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As Bookshop Booms, Questions Arise
The independent bookstore e-commerce site Bookshop.org has seen a 2,000% increase in sales in the last month and has become a lifeline for many stores that have been temporarily closed by the Covid-19 pandemic. Yet despite its apparent success, the site has skeptics.
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The Pandemic Is Changing Book-Buying Patterns
The Covid-19 outbreak is altering what books consumers buy and where they buy them.
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This Week's Bestsellers: April 27, 2020
‘The Step-by-Step Instant Pot Cookbook,’ the debut from Pressure Luck Cooking vlogger Jeffrey Eisner, is the #1 book in the country. Plus Abby Jimenez launches ‘The Happy Ever After Playlist’ from her living room, and ornithologist David Allen Sibley explains ‘What It’s Like to Be a Bird.’
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Indies Launch GoFundMe Campaigns to Survive Coronavirus Shutdown
Several indies have launched, with varying degrees of success, GoFundMe fundraising campaigns to help them raise funds to pay bills and employees during a national shutdown that may last for months.
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Publishing Organizations Urge Public to Support Bookstores
In a joint statement released to mark World Book Day, leaders of three organizations serving the publishing industry issued a cry to support the country’s booksellers as they struggle to survive the Covid-19 pandemic.
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South Carolina Bookstore Shares Story of Reopening
Fiction Addiction in Greenville, S.C., has re-opened after the state government gave permission; shoppers are limited to four at a time. "My concern was less for my own health than the health of the store," said owner Jill Hendrix.
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Ingram Debuts Book Recommendation Technology
Ingram Content Group is launching Bookfinity, an online site designed to generate personalized book recommendations and drive book sales using technology.
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Indie Publishers, Booksellers Waiting for CARES Act Relief
As small businesses around the country await funds from the landmark Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, indie publishers and booksellers are having mixed experiences trying to secure this financial lifeline.
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This Week's Bestsellers: April 20, 2020
The #1 book in the country is ‘Magnolia Table, Vol. 2’ by Joanna Gaines, who held a shelter-in-place “book signing” on launch day. Plus Oprah Book Club pick ‘Hidden Valley Road’ by Robert Kolker lands at #5 in hardcover fiction, and Marie Kondo helps readers find the ‘Joy of Work’—at home.
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Print Unit Sales Had Double-Digit Gain Last Week
Print unit sales rose 13.7% in the week ended April 11 over the week ended April 4 at outlets that report to NPD BookScan. Sales benefited from the release of 'Magnolia Table, Volume 2' by Joanna Gaines, which sold more than 130,000 copies last week.
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Independent Bookstore Day to Host Virtual Party
Independent Bookstore Day has been rescheduled for August 29 from its original date next week. In lieu of postponing the event entirely, organizers are hosting what they call a virtual party, and are working with stores on promotions to run all next week.
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February Bookstore Sales Had Slight Gain
Bookstore sales ended a long monthly losing streak by posting a 0.8% sales increase in February over February 2019, but numbers are certain to fall again in March, when the impact of the new coronavirus on sales is reflected.
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Midwestern Booksellers Step Up Virtual Get-Togethers
The Great Lakes Independent Booksellers Association and Midwest Independent Booksellers Association are both stepping up efforts to keep members in their far-flung regions connected with weekly Zoom conference calls.
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Fundraiser Buys City Lights Time to Plan
San Francisco's City Lights Bookstore raised nearly half a million dollars on GoFundMe. The money was necessary to cover short term costs and buy time to form a viable strategic and succession plan for the future.
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Indie Bookstores Report Problems with GoFundMe Disbursements
Several indie bookstores that launched GoFundMe campaigns in March are reporting that the funds raised on that platform are not being disbursed to them as promised, despite repeated inquiries.
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This Week's Bestsellers: April 13, 2020
April Read with Jenna pick ‘Valentine’ by first-time author Elizabeth Wetmore debuts at #4 on our hardcover fiction list. Plus Terry McMillan’s ‘It’s Not All Downhill from Here’ lands at #13 in hardcover fiction, and though the movie’s release date is uncertain, the tie-in edition of A.J. Finn’s ‘The Woman in the Window’ arrives.
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Survey of Independent Bookstores Shows Coronavirus Toll
We surveyed nearly three dozen bookstores with more than a thousand years of bookselling experience between them to find out how the new coronavirus outbreak has altered the work that they do.
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B&N Copes
With most of its stores closed, B&N is using a skeleton crew to buy new titles, mainly for BN.com and rapidly refurbishing its closed outlets. It has also responded to a protest by employees at a New Jersey warehouse.
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Diamond Reveals New Payment Terms; Execs Take Pay Cut
Diamond Distributors founder Steve Geppi outlined the terms under which the distributor of comics, graphic novels, and prose books would resume payments to publishers and other vendors.
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