After days of excited reports about the very latest demos of mostly non-existent but planned ebook readers, the press has now had enough and decided they are too many devices and the market is over. Gizmodo is among those writing: “The introduction of e-ink-based readers by many big tech companies and a handful of feisty little ones threatens to sow confusion in the market place, encourage piracy, and screw over any company who gets in and then can’t really hack it against Kindle and Nook. And all of it will be a pointless exercise when long-lasting slates are a reality.” […]
Archives for January 2010
ABA Cuts Five Positions In Reorganization
After “many months of analysis and investigation,” American Booksellers Association ceo Oren Teicher announced a reorganization that includes the elimination of five jobs from an already lean staff. Teicher writes, “it’s never easy to say goodbye to hard-working, loyal colleagues, but we believe that these changes will allow us to organize ABA in a more efficient way to better utilize the association’s resources.” Some ABA veterans are being placed in new posts: Meg Smith becomes membership and marketing officer; Dan Cullen is now content officer; Mark Nichols serves as industry relations officer, and Jill Perlstein is now meetings and plannings […]
Books-A-Million Holiday Comps Down 6.2 Percent
Holiday sales at Books-a-Million totaled $122.1 million for the nine-week period, down 4.5 percent overall, and down 6.2 percent on a same-store basis. For 11 months of their fiscal year, total sales are down 1 percent at $473.6 million, with comp sales declining 3.7 percent. CEO Clyde Anderson noted that “as was the case last year, customers shopped late in the season and proved to be value conscious responding well to our marketing efforts, bargain book department and in-store promotions.”Release
Borders Springs a Deal with Alex Reader
Borders ebookstore–powered by Kobo–has reached an agreement “in principle” to partner with Spring Design’s nook-alike Alex ereader. While it makes perfect sense–after all, Alex can’t use BN.com as their store partner like so many other readers while they are suing them–it’s an opportunistic victory for Borders as they play ereading catch-up on a limited budget. Reuters adds, “the Alex e-reader will give the borders.com e-book site top billing, featuring it on its initial screen, a Borders spokeswoman told Reuters, though shoppers will be able to buy and read books from other sources on their Alex e-reader.“ Though they did not […]
Lulu.com Eyes C$50M Initial Public Offering – WSJ.com
While big publishers wring their hands over whether it’s ok to make money from self-publishing, the dedicated self-publishers continue to be on a roll. Bouncing back from cutbacks in late 2008, Lulu.com is reported to have retained Genuity Capital Markets and CIBC World Markets lead underwriters for an initial public offering later this year, apparently on the Toronto stock exchange. Dow Jones says they hope to raise $50 million (Canadian) in capital. When forced to cut staff previously, founder Bob Young blamed “the credit and capital markets [as] frozen solid.”Dow Jones
Barnes & Noble Holiday Comps Down 5.4%; Earnings Guidance Reduced
The nine-week holiday selling period at Barnes & Noble was another rough one, with same-store sales down 5.4 percent at $1.1 billion (and bear in mind that the comps a year ago were down 7 percent from 2007). Sales at BN.com rose 17 percent however, at $134 million, in large part because of nook revenues recognized in that period. (BN.com had sales of $114 million in the same period a year ago. When the company reported second quarter earnings in late November, BN.com was up 9 percent for the period. So figure that recognized nook revenues are roughly between $10 […]