With 10 days to go until majority stakeholder Pershing Square Capital Management decides whether Borders should finally make good on the $42.5 million loan that’s already been renegotiated three times before, expect to see a lot more speculation from analysts and journalists about the book retailer’s ability to survive. One analyst, Lou Kasman of Marketing/Management Associates LLC, told AnnArbor.com “I don’t see strong cash flow, so meeting debt is questionable. Whether the lenders will change payment requirements is the question.” Turnaround consultant Jim McTevia is much more blunt: “Borders is a classic example of a company that is struggling for […]
Bookstores
BN Head Lynch Takes Over As CEO of Barnes & Noble, Inc.
Just a year after bringing in William Lynch as ceo of Barnes & Noble.com and grooming him for bigger things at the company, this morning it was announced that he will take over as ceo of all of Barnes & Noble, Inc. In a second promotion, chief operating officer Mitchell Klipper moves up to the newly-created position ceo of the retail stores group. Current ceo Steve Riggio will keep the position of vice chairman and remain “actively involved in the company.” In a conference call this morning, chairman Len Riggio said “today’s announcement brings much joy to Steve and me. […]
Buy Button Bingo
With the launch of the iPad and its accompanying iBookstore just over two weeks away, the transition to an agency model for ebooks remains both contentious and uncertain. It is not at all clear whether any significant number of independent publishers will be signed with Apple and available for direct sale in their store on launch, just as it remains uncertain whether other publishers will experience interruption in their business with Amazon as Macmillan did while negotiating their transition to the new model. At least one independent publisher of scale was told categorically by Amazon in a recent phone call […]
Bookselling and More: Charging the Self-Published; A New Subscription Plan; Hosting Book Clubs
We noted short items in the past regarding how the Boulder Bookstore charges all the self-published authors who want to connect with the store rather than sending them away empty-handed, and now a Nieman Journalism Lab piece offers more details. The fee structure ranges from $25 to stock five copies and $75 to feature a book in the Recommended section, up to $255 for an in-store reading and book-signing (plus website and newsletter mention). Our first instinct was that they are charging too little for the more elaborate plans, knowing what third-parties are charging for marketing plans–and indeed, head buyer […]
Amazon Warns Connecticut, Adds Cookbooks
Amazon vp for global public policy Paul Misener told a Connecticut legislative committee in written testimony that if the state adopts a proposed law which “sets a nexus test of $2,000 in quarterly sales generated over four consecutive quarters by in-state affiliates,” Amazon would “would simply sever affiliate advertising relationships with Connecticut residents.” The etailer just took a similar step in Colorado. One association estimates that approximately 2,000 Connecticut small businesses are Amazon affiliates.Connecticut Mirror In a press release, Amazon says that they have been adding more cookbooks to their Kindle store, including the release today of books from Mark […]
Bookselling: BN's Matterhorn Push, More Online Rentals, Children's Store to Close
With strong buzz for Grove/Atlantic’s reissue of Karl Marlantes’ MATTERHORN later this month, Barnes & Noble celebrates the role of their Discover Great New Writers program in building attention for the book. Originally published last year by Berkeley’s El León Literary Arts, the book was submitted to BN’s Discover program, and “the Discover program shared their enthusiasm for the novel with the publisher of Grove/Atlantic.” Grove/Atlantic publisher Morgan Entrekin says in the release, “I’m grateful to the booksellers involved with the Discover Great New Writers program who are open to good works from any source. Without them, this amazing book […]