Amazon announced this morning a textbook trade-in program that lets students get a quote online for used books, print a pre-paid shipping label, and return those books for credits against Amazon purchases.Announcement Two independent booksellers announced closings: Lee Booksellers in Lincoln, NB is closing after 30 years in business as their lease expires and co-owners Linda Hillegass and husband Jim McKee prepare to retire. “The big effect the economy has had is that we can’t sell the store,” Hillegass said. “We did try to sell the store, and it didn’t work.” Also closing is Ormond Beach, FL’s The Bookstore Cafe […]
Bookstores
The Risks of Experiments: Distribution of Moody's Twitter Story Surprises Readers
Experimentation is how you learn but sometimes the lessons are tough ones. Long-form narrative may not belong on Twitter and after this week’s tweeting of a short story by Rick Moody through Electric Literature, we may not have to think about it for a while. Encouraged by the start-up quarterly whose “mission is to use new media and innovative distribution to return the short story to a place of prominence in popular culture,” Moody wrote the story specifically for Twitter “and used it as a source of creative inspiration” according to a release from EL. He comments “it really was […]
Pearson CFO Thinks Borders US Is Solid; Layoffs at Borders UK; Dubai's Stake In HMH Parent
A number of British publishing officials have said their financial vulnerability to the failure of Borders UK is quite limited, with Pearson cfo Robin Freestone telling a London media summit “our exposure is very, very low to that Borders UK situation.” Freestone is worried about certain unspecified retailers in other parts of the world, but he is publicly hopeful about the larger American Borders. “The big question mark this time last year was Borders U.S. … I think they’ve come through it. I do sense they’re on the up,” Freestone said. The stock market has remained more doubtful, sending Borders […]
Bookselling: Borders UK In Bankruptcy; Another Gay and Lesbian Store to Close; Update On Elliott Bay
As expected, Borders UK filed for “administration” (the UK equivalent of bankruptcy) last week, with the firm MCR overseeing the process after another company, BDO, pulled out at the last minute citing an unspecified conflict. Stores started offering discounts immediately thereafter to help sell off existing merchandise while employees and publishers wait to see if anyone is interested in buying part or all of the chain. The Bookseller’s anonymous “Borders Insider” wrote of confusion and changing orders at the store level over how deeply to discount. Most UK newspaper accounts expect the chain to be liquidated, with the possibility that […]
Bookselling: Palin Sales Said to be 700k In Opening Week; Hudson Picks The Help As Best of the Year; Germany's Thalia Buys Out
A “publishing official close to” Sarah Palin says that GOING ROGUE sold 700,000 copies in its first week on sale. Earlier, Harper had confirmed another leak that the book sold 300,000 copies the first day alone. Last Friday, the publisher announced a new printing would bring the copies in print to 2.5 million units.AP Hudson Booksellers picked Kathryn Stockett’s THE HELP as their best book of 2009. The chain operates 65 full-service bookstores and 350 bookstore/newsstands in airports and other terminals, with 2009 book sales of $93 million. The rest of their Best Fiction list includes: The Year of the […]
With No Buyer Yet, Concern Over the Fate of Borders UK
Concerns about the fate of Borders UK rose over the past few days, as the Times declared Sunday the struggling chain is “on the verge of collapse” after a potential deal with WH Smith fell apart (first reported by Retail Week, and linked here on Friday.) RW had reported that “an alternative buyer of Borders UK is being sought and the retailer is understood to have received several expressions of interest.” Asked for comment by the Guardian, WH Smith “refused to confirm reports that it had pulled out of the deal,” but they too warned the company “appeared to be […]