Kobo has partnered with South African retailer Pick n Pay to launch their devices and ebookstore there, offering books in both English and Afrikaans. There’s further news on Brazil’s leading bookseller Saraiva, whose stock jumped earlier in the month on reports that they might be in acquisition talks with Amazon. The updated Reuters account says Saraiva is looking to sell their online business only, while retaining their 102 bookstores and publishing operation. That goal would seem to fit quite well with Amazon’s continuing aspirations to launch operations, and Kindle in particular, in Brazil–though it could also appeal to other international […]
Bookstores
Briefs: Jacques Barzun Dies; Strand Central Park Stalls Up For Grabs; And More
Cultural critic, historian, and essayist Jacques Barzun, 104, died Thursday evening in San Antonio. Barzun was a longtime professor at Columbia University and the author of dozens of books, including TEACHER OF AMERICA (1945), THE HOUSE OF INTELLECT (1959), THE DELIGHTS OF DETECTION (1961), and most recently, FROM DAWN TILL DECADENCE (2000). NYT Obit In a separate bit of news from Pearson, evp for Content Management, North America Dan Lee will become ceo of Pearson Canada on December 31, when current CEO Allan Reynolds retires. The Central Park stalls currently operated by The Strand Bookstore on Fifth Avenue and East […]
Bookselling: Random House Brings Back Holiday Shipping Offer
Starting November 1, Random House is relaunching their two-day transit program for independent booksellers for the holiday season for their entire list. Orders received by 3 PM ship out of their warehouse “no later than the following business day.” Director of account marketing Ruth Liebmann notes, “Faster replenishment via our 2-day transit program means fewer lost sales and more robust displays.” The program runs through March 1, 2013.
Amazon, From New York Publishing to Potential Brazilian Acquisition
We know how you can be, and some of you may be enjoying the WSJ’s piece “Amazon Struggles to Crack Publishing” piece a little too much this morning. The focus of the article is that print sales for Amazon’s recently launched New York-based trade imprint are low–because most other outlets are not stocking the company’s titles. (Nielsen BookScan shows sales of approximately 7,000 hardcover copies of Penny Marshall’s My Mother Was Nuts, which includes print sales through Amazon.com itself. But there is no data available on ebook sales.) Tim Ferriss, who approached Amazon directly to sell them his next book […]
Owner of Germany’s Thalia Bookstores Arranges Sale
Douglas Holding, the parent company of Germany’s struggling bookstore chain Thalia, has arranged a buyout that might take the company private, and at the least it will increase the stake of the founding Kreke family. US private equity firm Advent International is leading the bid, which values the company at 1.5 billion euros. Douglas Holding includes successful a perfume and cosmetics chain, a jewellery seller, clothing stores and candy stores. The company’s results have suffered mainly due to the continuing restructuring at Thalia, recording a group net loss of 73 million euros in the first nine months of their most […]
BN Eyes “Digital Moms” and Content Channels for International Rollout; More Kobo Partnerships Imminent
At the Publishers Launch Frankfurt conference on Monday, new Barnes & Noble international executive Patrick Rouvillois emphasized that in their imminent UK launch that they will be focusing on “digital moms” and families, as they have in the US. He was joined by BN executives Theresa Horner and Jim Hilt, who emphasized that the new Microsoft strategic partnership will allow Nook to sell content to customers in many territories and languages around the world through the Windows 8 platform well before they formally launch local stores in other territories. “It removes hurdles to us setting up storefronts,” Horner said. “The Windows […]