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Booksellers Hear Details of the Much-Delayed Google Editions
When Google Editions goes live, which should be no later than the end of the year, the Web sites of booksellers who participate in ABA's IndieCommerce will go live with it. But independents won't be Google's only partners; ABA could be selling e-books alongside Wal-Mart and Barnes & Noble. Those were among the revelations at the New England Independent Booksellers Association fall conference held last week in Providence, R.I.
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After Proxy Win, More Challenges for B&N
While the re-election of Len Riggio to the Barnes & Noble board, along with David Wilson and David Golden, put an end to the proxy fight started by the retailer's largest outside shareholder, Ron Burkle, the long-term fate of the country's largest bookseller remains uncertain.
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An Ode to Autumn Regionals
As September gives way to October, three of nine regional bookseller associations have held their annual fall trade shows. As usual, booksellers and publishers managed to generate lots of excitement for the holiday books, even as traditional bricks-and-mortar stores face unprecedented challenges from digital books.
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Xerox Expands Collaboration with Espresso
Beginning in the first quarter of 2011, Xerox will move into print-on-demand publishing in a bigger way through an expanded relationship with On Demand Books, creator of the Espresso Book Machine. While the Xerox 4112 will continue to serve as printer for the EBM, the Fortune 500 company will now market, sell, lease, and service the rechristened machine, co-branded as the Espresso Book Machine, a Xerox Solution.
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Borders to Open Pop-Up Stores; Adds Wireless Kobo Reader
After closing hundreds of stores over the last year, Borders Group announced Tuesday morning that it is jumping on one of retailing's hottest trends—pop-up stores. Borders will open 25 seasonal Borders Express stores nationwide beginning October 25 and will operate them through January 31.
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B&N Shareholders Reelect Riggio; Reject Burkle
Barnes & Noble shareholders reelected B&N chairman Leonard Riggio and his slate to the board of the directors, rejecting financier Ron Burkle's efforts to gain seats on the board. Shareholders also rejected a proposal put forth by Burkle's Yucaipa Company to amend the poison pill "anti-takeover" provisions in the stockholder rights agreement.
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Booksellers Mix it Up at Mountains & Plains
A combination of four events seems to have contributed to this year's Mountains & Plains Independent Booksellers Association's trade show in Denver being simultaneously an exuberant celebration of the ties binding together this diverse but close-knit community of booksellers, and a sober time for serious reflection upon the mission of the 35-year-old organization.
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Barnes & Noble Defends Strategic Process
Responding to assertions in Ron Burkle's letter to shareholders sent early Monday that Barnes & Noble chairman Len Riggio could very well make a low offer for the company and block other offers, B&N issued a statement defending the four-person special committee overseeing the strategic review, and added that numerous potential bidders were already involved with the review process.
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Final Push in Barnes & Noble Proxy Battle
Following a proxy battle that has cost millions of dollars and featured blistering charges and countercharges, the vote for three Barnes & Noble directors will be tallied tomorrow at the retailer's annual meeting set to begin at 9 a.m. at the Asia Society in New York City. The vast majority of votes will have been cast well before the meeting is held and Ron Burkle's Yucaipa Cos. urged shareholders to make sure they voted their gold proxy cards by midnight tonight.
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SIBA Tweets Up
The Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance 35th annual trade show, held from Sept. 23-25 at the Plaza Resort & Spa and Plaza Ocean Club Hotel in Daytona Beach, feartured a heavy dose of how booksellers can use social media to keep their stores relevant in today's fast-changing business environment. Even before the official show opened, a day-long panel on such topics as Finding Your Tweet Spot, was packed.
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ABFFE Marks 20 Years of Fighting For Free Speech
The story is now well-known: in 1988, Viking Penguin published Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses; almost immediately, it caused controversy because of what some Muslims considered its blasphemous references. The publisher received bomb threats, as did bookstores. According to some reports, the novel was unavailable in one-third of bookstores across the U.S.
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New Owners for Wellesley Booksmith
On Monday it was official; Wellesley Booksmith had new owners, local residents Bill and Gillian Kohli. The pair, who purchased the downtown Wellesley, Mass., store, were among the first to express interest in buying the business when it went on the market in March.
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NAIBA Takes a Gamble in Atlantic City
That the New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association fall conference, held in Atlantic City from September 20 to 22, went on despite the recent deaths of NAIBA president, Joe Drabyak, bookseller at Chester County Book & Music Company in West Chester, Pa., and Workman sales rep Sam Herman spoke reams about the organization's ability to overcome hardship and loss. Still, the number of stores and exhibitors in attendance fell.
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Alibris Changes Name to Monsoon Commerce Solutions
Alibris Holdings, one of the first online marketplaces for used books, has changed its name to Monsoon Commerce Solutions to better reflect the range of services now offered by the company. The name change comes six months after Alibris acquired Monsoon Inc.
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Two Initiatives from Amazon
Today Amazon made two announcements, one about its Audible subsidiary, and another about its AmazonCrossing translation imprint. First, Audible has launched a new Mobile Store app for iPhone and Android, allowing customers to shop for and download Audible audiobooks directly on their wireless devices.
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Court Strikes Down Overly Broad Oregon Obscenity Laws
The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit this week found two Oregon statutes ostensibly aimed at preventing the sexual abuse of children to be unconstitutional and in violation of the First Amendment. The court found that a "furnishing" statute, which made it a crime to provide children under the age of 13 with "sexually explicit" material; and a "luring" statute, which criminalized providing minors under the age of 18 with "visual, verbal, or narrative descriptions of sexual conduct," to be overly broad and potentially in violation of free speech protections.
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B&N Finds More Support
Barnes & Noble is hoping that the support of three smaller proxy advisory services will outweigh the recommendations of the larger Institutional Shareholder Services that early Monday said it believes shareholders should support the candidates for the B&N board nominated by Ron Burkle. In responding to the ISS report, B&N said that in addition to Glass Lewis & Co., Egan-Jones Proxy Services had recommended that shareholders support the B&N-backed slate led by Len Riggio.
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Bargain Books in Transition
On the eve of the 20th anniversary of the Chicago International Remainder and Overstock Book Exposition (October 28–31), the biggest bargain book show in the country, the remainder book industry, like much of the book world, is in flux.
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Albuquerque's Bookworks Gets New Owners
Nancy Rutland, owner of Bookworks in Albuquerque, New Mexico, is selling the store to two employees. The new owners, veteran booksellers Wyatt Wegryzn and Danielle Foster, will assume ownership on Oct. 1.
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Fire Petal Opens Its Doors
With a $5,000 boost from an online auction, former Gibbs Smith associate editor Michelle Witte opened Fire Petal Books, a children's bookstore in Centerville, Utah, a suburb of Salt Lake City, at the end of July. The 1,400 sq. ft.-multi-room store is looking to social media like Groupon and Facebook to spread the word, along with some old-fashioned face-to-face events.
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