Faber finance director David Tebbutt was killed early Sunday morning and his wife, Judith, was taken hostage by suspected Somali extremist militants at a tourist lodge in the Kiunga marine reserve on the Lamu archipelago off Kenya’s northern coast. Tebbutt and his wife had been on holiday and had only arrived at the resort a few hours before the attack. Tebbutt joined Faber in 2002 and was previously managing director of The Harvill Press and finance director of Routledge. The Bookseller is collecting tributes to Tebbutt from trade colleagues. The Australian At Touchstone, Kaitlyn McCrystal has been promoted to associate […]
Bookstores
Bookselling: Waterstone Plans New Dedicated eReader, Moves to Flat-Rate Discounts; and More
Waterstone’s managing director James Daunt confirmed for BBC Radio 4’s You and Yours that the company will launch a dedicated e-reader in spring 2012 in a strategy “inspired” by BN’s Nook, though he offered no additional details beyond that. “We in Waterstone’s need to offer you a digital reader which is at least as good, and preferably substantially better, than that of our internet rival, and you will have a much better buying experience purchasing your books through us,” Daunt said. He added he would be “disappointed” if Waterstone’s couldn’t come up with a digital offer that would at least […]
Bookselling: BAMM To Close Three Stores
Later on Thursday federal bankruptcy court is set to approve Books-A-Million’s deal to take over 14 store leases from Borders. At the same time, the now-second-largest book retailer is closing stores in Asheville, NC; Florence, SC, and Tupelo, MS by the end of next week. Each of these stores has been open more than 15 years, with approximately 60 people set to lose their jobs. Going out of business sales begin Thursday with books and other merchandise priced at 20 percent off. Citizen-Times SCNow NE MS Daily Journal Antiquarian bookstore Serendipity Books will close its Berkeley, CA shop after nearly […]
Former Employee Sues Borders Over Layoff Procedure, and More Bookstore News
On the heels of Borders suing marketing firm Next Jump over trademark infringement now Borders is a defendant in a new complaint related to the company’s layoff procedures post-litigation. Former employee Jared Pinsker, who worked in Borders’ Ann Arbor headquarters, said in a suit filed last Friday in federal bankruptcy court that Borders did not adequately give employees notice when they were let go between July 23 and August 23. Not doing so, per the complaint, violates the WARN Act, which requires employers to give 60 days notice before conducting layoffs of at least 33 percent of a company’s work […]
Bookselling: Atlantic Books To Close Seven More Stores; New Stores In LA and Danville; and More
Conshocken, PA- based Atlantic Books will close seven stores in shore towns in New Jersey and Delaware. Co-owner Mark Simon tells the Press of Atlantic City, “They’re no longer profitable, and have not been for the last year or so,” adding that “it becomes more and more difficult to afford the rent.” In New Jersey they are closing shops in Beach Haven, Cape May, Stone Harbor, and two in Ocean City (plus their Somers Point store closed earlier this summer), and in Delaware stores in Bethany Beach and Fenwick Island will close permanently this fall. That will leave the chain with only […]
Hillary Jordan’s When She Woke Tops October Indie Next List
Here are the ABA’s October picks: When She Woke: A Novel, by Hillary Jordan The Orchard: A Memoir, by Theresa Weir The Dovekeepers: A Novel, by Alice Hoffman Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend, by Susan Orlean A Thousand Lives: The Untold Story of Hope, Deception, and Survival at Jonestown, by Julia Scheeres Reamde: A Novel, by Neal Stephenson What It Is Like to Go to War, by Karl Marlantes Following Atticus: Forty-Eight High Peaks, One Little Dog, and an Extraordinary Friendship, by Tom Ryan I Married You for Happiness: A Novel, by Lily Tuck The Cat’s Table: […]