As an answer to fast-growing Shopify, Amazon plans to launch what is effectively “Amazon as a Service,” which they are calling Buy with Prime. The pitch is to allow merchants the “shopping benefits of Prime…whether they sell in Amazon’s store or beyond.” The service will bundle Amazon’s Prime delivery service (and returns management) along with Amazon Pay checkout, running from merchants’ own websites. Significantly, merchant will also “receive shopper order information, including email addresses, which they can use to provide excellent customer service, and build direct relationships with shoppers.” The initial launch invites are limited to merchants using Fulfillment by […]
Pietsch Evaluates the Best and Worst of Pandemic Times, Poses Questions for Next Steps
Self-described “book nerd” and “publishing nerd” Michael Piestch, ceo of Hachette Book Group USA, opened a live gathering in New York of the Book Industry Study Group’s annual meeting on Friday morning with a keynote speech. (HBG resumes having employees back in the New York office two days a week starting next week.) Echoing Charles Dickens’ line “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,” Pietsch eloquently encapsulated both the record revenues and profits and increased efficiency and flexibility publishers have enjoyed during the pandemic, alongside the “Holy Gutenberg” wave of “some of the biggest and […]
Picture This
Ever since we started this enterprise our focus has always been on what we can do next and helping to build the future rather than dwelling on past — but we’re so busy tinkering with our site that we often neglect to announce the latest refinements. As you may have noticed, at the end of last year we expanded our Contact records, to allow you indicate your pronouns, link to a personal or company webpage, and/or upload a photo. Additionally editors and agents can provide information about identity; and agents can add links for submission guidelines as well as Query […]
BISG Innovator Award
The Book Industry Study Group will present Wattpad with their annual Industry Innovator Award at the organization's annual meeting this Friday, April 22.
Shelve Under Business, Thriller, Mystery or Romance? The NYT Proclaims Barnes & Noble A Hero
The NYT celebrated Passover and Easter with a charming if tortured fable about Barnes & Noble that somehow hinges on a movie from 1998 and a lot of myth making. On a factual basis, the story is a modest update to a similar story from the New York Post that ran last September and in a crazy coincidence that surely has nothing to do with a $50 billion hedge fund looking to prepare the ground for an exit is paralleled by a story in the Financial Times. Barnes & Noble says its store sales “were up 3 percent last year […]
Waterstones Sales Fell 38.5 Percent In Pandemic Year
Waterstones filed their annual report for the fiscal year ending a year ago, as of April 24, 2021, revealing a substantial decline in sales. The company reached sales of only £231 million in the year, down £135 million (or 38.5 percent) from £376 million in the prior year. Operating profit was £13 million (versus £30 million the year before) and profit before tax was £4.17 million (versus £23 million the year before). Those positive margins seem to have come from substantial government support — roughly £41 million during the reported period — and a reduction in force, with the average […]