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First Espresso Book Machine in Continental Europe
On Demand Books, the company behind the Espresso Book Machine, continues to extend its reach. Late last month it installed its first machine in continental Europe at the American Book Center in Amsterdam. The machine is currently being tested and will be up and running and able to print books in multiple languages at the beginning of 2011.
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Northern Lights Might Dim in February
Anita Zager, the owner of Duluth, Minn.'s Northern Lights Bookstore, who has been quietly looking for a buyer for her 17-year-old store since August, intends to close the store in late February when her lease is up, if she has not found a buyer by then. Zager, a past president of the board of the Midwest Booksellers Association, cites family obligations as the impetus to leave bookselling, though the proliferation of e-books is also a factor.
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Jeff Kinney and Rick Riordan Put the "Black" into Black Friday
Many independent booksellers contacted by PW earlier this week reported solid holiday sales over the Thanksgiving weekend. Two standouts, even at stores that don't typically boost a high percentage of children's sales, were the fifth Wimpy Kid title and the first book in the new Heroes of Olympus series.
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Bookstore Turns Kids and Parents into Self-Publishers
At the Charlotte, N.C. children's bookstore Author Squad, kids and parents don't just buy books, they make books—as in writing, illustrating, laying out, and hand-binding hardcover volumes, at the store's own publishing center. Owner Lauren Garber has gotten the process so kid-friendly, in fact, that even two-year-olds can get in on constructing their own books.
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Hedgebrook and 'Words Without Borders' Win Amazon Grants
Amazon.com has awarded two new grants, giving $25,000 to Hedgebrook, the writer's colony on Whidbey Island, northwest of Seattle, and $44,000 to the nonprofit magazine dedicated to literature in translation, Words Without Borders.
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Nooks and Digital Content Drive Barnes & Noble
Results in the second quarter ended October 30 at Barnes & Noble were marked by big gains at Barnes & Noble.com, where comparable sales rose 59% led by sales of digital content and core products, and slower sales in the trade stores, where sales fell 5% and same store sales dropped 3.3%. Overall, sales, excluding the results of the college bookstore division, increased 1%, to a total of $1.91 billion; including the $798 million in college revenue, sales were up 64% (B&N bought Barnes & Noble College Booksellers last September). Net loss in the quarter was $12.6 million, down from $23.9 million in the comparable period in 2009.
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Memoirs Dominate an Up Black Friday at Indies
Many of the independent booksellers contacted by PW yesterday reported solid holiday sales over the Thanksgiving weekend. Memoirs, led by the difficult-to-get The Autobiography of Mark Twain and the still surprisingly hot Decision Points, were the most popular titles. Hardcover sales remained on the soft side and some booksellers were anxious about the impact of e-books and e-readers. "I have a feeling this is going to be a real Kindle/Nook Christmas," predicted Buttonwood's Betsy Detwiler. The reportedly imminent launch of Google Editions could help indies gain some traction in the e-book business however.
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Simply Audiobooks Cofounder Buys Books for Business
In his first foray into the book business in 2003, Sean Neville applied the Netflix model to audio rental and cofounded Simply Audiobooks, which he sold last year. Now he’s moving into traditional bookselling with last week’s purchase of niche business bookstore, Books for Business, in downtown Toronto, the large dedicated business bookstore, founded two decades ago by Jane Cooney.
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Assouline Adds More Outlets
Assouline is upping its presence on bookstore shelves this holiday season, but not in the usual way. Rather than push out more books through traditional bookstores, it is adding more outlets under its own brand.
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Visits to Dom Knigi, Bookvoed
St. Petersburg, Russia, is among the most beautiful cities in the world. Befitting its home city, Dom Knigi, or, the House of Books, is an outstanding architectural treat and home to one of the oldest bookstores still operating in Europe.
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ABC Booksellers Overwhelmingly Approve Merger With ABA
By a vote of 105 to 23, Association of Booksellers for Children members approved a merger with the American Booksellers Association. This marks the culmination of a process set in motion nearly two years ago when the ABC board, concerned about the organization's long-term survival given that nearly two thirds of its budget is funded by publishers, initiated possible merger discussions with ABA.
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DBD's Liang Finds Graphic Novel Growth Abroad
Just back from a tour of International book fairs in Frankfurt and the Middle East, Kuo-Yu Liang, v-p, sales and marketing at Diamond Book Distributors, is upbeat about the graphic novel market at home and abroad. Despite a tough economy, overall declines in manga sales and the loss of Marvel Comics as a distribution client, Liang says DBD's business is up for the year and he’s even more excited about the growing popularity of graphic novels around the world.
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BookPeople Celebrates 40 Years in Austin
Austin, Tex.'s BookPeople reached a milestone so big this month they had to celebrate it twice. On November 11, the store turned 40 years old, and took the next weekend to make it official with a family-friendly cake-and-balloons blowout on Saturday, and a business-casual party for publishers, authors, partners, and other industry friends on Sunday.
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Green Steps
Even before the eat local/shop local movement hit its stride, booksellers around the country were looking for ways to green their businesses—from recycling to energy-efficient electricity, and, in a few cases, transforming their entire buildings to make them green.
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Disappointing Quarter For Books-A-Million
Books-A-Million, the first of the three major bookstore chains to report third quarter results, said revenue for the period ended October 30 fell 5.5%, to $104.8 million, with comparable store sales off 5.8%. CEO Clyde Anderson called the comp sales performance “disappointing.”
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Toy Story at the Chains
It's not only Borders that is dedicating more space to educational toys. Late last week Barnes & Noble announced that it has begun testing what it calls "the ultimate play room," or 3,000 sq. ft. toy and game boutiques, in five New York-area stores. In addition, the retailer expanded the Toys & Games departments in all its stores nationwide.
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Globe Corner for Sale
Globe Corner Bookstore in Cambridge, Mass., is the latest Boston-area bookstore to go on the market due to the illness of one of its owners. Earlier this month New England Mobile Book Fair in Newton Highlands announced that it is selling its bookstore as well, in part because of health issues.
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B&N Shareholders Support Rights Plan
Barnes & Noble announced today that a special meeting of its shareholders has resulted in a vote to approve a shareholders rights plan. The vote, which ratified the poison pill provision adopted by B&N's board, saw roughly 72% of shares voting and 61% of shares outstanding supporting the measure.
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Canadian Book Sales Down In Q3
BookNet Canada is reporting that Canadian book sales in the third quarter of 2010 were down in both unit sales and dollar value when compared with third quarter results in 2009. Overall, the market is down 3.3% in the number of books sold and by 4.3% in value (unit sales multiplied by list price). Every category was down from 2009 levels.
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Borders Launches Revamped Web Site with More Discounted Titles & Free Shipping
Borders,after announcing a partnership with ShopRunner, an online shopping program that gives members free two-day shipping, and making free shipping a centerpiece of its Borders Rewards and Borders Rewards Plus programs, on Sunday it launched a revamped Web site with more products and more discounted books.
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