HarperCollins has announced an agreement to make the bulk of their backlist trade paperback titles available for printing and sale by US bookstores with an Espresso book machine, currently comprising eight independent bookstores and up to another eight machines at university bookstores. Starting in November, they will make approximately 5,000 backlist trade paperbacks available. (The backlist titles not included–numbering about 3,500–are ones with physical attributes that don’t lend themselves to printing on the current machine.) The POD books will carry the same retail prices as the editions fulfilled by Harper, but in a significant change, the publisher will sell the […]
Bookstores
Barnes & Noble Says Privacy Recommendations “Would Destroy the Value” of Borders IP Purchase
A battle is brewing in advance of the Thursday afternoon court hearing on Barnes & Noble’s $13.9 million bid to acquire most of Borders’ intellectual property, including their extensive customer databases. This dispute focuses on recommendations of consumer privacy ombudsman Michael St. Patrick Baxter, at Covington & Burling. Not only does BN say “implementing all of the recommendations contained in the report would destroy the value of the transaction from Barnes & Noble’s perspective,” but they accuse Borders of withholding those recommendations (as well as correspondence from the FTC and state Attorneys General) in advance of the auction. They write […]
Bookselling: Nebraska Book Has Trouble with Financing; Two Madison Bookstores Merge; BAMM Opens One, Closes Another; and More
In a Monday bankruptcy court filing, Nebraska Book Company said they have not been to secure their planned exit financing of $250 million yet. A hearing to confirm their reorganization plan scheduled for October 4 has been moved to October 27. The company said lenders were citing “various macroeconomic indicators, including a tightening of capital markets, as possible concerns with the debtors’ procuring the exit financing at this time.” Borders reported another $65.9 million in operating losses on sales of just $13.7 million for the month of August. (“Other revenue”, however, was $126.8 million, nearly double the $57.6 million from […]
Bookselling: Two-and-A-Half Openings, and Two Closings
Quincy Books in Quincy, IL will open in space formerly occupied by Waldenbooks. The store is owned by Cowley Distributing, which operates six other stores in Central Missouri and bought two additional Borders properties as well as the one in Quincy. Quincy Herald-Whig New and used shop Ugly Dog Books will open in Attleboro, VT, with owner Kim Ward Storch committing to support three local charities. For every hardcover purchase of $8, customers can choose which of those charities will receive $4 from that purchase. The shop’s grand opening is set for October 8. Attleboro Patch Books-A-Million will close an […]
Slight Wait on Borders IP Sales
The hearing to approve the auctions of Borders’ intellectual property assets set for today has been postponed to Thursday afternoon at 2:00. In the meantime, Barnes & Noble continues to decline to comment on what they purchased, though court filings so far imply the bookseller is acquiring almost everything that was up for sale (including domestic rights to the Borders names and web URLs, along with the customers lists to the extent that the privacy policy allows their sale and reuse) except for licenses to various Borders’ trademarks in other territories. Under the approved auction rules, Borders is supposed to […]
Bookselling: Stores Close in Westhampton, Downtown LA; OFT Sets Amazon/Book Depository Ruling Date; and More
The Open Book in Westhampton Beach will close by the end of the year. Owner Terry Lucas told the Southampton Press that “the difficult economy, the rise of the popularity of e-books and the arrival of another bookstore down the block” — meaning the Westhampton outpost of Books & Books, which opened in 2010 — combined to influence her decision. “We have tried everything to stay open, but it is not financially feasible to keep going…. I’m trying to focus on the good. I met so many amazing people and had so much fun.” Southhampton Press Metropolis Books will close […]