Highlights: *Net sales of $5 billion, down 7% versus the first quarter of 2022. -Brick-and-mortar sales decreased 6% versus the first quarter of 2022. -Digital sales decreased 8% versus the first quarter of 2022. *Comparable sales down 7.9% on an owned basis and down 7.2% on an owned-plus-licensed basis. *Gross margin rate for the quarter was 40.0%, up from 39.6% in the first quarter of 2022. Versus the first quarter of 2019, gross margin rate increased 180 basis points from 38.2%.

Once again this year we decided to weigh the September issues. Without access to ad page data, book size becomes an increasingly more important indicator than in years past. And this year, the indicator is not good. September was always the one time when these publications truly believed big is beautiful, but they are starting to become as petite as those who grace their covers. To conduct this research we went out and procured the magazines the old fashioned way—on the newsstand. Here’s the rather disturbing thing: they weren’t all that easy to find. We visited a few different newsstands, asked the clerks about them, and were met with a blank stares. It wasn’t until we visited a major book retailer were we able to purchase all nine titles. Perhaps that alone is a telling enough indicator that the September issues don’t carry the weight they once did. Nevertheless, we still walked out of the store with nine magazines that weighed in at nearly 15 pounds (plus we got a really cool commemorative tote for buying Vogue). Still, that’s a loss of nearly five cumulative pounds versus last year. Nobody will congratulate these titles for their dramatic weight losses. Click Read More below for more of the story.

Macmillan Publishing's trade group will establish a new 13-member "trade management committee" to set goals and objectives for all publishers, divisions, and departments under its purview, the company announced in two letters to staff on Monday, one from CEO John Sargent and another from president Don Weisberg and COO Andrew Weber. The new management team will set company-wide goals and objectives, though the publishing houses will remain as independent companies, and the publishers will continue to report directly to Weisberg. As for his role, Sargent said he will "step back from day-to-day management to make room for new voices" in the U.S. trade publishing operation, although he will remain in charge of the overall Macmillan global businesses. Macmillan's college operations are not part of the new initiative. The move is the most significant to date at Macmillan to address issues of diversity and representation in the publishing business, and comes two weeks after an industry-wide collective action protesting racism initially organized by five Macmillan employees took place (an action on which the publisher declined to comment).