Updating Monday’s story on the announced sale of RJ Julia Booksellers, owner Roxanne Coady added a few more details in a telephone interview with us this morning. The idea to sell had been brewing for “at least a year and a half to two years,” Coady said. “It wasn’t an a-ha moment, but you know how you think about something and it’s not sorted in your mind, but there’s enough evidence pointing directly at what you should decide? It was like that.” That RJ Julia had a “very good year” in 2011 cemented Coady’s decision to sell, since “it made […]
Bookstores
Bookselling: RJ Julia Seeks New Owner; Indigo & BAM Won’t Stock Amazon Publishing Titles in Stores, Either; And More
Owner Roxanne Coady announced in an email to customers Monday morning that RJ Julia, the Madison, CT-based bookstore she founded and has owned since 1990, is for sale. Coady explained it’s time for the store “to grow in new ways, in the care of new hands that will guide the store to take its proper place in a new world; a changing of the guard in a time of change.” Founder of the Bookstore Training Group of Paz & Associates Donna Paz Kaufman will handle the sale process. Coady assured customers that the store won’t close and “this is not […]
No, Barnes & Noble Won’t Stock Amazon Publishing Titles in Their Stores
With Amazon indicating that their New York publishing division intends to make its titles available to other ebookstores alongside their print licensing deal with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Barnes & Noble has provided a quick answer on whether they will revise their position and carry those books. According to a statement issued Tuesday afternoon by BN chief merchandising officer Jamie Carey, “Barnes & Noble has made a decision not to stock Amazon published titles in our store showrooms.” He added: “Our decision is based on Amazon’s continued push for exclusivity with publishers, agents and the authors they represent. These exclusives have […]
Supporters of Menlo Park Store Formalize As Kepler’s 2020 Project
Efforts to stabilize, preserve and redefine Kepler’s Books in Menlo Park, CA that we covered in January have taken shape into a formal Kepler’s 2020 initiative, announced via press release and at the store’s web site. “The project aims to create an innovative hybrid business model that includes a for-profit, community-owned-and-operated bookstore, and a nonprofit organization that will feature on-stage author interviews, lectures by leading intellectuals, educational workshops and other literary and cultural events.” As noted previously, entrepreneur Praveen Madan is leading “a volunteer transition team [that] has begun work on a comprehensive development, financial and operational plan” for the […]
People, Etc.
At Kirkus Media, vp business development Meg LaBorde Kuehn has been promoted to chief operating officer, part of the company’s expansion into new lines of business, including digital marketing solutions for publishers and a growing suite of services for unpublished and self-published authors. Kuehn will report to company president Marc Winkelman and lead the business teams of Kirkus Media, including sales and marketing, technology development and author services. In addition, Casey Gannon moves up to marketing director, Perry Crowe has been named director of Kirkus Editorial (their new book editing division), and Ryan Leahey has been named indie editor, all […]
Everyone Wants to Write About Barnes & Noble
Towards the end of the NYT business section article that follows the standard narrative, they note that in BN’s 300-person Palo Alto division, “engineers were putting final touches on their fifth e-reading device, a product that executives said would be released sometime this spring.” The story also says that ceo William Lynch “plans to experiment with slightly smaller stores.” Meanwhile, Amazon offers another nebulous growth statistic to the paper. For the nine-week holiday sales period, ending December 31, “Kindle unit sales, including both the Kindle Fire and e-reader devices, increased 177 percent over the same period last year.” (Amazon will […]