comparable period in 2024. Through February, sales had been down 1.7%. The big driver in March was once again the higher education course materials segment where sales jumped 28.9%. For the first three months of the year, sales increased 8.2% over 2024.