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Children’s Books Taking College Campuses by Storm
At a time when the amount of space devoted to trade books on college campuses is shrinking and many campus stores have dropped “book” from their name to reflect a greater breadth of products and services, children’s books are proving to be a bright spot.
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What's Selling at Cavalier House Books
Good weather in Denham Springs, La., has helped boost customer traffic at Cavalier House Books this summer, and Michelle Cavalier, who owns the store with her husband John, sends word of several books that she’s especially pleased to be selling.
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RILA Backs Fairness Act
Retail Industry Leaders Association, whose members account for more than $1.5 trillion in annual sales, is the latest to weigh in on leveling the playing field and the Marketplace Fairness Act.
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Outdoor Reading Series Launches in Brooklyn Bridge Park
Monday night marked the inaugural reading of an open air literary series, Books Beneath the Bridge, which features six readings, each curated by a different bookstore in Brooklyn, N.Y.
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Prairie Lights Opens New Division in Cedar Rapids
New Bo Books, which opened in the historic New Bohemia neighborhood of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, will operate much like a franchise, but is a division of Prairie Lights Bookstore in Iowa City.
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Citing Amazon Ties, Booksellers Say No to New Harvest
With Houghton Mifflin Harcourt selling in the first titles it acquired from Amazon Publishing under its New Harvest imprint, bricks-and-mortar stores show little interest in carrying books that are being released as e-books only through Amazon, a PW survey found.
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How Much Does the Times Book Review Matter?
The front page of the New York Times Book Review has always been—and continues to be—a much coveted spot for authors and publishers alike. But just how much does a Book Review cover affect a book’s sales? The answer will surprise you.
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Comics Retailers See Strong Sales in 2012
Although the economic recovery continues to chug along at a snail’s pace, the comics retail market, at least anecdotally, is doing much better than in recent years. Buoyed by successful events such as DC’s New 52, the reboot of its superhero comics universe last Summer, and The Avengers movie earlier this year, and sustained by savvy booksellers who’ve learned to pivot quickly no matter what the economy throws at them, the responses to this year’s annual, informal survey of comic book retailers and general bookstores leaves little doubt that sales of book format and periodical comics are up in nearly every area of the market.
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Word Up Must Move
Word Up, the all-volunteer bookstore collective in Washington Heights, lost its month-to-month lease and has to find a new space by the end of this month.
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New Owners at Concord Bookshop
Book blogger Dawn Rennert, communications manager at the Concord Bookshop in Concord, Mass., and her husband, Jon, became majority owners in the 72-year-old store.
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Hue-Man to Close Bricks-and-Mortar Store
Ten-year-old Hue-Man Bookstore and Café in New York City will close its physical space on July 31 in order to reinvent itself. It has already begun liquidating inventory and selling fixtures.
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Fireside Bookstore to Close
Fireside Bookstore, which opened in Olympia, Wash. 32 years ago, could close as early as the end of this month, if a buyer doesn't come forward.
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Digital Sales Up 38% at B&N
Sales of what has been Barnes & Noble’s core business for most of its history—“tangible” books, music, movies, rentals, and newsstand—made up 66% of the chain’s total revenue in the fiscal year ended April 28, 2012, according to figures published in the company’s annual report. Sales in the segment were $4.7 billion, down 4% from the previous year. The 38.8% growth in digital sales more than offset that decline, with sales of digital devices and e-content finishing just short of $1.1 billion in fiscal 2012, 15% of all revenue. The company has made lots of changes to the product mix in its “other” category, most notably expanding the selection of toys and games, but sales in that category rose less than 2% in the most recent fiscal year and represented the same percentage of total revenue, 19%, in 2012 that it did in 2011.
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Cultivating Book Sales at Farmers’ Markets
It used to be that offering customers coffee, tea, or occasionally wine or beer with their books was enough. But in some communities, books go better with heirloom tomatoes, sweet corn, and local organic meat. Outdoor marketplaces may not work for everyone—Powell’s Books in Portland, Ore., dropped out after one summer—but for the right book, an occasional table at a farmers’ market can boost sales.
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Finding Waldo on Main Street
Starting this weekend, children across the country will be on a month-long scavenger hunt to look for the skinny, bespectacled children's book character in a red-and-white shirt at local businesses as part of a celebration of Where’s Waldo?, which turns 25 this year, and independent bookstores.
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B&N Eyes Nook Bookstores in 10 Countries Within A Year
Barnes & Noble’s 10-K filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission provides a bit more of a glimpse at its plans for international expansion as well as another look at how its mix of sales is changing. According to the filing, B&N says that through NewCo it plans to launch the Nook digital bookstore in 10 countries within 12 months.
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Another Mixed Bag For Barnes & Noble
Even in the digital age, Barnes & Noble can’t avoid the headache of returns. Although the company posted lots of positive results for the year-end and fourth quarter of fiscal 2012, the number most analysts seem to focus on was Nook segment sales for the fourth quarter, which fell 10.5%, to $164 million. CEO William Lynch explained that the decline was due to heavy returns of Nook Simple Touch in the quarter and the decision to delay the launch of Nook GlowLight to May to ensure it met B&N’s quality standards.
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How Retailers Can Turn Showrooming into an Advantage
Bricks-and-mortar bookstores have a bumpy road ahead. With more retail customers heading to the Internet and the rising tide of e-book sales, bricks-and-mortar stores need to further blur the line between physical stores and online retail. To survive, physical retail outlets will need to enhance the in-store experience with online resources.
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Grolier Poetry Book Shop Goes Nonprofit Route
If only the Grolier Poetry Book Shop in Cambridge, Mass., had had the cash reserves of its 16th-century namesake, French book collector Jean Grolier de Severières, perhaps it wouldn’t have had to struggle financially during its first 85 years. As Ifeanyi Menkiti, the store’s third owner since its founding by Adrian Gambet and Gordon Cairnie in 1927, says, “It’s always been a labor of love.” Now, as he readies the tiny 404-sq.-ft. shop, the oldest continually operating poetry bookstore in the country, for its 85th anniversary celebration in the fall, he is looking to make it viable well into the future. To do so, Menkiti created the Grolier Poetry Foundation, a nonprofit organization, which will provide support for poets and disseminate their work—and keep the historic bookstore alive. He will be rolling out parts of the program over the next couple of years. “The idea,” he says, “is not for the foundation to absorb everything right now.”
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Books-A-Million Adds It Voice in Opposing DoJ Deal
Books-A-Million has joined the growing number of parties objecting to the Department of Justice’s agreement with Simon & Schuster, Hachette and HarperCollins to settle the department’s e-book price fixing lawsuit.
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