After a successful launch, California Bookstore Day will return next year on May 2, 2015, with the help of a $15,000 sponsorship from Penguin Random House. The event is organized by the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association, and the inaugural event had support from author James Patterson. Penguin Random House president and coo Madeline McIntosh says in the announcement, “California Bookstore Day was a terrific event this year – our publishers and sales colleagues loved being part of it, and so did our authors. We want to help bring even bigger crowds into the bookstores next May.” CBD program director Samantha […]
Bookstores
World Book Night US Will Shut Down
World Book Night US will suspend operations after three years. The organization said in a statement that the expenses of running the effort “are too high to sustain without additional outside funding,” especially considering the “significant financial and time commitment from publishers, writers, booksellers, librarians, printers, distributors, and shippers.” WBN staff will stay on board, without pay, through September 1 to announce the winners of the giver essay contest. World Book Night US executive director Carl Lennertz called the three-year effort a “success by all measures, except for one: Outside funding. For three years, the publishing industry and book community […]
Bookselling: Schuler Books Buys Nicola’s; New Owners for Orinda Books
Schuler Books, which owns and operates three stores in Michigan, will acquire Nicola’s Books in Ann Arbor, which has been for sale since the beginning of the year. Shelf Awareness reports that under the agreement, the store, which Nicola Rooney acquired in 1995 after four years operating as a Little Professor franchise, “will continue to operate as Nicola’s Books and Rooney will stay on as a consultant during the transition.” Of the sale, Rooney commented: “Joining the family of Schuler bookstores ensures that the future of Nicola’s Books will be in good hands. The familiar faces of our booksellers will […]
More BN Facts, Including the First eBook Settlement Effect
Barnes & Noble filed their annual report with the SEC last Friday, which is full of modest facts of note, highlighted below. Separately, the company also executed a new multi-year contract with BN College ceo Max Roberts, providing a base salary of $850,000, plus a target annual bonus of no less than 1.5 times that salary (and guaranteeing generous “change in control” payments). Not announced officially, Barnes & Noble stores veteran, vp of marketing Patricia Bostelman has left the company. eBook Stimulus Act Perhaps the most newsworthy revelation in the BN’s annual report is the first indication of the impact […]
People
New York’s Book Culture bookstores have reportedly fired 5 of their 30 employees following a vote to unionize earlier this week, the Gothamist reports. The story quotes emails from owner Chris Doeblin they obtained: “It was indicated to me . . . that two people in our mangament [sic] group voted in the union and effectively undermined the interests of the store. The store always being in opposition to the Union. Unfortunately there is no other recourse but to remove these people from our employ effective immediately.” The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union indicates it “has filed an Unfair Labor Practice […]
Barnes & Noble To Spin Off Nook As Public Company; Reports Weak Finish to Fiscal 2014
Barnes & Noble announced before the opening of the stock market Wednesday that it intends to split off its Nook Media division from the retail side, creating two separate, publicly traded companies. Shares rose over 10 percent in early morning trading on the news, up to roughly $22.5 a share. The seeds for such a spin-off were laid in the initial creation of Nook Media LLC (which includes details on how BN stores would display and sell Nook devices follow a possible separation). BN hopes to take the steps necessary to complete the separation by the end of March 2015, […]