Wall Street’s hate affair with Barnes & Noble‘s stock has continued. Shares fell more than a dollar yesterday, declining more than 9 percent, to finish at what was an all-time low. Until the market opened this morning, with prices down another 4 percent in early trading, standing at about $10.25 a share. (The overall market is down broadly today, with major indices down over 2 percent.) The company’s stock has fallen over 45 percent in less than a month. Two Chicago-area Borders book signings for former mobster Frank Calabrese Jr.‘s book Operation Family Secrets: How a Mobster’s Son and the […]
A Redesigned Boston Globe Books Section, and More People News
The Boston Globe’s redesigned books section will make its debut on Sunday, March 20, with several additions and changes to its columns, editor Nicole Lamy tells us. Amanda Heller and Barbara Fisher will no longer co-write the “Short Takes” capsule review column; Heller’s last piece appeared on March 6 and Fisher’s on March 13. Replacing them is Kate Tuttle, a freelancer who has contributed to The Washington Post, The Boston Phoenix, Babble and Salon. The Shelf Life column, previously written by Katherine Powers, is now called Word on the Street with a new writer in place. Two new columns – […]
Briefs: ‘Heaven Is For Real’ A Sleeper Hit; Whitcoulls For Sale; Continuing Fenn Fallout; And More
Heaven Is For Real, recounting evangelical pastor Todd Burpo‘s the-four year old son Colton’s otherworldly experience while undergoing surgery for a burst appendix, has proven to be a sleeper paperback hit for Thomas Nelson. The publisher tells the NYT the book (co-written with Sarah Palin ghostwriter Lynn Vincent) had “broken company sales records”, going back to press 22 times on an initial print run of 40,000 copies since the book’s November release. There are now more than 1.5 million copies in print (and “hundreds of thousands of copies” sold) with strong sales in both Barnes & Noble and Christian specialty markets. […]
Borders Creditors Say Financing Favors Lenders Too Much–And Warn Bookseller Needs A Real Plan By June
The committee of unsecured Borders creditors filed an objection in bankruptcy court Thursday afternoon over the terms of Borders’ debtor-in-possession financing, which they view to be “unreasonable, overreaching and otherwise inappropriate.” The main contention is that Borders borrowed more money than they actually need, creating oversized fees in the millions of dollars for lenders, which only reduces the available funds to pay back creditors. The filing argues that the lenders used their leverage “to impose the objectionable provisions” which Borders was “forced to agree to,” knowing that the bookseller “was on the brink of collapse” before filing for Chapter 11.” […]
NBCC Awards; New Imprints; and More
The National Book Critics Circle Awards went to: A Visit From the Goon Squad, by Jennifer Egan (Fiction) The Warmth of Other Suns, by Isabel Wilkerson (General Nonfiction) How to Live: Or A Life of Montaigne by Sarah Bakewell (Biography) Half a Life, by Darin Straus (Autobiography) One with Others, by C.D. Wright (Poetry) Lyric Poetry and Modern Poetry — Russia, Poland, and the West, by Claire Cavanaugh (Criticism) NBCC Release Online comedy video site Funny or Die will start a line of books under the banner of Funny or Die Books, starting this July with an e-book of celebrity satire […]
NYSE Officially Delists Borders Stock; Seattle’s Best Complains Bankruptcy Will ‘Expose Trade Secrets’
The New York Stock Exchange somewhat obviously filed notice with the SEC that they will officially delist Borders stock on March 21, noting “the uncertainty as to the timing and outcome of the bankruptcy process, as well as the ultimate effect of this process on the Company’s common stockholders. Borders stock was suspended when they filed chapter 11, and even though the company had 10 days to appeal, they did not do so. SEC Filing Meanwhile, Starbucks subsidiary Seattle’s Best Coffee lodged an objection with the bankruptcy court on the grounds that Borders closing 200 stores could damage the company’s […]