The American Booksellers Association announced the winners of their 2012 book awards. Author turned bookseller Ann Patchett is the “most engaging author,” noted for “her exceptional involvement and responsiveness during in-store appearances and for having a strong sense of the importance of indie booksellers to their local communities.” The Indie Choice winners are: Fiction The Marriage Plot, by Jeffrey Eugenides (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) Nonfiction Blood, Bones & Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef, by Gabrielle Hamilton (Random House) Debut The Tiger’s Wife, by Téa Obreht (Random House) YA Between Shades of Gray, by Ruta Sepetys (Philomel) The […]
Bookstores
Google Cancels eBooks Reseller Program, Dropping Indies
Both the ABA and Powell’s Books indicate Google informed them on Tuesday it is cancelling their eBooks reseller partnerships as of January 31, 2013. ABA ceo Oren Teicher told members in an email, “Google’s decision to discontinue the program is, therefore, far larger than just IndieCommerce and the users of our product. After January 31, 2013, Google will sell e-books through Google Play only.” Google says on their blog that “the reseller program has not gained the traction that we hoped it would, so we have made the difficult decision to discontinue it.” Whether that’s a statement about the resellers […]
Hometown Paper Criticizes Amazon On Changed Academic Discounts and Modest Philanthropy
The Seattle Times offers up two slabs of red meat for those who worry about Amazon’s growing power and how they wield it in introducing a four-part series on the company. The lengthy business piece includes only these two morsels of news: academic and nonfiction publisher McFarland and professional and academic publisher Berkshire Publishing Group have also declined to accept Amazon’s push for moving academic publishers from their traditional short discount to more of a trade discount schedule. McFarland, which appears to use the Advantage program, declined to accept a proposed 45 percent discount as of January 1. (The publisher […]
Bookselling: Newark’s The Book Nook to Close; Dymocks Holiday Sales ‘Best Ever’; and More
After failing to secure a buyer, The Book Nook in Newark, NJ will close on April 1 after nearly 40 years in business. Owner Pat Luckeydoo told the Newark Advocate that she is ready to retire and was unable to find anyone who wanted to buy the store. Closing the store “went from being a last resort to a necessary decision,” she said. “We will definitely miss the customers. I’d like them to know they were very special to us.” The new head of the Dymocks bookstore chain in Australia and New Zealand, Steve Cox, told Smart Company that the […]
International: Barnes & Noble Incorporates Digital Media Company In Germany; Dutch Book Chain Selexyz Files for Bankruptcy; And More
As another piece of Barnes & Noble’s coming international expansion, TechCrunch notes a Buchreport finding that BN incorporated a new company, Barnes & Noble Digital Media GmbH, in Germany on March 15. Company vp, general counsel and corporate secretary Eugene DeFelice is listed on the new Germany company’s incorporation papers, from which one can infer that BN has formed the legal entity but does not yet have an operational plan. BN already has an existing partnership with German bookstore aggregator BookWire. Once-dominant Dutch book chain Selexyz has been suffering from serious financial trouble since last fall (and never really recovered […]
Shareholder Suit Against Riggio and Two Barnes & Noble Directors Moves to June Trial
A shareholder lawsuit against Barnes & Noble chairman Len Riggio and two former company directors, Lawrence Zilavy and Michael Del Giudice, over the public company’s 2009 buyout of BN College will move forward to a trial tentatively set to begin June 18. Delaware Chancery Court Judge Leo Strine dismissed three independent directors from the suit, along with vice chairman Steve Riggio (who had recused himself from voting on the acquisition). As Bloomberg summarizes, “the investors argue that the board allowed Riggio to dictate terms and timing of the 2009 buyout of Barnes & Noble College Booksellers Inc. and didn’t force […]