February Store Sales Drop

Bookstore sales plunged 10.8% in February, to $1.02 billion, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Sales for the full retail sector fell 11.5% in the month. For the first two months of 2009, bookstore sales were down 3.2%, to $3.32 billion.

Cataloguing Error Disrupts Amazon

Amazon said a cataloguing error was the reason 57,310 books lost their ranking feature over the Easter weekend. Since many of the books that were de-ranked had gay and lesbian themes, authors and readers believed Amazon was engaging in some sort of censorship, a theory promulgated on Twitter. It took Amazon nearly a day to comment on the problem, initially calling it a glitch before announcing the catalogue problem. The answers left some skeptical about what really happened and why Amazon took so long to respond to the Internet-fueled uproar.

B&T Forms Digital Unit

Baker & Taylor has formed a new unit to provide digital distribution services for clients, the Digital Media Services Group. The unit is headed by Bob Nelson, executive v-p of global business development. To help launch the division, B&T has signed an agreement with LibreDigital to help build the digital service.

Results Down At Courier

Total revenue for the second quarter ended March 28 fell 12%, to $59.4 million, at Courier Corp., and the company had a net loss of $11.2 million compared to earnings of $3.4 million in last year's second quarter. Results in the most recent period include $19.1 million in write-offs. Sales in the publishing segment fell 28%, to $12.1 million, and the segment lost $566,000, as both Dover and Creative Homeowner lost money. Courier said it expects both units to do better in the second half of the fiscal year. In the printing segment, sales dropped 6%, to $49.9 million. Sales fell 4% in the education market, while trade sales were flat and sales to the religious market were off 13%.

For the first half of the year, revenue fell 9%, to $119.0 million, and Courier had a loss of $10.5 million compared to $4.8 million in earnings last year.

Silver Joins ZSH Agency

Janet Silver, former v-p and publisher of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, has joined the Zachary Shuster Harmsworth agency. Silver, who is taking on the post of agent and editorial director, will be at the agency's Boston office. She will handle literary fiction and narrative nonfiction. She was most recently editor-at-large at Random House's Nan Talese imprint.

Howard Books Moving to Nashville

A little more than a month after Jonathan Merkh was appointed publisher of Simon & Schuster's Howard Books division, S&S announced it will move the religious book publisher's offices from West Monroe, La., to Nashville, where Merkh lives. Some of Howard's staff will move to Nashville; the relocation is expected to be completed by May 1.

Krug Dies at 69

Judy Krug, who headed the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom, died last week. She was 69. Krug, who headed that office from its creation in 1967, also played a major role in the establishment of the Freedom to Read Foundation as the First Amendment legal defense arm of the ALA, and served as the Foundation's executive director since 1969. Judy Platt, director of AAP's Freedom to Read program, said of Krug: “She believed in the power of the 'community of the book' and was convinced that when librarians, publishers, booksellers and authors stand together in defense of intellectual freedom they are unstoppable.”

Weiler Dies at 40

Derek Weiler, editor of the Canadian publishing trade Quill & Quire, died on April 12 at his home in Toronto. Weiler, who had been quietly battling a chronic health problem, was 40. In addition to his work at Q&Q he also reviewed books for a number of publications including the Toronto Star, TheGlobe and Mail, Driven and Chatelaine.

Climate Goals Set

The Book Industry Environmental Council announced last week that it has set a target of reducing the industry's greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by 2020, from a 2006 baseline of 12.4 million metric tons of carbon. By 2050, the goal is to reduce emissions by 80%. Increased use of recycled fiber in paper production and reducing the amount of returns are two ways the industry can reduce its carbon footprint, the BIEC said.

Borders Changing Board

Two of Borders's current shareholders will not stand for re-election this May and five other directors who are expected to win re-election will resign once replacementsare found. The move will give shareholder Pershing Capital more influence on the board's makeup.