In Australia, with a report imminent from the Productivity Commission on the country’s copyright laws that protect local book publishing from import editions, consumers are expected to win a bigger victory than initially anticipated. The Sydney Morning Herald “understands one of the proposals will be to free up restrictions on book imports, after a period of up to three years to give the industry time to adjust.” In a draft version of their recommendations in March the commission “said removing all import restrictions would damage the industry” and “advocated limits should apply for a year after a book was first […]
Bookstores
Bookselling News: Pages to Close; Helping Homeless Ex-Bookseller
The back-and-forth struggle for survival of Toronto’s Pages bookstres is ending the hard way: after 30 years, the store will close as the end of August. The store first warned of trouble last October, but in January it was reported that they had successfully signed a new lease at an acceptable rent. Now Torontoist says “in the end there simply wasn’t a choice. Rent is growing faster than sales, and for all that Pages is deeply loved, the cash crunch got to be too much.” Known for “curating the indie set’s reading list and nurturing Toronto’s newest and freshest literary […]
Bookselling News: Trover Closes; Half Price Rises; What Scribd Does Right
Washington, DC’s Trover Shop bookstore on Capitol Hill is closing after 51 years in business. At one point comprising five stores in the area, Trover Shops will be left with a single outlet that sells only cards and gifts. Co-owner Andy Shuman (and son of founder Joe Shuman) tells the Washington Post, “We don’t want to see it go, but unfortunately with the way the industry’s going and other stores closing, we’d rather be on our own terms than someone else’s terms.” They wanted to be able to “walk away with our heads held high instead of with our heads […]
Amazon Names Best Books for the First Half of 2009
Not waiting for the end-of-year list season, Amazon is highlight an eclectic selection of their “best books of 2009…so far.” The Top 10 overall comprise: Cheever: A Life by Blake BaileyLet the Great World Spin by Colum McCannFordlandia by Greg GrandinThe City & The City by China MievilleThe Forgotten Garden by Kate MortonBrooklyn by Colm ToibinThe Gamble by Thomas RicksSag Harbor by Colson Whiteheadand even Starbucks pick Crazy for the Storm by Norman Ollestad, and one-time Borders “make book” The Lost City of Z by David Grann Separate lists offer top tens for fiction, nonfiction, children’s and “hidden gems.” And […]
Bookselling News: Praising Politics & Prose; Espresso Self-Publishing; Online Bookstore Dating; BN's App; and More
A number of interesting stories that first appeared in the PL Automat: – The Washington Post profiles the “doyennes” who “nurture” the “landmark” store Politics & Prose. And they look at the store’s p&l: “After paying $3.9 million for books, $1.6 million for payroll and covering the rest of their expenses, the store earned $73,000 last year. The co-owners split $173,000 in salary and bonus. Carla Cohen said a big mistake was trying to run the coffeehouse downstairs themselves. They sub-contract it out and earn $4,000 a month. The store’s Web site is not a big profit center, averaging 200 […]
Borders UK Moving Closer to Potential Sale
Retail Week reports that Borders UK, which had already appointed Clearwater Corporate Finance to “seek new funding”, has sent out an information memorandum to “selected private equity houses and trade buyers”. The opportunity may be there for Borders UK to broaden its scope, Retail Planet Analyst Paola Montealegre commented that the store’s potential plans “may not be enough to compete with new channels such as supermarkets and internet retailers.”Retail Week