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Big Mouth Buzz
Even though he admits to occasionally having to plow through novels that don't appeal to him, Bill Cusumano, the adult book buyer for Nicola's Books in Ann Arbor, Mich., relishes reading future releases from the major houses long before many of his bookseller colleagues and even the pre-pub trade media.
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MBA Moves in With Tristan
Due to an adjacent business's immediate need to expand, the Midwest Booksellers Association is vacating its current offices next month. The regional booksellers organization is moving from Minneapolis to suburban Golden Valley, where it will rent office and storage space in a building owned and occupied by Tristan Publishing. The move will be complete by July 15, and the MBA will provide its members and others in the industry with its complete new contact information shortly before the move. The MBA's mailing address as of July 15 will be: 2355 Louisiana Avenue N., Suite A, Golden Valley, Minn., 55427.
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Converting Mindshare to Market Share
Optimism greeted a presentation by former Perseus Books CEO-turned-bookseller Jack McKeown at last month's BEA. He was discussing a survey that looked at how independent booksellers can recapture what McKeown calculates is $260 million a year in "leakage" (missed business) as well as examining the impact of e-books on an independent's business.
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An Impassioned Plea for Picture Books
The symbolism was not lost at this past Tuesday's meeting of the New England Children's Booksellers Advisory Council, held at The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, Mass., that Ken Geist, v-p and editorial director of Orchard Books and Cartwheel Books and author of the picture book The Three Little Fish, should choose this setting to ask independent booksellers to get behind picture books.
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April Bookstore Sales Fall
The weak improvement in bookstore sales seen in the first quarter disappeared in April with the U.S. Census Bureau reporting that bookstore sales fell 4.1% in the month, to $917 million.
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New Amazon Program Spurs Complaints
Amazon is well known for its aggressive and creative methods for gaining additional margin by finding ways for publishers to pay for more services. The e-tailer's newest effort, apparently aimed primarily at distributors and their publisher clients, is causing more than the usual amount of complaints.
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Can Sales Reps Survive?
Like other segments of the book business, the job of sales representatives is being dramatically transformed. "Last year was probably the most austere and crisis-mode period reps have experienced in a long, long time," says Paul Williams, executive director of the National Association of Independent Publishers Representatives.
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Layoffs at Brown Bookstore
In the face of the Great Recession a number of colleges and universities are raising tuition and making cuts to academic departments. At Brown University in Providence, R.I., even the bookstore has not been immune to early retirement offers and layoffs. As of June 30, Brown University Bookstore will have eliminated eight staffers, including senior buyer Peter Sevenair, who has been with the bookstore for more than 30 years.
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Borders Lays Off Paperchase Employees
Online message boards were atwitter Thursday with the news that Borders had let go all store-based Paperchase merchandisers and managers. The news is at odds with reports from Borders executives earlier this spring that the chain might add more nonbook items in the future, citing the success it had been having with Paperchase's gift and stationery offerings. A Borders spokesperson told PW Thursday that the staff reduction does not reflect Borders' hopes for Paperchase's continued success, though.
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With Assist from Glenn Beck, University of Chicago Press Book Tops Amazon Rankings
After a recommendation from TV talk show host Glenn Beck on Tuesday, the University of Chicago Press found itself in an unprecedented position: number one in Amazon and Barnes & Noble's sales rankings with F. A. Hayek's anti-big government book The Road to Serfdom. The 66 year-old book bested Stieg Larsson and Stephenie Meyer--at least for a day.
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'Bree Tanner' Proves Lackluster for Indies
While Stephenie Meyer's publisher is touting strong sales figures out of the gate for her new novella, The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner, not everyone in the bookselling community is happy with how the slim title is faring. A number of independent booksellers are complaining that Meyer’s book isn't selling in their stores. This, despite Little, Brown's news today that the book has sold over 350,000 copies since it went on sale just four days ago.
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LeBow, Edwards Get Top Spots at Borders
Bennett LeBow, Borders Group's largest shareholder and chairman, has been named CEO of the retailer with Mike Edwards named president of Borders Group and CEO of Borders Inc. Edwards had been interim CEO.
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Nonesuch Books & Cards to Open in Biddeford
Nonesuch Books & Cards is moving from Saco, Maine, to sister city Biddeford in mid-August. According to co-owner Jon Platt, the relocation from the Saco Valley Shopping Center to The Shops at Biddeford Crossing Mall will enable Nonesuch to "significantly expand" our product mix. "Shopping patterns," said Platt, "have changed over the past ten years, and we need to keep pace with our customers' expectations."
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At 50, Lectorum Has Fresh Start
After a couple of reincarnations and a recent move across the Hudson, Spanish-language book distributor and publisher Lectorum Publications turned 50 this month. Originally an independent bookstore on Manhattan's Union Square—and up until last year a subsidiary of Scholastic—Lectorum distributes over 25,000 Spanish-language titles to schools, libraries, and retailers.
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First Quarter Sales Drop 15.8% at Borders
Borders' results for the first quarter followed a familiar trend--decreasing revenue, a decline in comparable store sales and a reduction in its loss. Total revenue for the period ended May 1, fell 15.8%, to $547.2 million, and the net loss was cut to $64.1 million from $86.0 million. In a statement, interim CEO Mike Edwards acknowledged that the retailer's top line remained "challenged" in the quarter, but said that cost controls helped to shrink the chain's loss.
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Alibris Starts Author Stores
Alibris has found a way to get into the self-publishing boom, launching Author Stores. Through the program, self-published authors create Author Stores for their books and their titles will be available through the Alibris marketplace and its service partners that include Barnes & Noble.com, Borders and Chapters Indigo. The monthly fee is $19.95 for up to 500 ISBNs.
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Edelweiss Winning Fans
Edelweiss, the interactive, Webbased publishers' catalogue officially launched at BookExpo America last year by Above the Treeline, is receiving high marks from independent booksellers for both streamlining their communications with publishers and easing their own back-end workloads. And, they tell PW, Edelweiss's usefulness is amplified for those booksellers also using ATL's Treeline Analytics system to manage their stores' inventory.
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Borders Gets New Investment, Chairman
With a new $25 million investment, Bennett LeBow, a financier and chairman of Vector Group Ltd., has pushed aside William Ackman's Pershing Square Capital as the largest shareholder in the Borders Group. LeBow has been named chairman of the retailer, which said it will use the funding to improve its capital position and upgrade its operations.
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Results Dip at Books-A-Million
Books-A-Million reported slight declines in sales and earnings for the first quarter ended May 1. Revenue fell 1%, to $117 million, and net income dropped to $2.0 million from $2.1 million. Same store sales were down 3.6% which the retailer attributed to sluggish store traffic and continued difficult comparisons to last year's first quarter that was driven by sales of Stephenie Meyer titles.
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Barnes & Noble to Offer Digital Self-Publishing
Barnes & Noble is entering the self-publishing business with the summer launch of PubIt! by Barnes & Noble that will allow independent publishers and self-publishing writers to distribute their works digitally through Barnes & Noble.com and the Barnes & Noble eBookstore. Publication and distribution will be limited to digital works with no sales through the B&N stores. The company said it will release details of the royalty model and compensation process at a later date.
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