Northern Lights Are Going Out In January

Northeastern Minnesota soon will become a little darker ,as Anita Zager, owner of Northern Lights Books & Gifts in Duluth, confirmed this weekend that she has given up hope that she’ll find a buyer for the store she founded in 1993. The lights at Northern Lights will be officially extinguished on Jan. 15, 2011.

East View Takes Map Link Name & Business

Now that the final piece in Map Link's dissolution is complete—the sale of its 50% stake in Benchmark Maps for $240,000 to Map Link founder Bill Hunt—East View Cartographic in Minneapolis has emerged as the winner from the liquidation of what had once been a $12 million company, the largest single-source wholesaler of maps in the United States. EVC purchased the Map Link name and its assets for $150,000 in October and expects to ramp up East View Map Link to full capacity by the middle of next month.

Bookselling Strategies for the Other 12 Days of Christmas

The advent of plastic gift cards has turned the two weeks after Christmas into one of bookselling's strongest seasons. "That's an increasingly busy period," said Willard Williams, owner of three Toadstool Bookshops in Keene, Milford, and Peterborough, N.H. "Kids are home from school; colleges are on extended Christmas breaks.

New 'Crush' Law Raises Concerns for ABFFE

The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression issued a statement yesterday saying it was concerned about a newly passed law banning so-called “crush” videos. President Obama signed the bill last week and it replaces a law that had been overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court on grounds that it violated the First Amendment. ABFFE and other media groups filed friend of the court briefs the supported striking down the old law. "Booksellers are unlikely to carry any material that runs afoul of the law, but it could still cause free speech problems," ABFFE president Chris Finan said.

October Bookstore Sales Drop 2.5%

Bookstore sales fell 2.5% in October to an even $1 billion, according to estimates released by the U.S. Census Bureau. The decline was less severe than the declines in August and September when bookstore sales fell by more than 6% in both months.

Chicklet Books Begins Liquidation

Despite an outpouring of support from a small but select group of customers, Chicklet Books, "the fun and funky book boutique" in the Princeton Shopping Center in Princeton, N.J., will close at the end of the year. In August, owner Deb Hunter closed Chicklet's sister store, Glen Echo used bookstore on Nassau Street, and moved it into the 10,000 sq. ft. shopping center space. "I would have done it the other way around if I had known I would lose my lease," said Hunter in an e-mail.

Colorado Booksellers Add to Their Numbers

There's good news coming out of Colorado this week concerning independent bookstores. A new bookstore, Innisfree Poetry Bookstore & Café opened December 10 in Boulder, while 342 miles southwest, in Telluride, 36-year-old Between the Covers & Espresso Bar has just gained two new owners.

Making the Web Pay

Internet forums and the fall regional shows have been buzzing about how independent bookstores can capture part of the burgeoning e-book market on the Web. But what's often overlooked is how few are selling physical books on their sites.

The On-Sale Calendar Is Up!

Children's Booksellers Share Early Buzz About Spring 2011

While scrambling to keep up with December's harried pace, children's booksellers are already thinking ahead to the next selling season. Four of them took a break from the holiday hoopla to share their thoughts on—and enthusiasm for—publishers' forthcoming offerings.

Reading Unbound: Indie Booksellers Offering Google eBooks

The second week of December during the holiday season may not seem like an ideal time for Google to launch its cloud-based e-book alternative to Apple and Amazon, but many independent booksellers, like Cathy Langer, head buyer at Tattered Cover in Denver, Colo., were happy to have it. "We haven’t really been in the game until now," she says.

Sellers Goes with F+W Media International for U.K. & Europe

After focusing primarily on North America, where its sales have increased 20% or more through each of the last five years, Sellers Publishing in South Portland, Maine, is looking overseas for more growth. It began by working with Publishers Group UK a year ago, but in January Sellers is moving to F+W International, the U.K. subsidiary of F+W Media for book sales and distribution in the U.K., Europe, and Scandinavia.

Ackman Preparing Bid for Barnes & Noble

In a filing made with the Securities & Exchange Commission this morning, William Ackman said he was prepared to back a $16 per share offer by Borders to buy Barnes & Noble. Ackman and his Pershing Square Capital Management firm have held a significant stake in Borders for over a year, but in recent months Ackman has taken a back seat to Bennett LeBow. In the filing however, Ackman disclosed that he has upped his stake in Borders to 37% from 31.5% in the spring. B&N had no comment on the report. In an interview with PW before Ackman's bid was disclosed, B&N chairman Len Riggio—PW's Person of the Year—said he hoped the strategic review being conducted by B&N would be completed in the first quarter of 2011.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.