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Print Books Still BMOC
E-books and e-readers may be making headlines off campus, but a new study by OnCampus Research, a division of the National Association of College Stores, reaffirmed last fall's OnCampus Student Watch study that 74% of college students prefer print. According to the study taken by 627 college students earlier this month, only 13% purchased an e-book within the past three months. And just over half, or 56%, did so because it was required for class.
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Judge Halts Massachusetts "Harmful to Minors" Law
A federal judge yesterday halted the implementation of a Massachusetts law that would ban certain works from the Internet and punish distributors of works deemed to be "harmful to minors" deeming it overly broad and in violation of the First Amendment. Signed into law this past April, the statute made anyone who operates a Web site or communicates through an electronic listserv criminally liable for nudity or sexually related material deemed harmful to minors, and subjected violators to a $10,000 and to up to five years in prison. The decision comes after a group of booksellers, advocates and trade associations sued the state in July.
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PGW Adds 5 Clients; Hal Leonard Goes With Login Canada
Publishers Group West is adding five new distribution clients this fall and winter, including one next week, the U.K.-based startup Visual Editions, which it will represent in both the U.S. and Canada. Visual Editions's first list includes a new novel by Jonathan Safran Foer, Tree of Codes.
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Fire Petal Books Closes Its Doors
Three-month-old Fire Petal Books in Centerville, Utah, a suburb of Salt Lake City, became the latest children's bookstore casualty this year. This spring former Gibbs Smith associate editor Michelle Witte used social media to raise funds to open the bookstore. But when her fundraising efforts fell short of her $40,000 goal, she scaled back her events plans and went ahead with opening the store.
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College Bookstores Head Back to Class
With Barnes & Noble College Booksellers, Follett Higher Education Group, and Nebraska Book Company all pushing textbook rental, not to mention online players like Chegg.com and BookRenter.com, 2010 is shaping up to be the year of the rented textbook.
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Texas Says Amazon Owes $269 Million in Taxes
Amazon has fought long and hard to avoid collecting sales tax in states where it believes it does not have nexus, and for the most part has been successful. But in its quarterly filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission Friday morning, the online retailer reported that in September Texas issued an assessment saying that Amazon owed the state $269 million for uncollected sales tax for the December 2005 to December 2009 period. In the filing, it wasn’t clear why Texas determined that Amazon should have collected sales tax, and Amazon stated that, "we believe that the State of Texas did not provide a sufficient basis for its assessment and that the assessment is without merit. We intend to vigorously defend ourselves in this matter."
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ABFFE Earns Injunction in Alaska
Booksellers, librarians and others won an injunction on Thursday in Federal District Court in Alaska to Senate Bill 222, which made anyone who operates a Web site that features content deemed "harmful to minors" criminally liable.
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Octavia Books Celebrates First Decade with Party, Public Radio Program
This past Saturday, New Orleans independent bookstore Octavia Books celebrated its 10-year anniversary with a party that drew a big crowd, and the announcement of a new program on local public radio station WWNO, "The Reading Life," sponsored by Octavia.
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B&N Divides Out Teen Fiction Genres
In a sign of just how popular teen fiction has become, Barnes & Noble is in the midst of rearranging its teen fiction section chain-wide this week in an effort to improve the shopping experience and boost sales. Already teen fiction is the biggest book growth category at Barnes & Noble, according to Mary Amicucci, v-p of children's books. In terms of volume, it is the second largest subject, behind adult fiction. After testing the concept at a Barnes & Noble store in Hackensack, N.J., three weeks ago, the chain pushed the go button to reorganize all its teen sections by separating out the two most popular genres—paranormal romance and fantasy and adventure—from teen fiction.
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Powell's Books Wins Visit from Suzanne Collins
Scholastic announced Thursday that Powell's Books in Portland, Ore., has been selected as the winner of the publisher's in-store display contest, earning a visit from Suzanne Collins. Participating bookstores were challenged to create a display reflecting the look and spirit of Mockingjay, the final installment of The Hunger Games trilogy.
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California Lawyers, Wisconsin Booksellers
It's been a hectic selling season for Theron O'Connor and Demaris Brinton, who've been working almost nonstop since mid-May, when the couple opened Apostle Islands Booksellers in Bayfield, Wis.
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Bookstore Sales Drop 6.5% in August
Bookstore sales fell by their largest rate of 2010 in August, declining 6.5%, to $2.29 billion, according to preliminary estimates released this morning by the U.S. Census Bureau. Driven by sales through college bookstores, August is typically one of the biggest sales months for bookstores. For the first eight months of 2010, bookstore sales were down 2.0%, to $10.79 billion. For the entire retail segment, sales rose 3.9% in August and 6.1% in the first eight months of the year.
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Great Show, Great Energy, Great Lakes
Suzy Takacs, owner of the Book Cellar in Chicago spoke for most booksellers who attended the Great Lakes Independent Booksellers Association trade show held at the Hyatt Regency in Dearborn, Mich., from October 8-10, when she said, "I thought it was a great show. There was a lot of positive energy, and bookseller attendance was up." As Jill Miner, owner of Saturn Booksellers in Gaylord, Mich., noted, it was a real reversal of trends in recent years.
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Excitement Returns to PNBA
An atmosphere of excitement and optimism missing in recent years permeated the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association fall trade show held in Portland, Ore. on October 7-9 at the Portland Airport Holiday Inn and conference center.
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Obituary: Carla Cohen, 74
Politics & Prose Bookstore founder and co-owner Carla Cohen died of cancer Monday morning; she was 74 years old. Cohen opened the bookstore in a small storefront on Connecticut Avenue in Washington, D.C., in 1984. Five years later Politics & Prose moved to larger quarters across the street and has continued to expand. In 1985, store manager Barbara Meade became a partner in the store, which quickly grew to be one of the country's leading independents. In 1999, Cohen and Mead were named PW's booksellers of the year.
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More than a Bookstore
Just a decade ago, bookstores could add sidelines, events, and a cafe with a decent cup of coffee, maybe beer and wine, to boost sales. But with the economy limping along and e-book sales steadily rising, that's not necessarily enough any more.
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CreateSpace and Library of Congress in POD Deal
Amazon's CreateSpace division has struck a deal with the Library of Congress to make at least 50,000 public books available at Amazon.com. LOC also reached an agreement with Amazon Europe to make tens of thousands of books in the public domain available to customers at Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.de, and Amazon.fr via POD.
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Borders Re-Hires Popoff, Amps Up Merchandising
Borders is bringing back Kathryn Popoff as v-p, merchandising, and has made a series of personnel changes in that department in a move that it says will help it "re-energize its focus on providing a world-class bookselling experience" as it goes into the holiday season.
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NEIBA: Smaller But Vibrant
The New England Independent Booksellers Association regional show, held in Providence, R.I., from September 30 to October 2, was like a carefully abridged book. All the important elements were there: educational sessions, meals with authors, and exhibits. It's just that the show's footprint was a lot smaller and fit on a single floor of the Rhode Island Convention Center.
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Barnes & Noble Launches PubIt
Barnes & Noble officially launched PubIt! today, its digital self-publishing platform for authors and independent publishers. Under the PubIt! model, authors are charged no startup fee and will receive a royalty that ranges from 40% to 65%, depending on the price of the e-book (or other digital content).
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