Arsen Kashkashian, head buyer of the Boulder Bookstore, reports on his blog Kash’s Book Corner that “yesterday we were informed that Hachette is eliminating” three co-op programs “that will cost many independent stores $3,000 in the upcoming year”, comprising support for newsletters ($2,000), author events ($200 to $800 per year) and their Emerging Voices program ($200), in which “we bought 10 copies of books by relatively unknown authors to earn the co-op.” Kashkashian writes: “In most businesses, $3,000 might be a fairly insignificant amount. In the bookselling world where a profit of 2% is considered stellar, it is a critical […]
Bookstores
Books-A-Million CEO Quits
Sandra Cochran notified Books-A-Million that she has resigned from her positions as president and ceo effective March 11 “in order to accept an executive position with another company.” (In April she will become cfo of Cracker Barrel.)The statement says “Cochran’s resignation was voluntary and did not result from any disagreement with the company or its board.” Executive chairman of the board Clyde Anderson has taken over as ceo.
Borders to Ask for Reverse Stock Split
At their annual meeting on May 21, Borders will seek shareholder approval for a reverse stock split to help bring the company into compliance with New York Stock Exchange listing rules. The split still might not happen, though, since the company also needs a higher market capitalization to meet the Exchange’s rules.Release
ABA "Action Plan" for Digital Opportunities
The ABA’s Len Vlahos posted a presentation to the ABA board about how “a meaningful digital content solution needs to be our top priority and main focus for the immediate future.” For now, however, the immediate recommendations calls for “further study” through a task force; continuing dialogue with Ingram, Symtio and other technology partners; and increased digital focus in the ABA’s educational programs.Report Bookseller Rich Rennicks had an interesting blog post on the topic of how to deal with ebooks in indie stores recently that was enriched by about 40 comments. Among the laments from booksellers there is that the […]
More Borders Cuts: 742 Store Managers and Supervisors Nationwide
Borders is cutting “less than 3 percent” of their in-store workforce across the country, eliminating 679 jobs at their superstores, mostly by “reducing the number of manager and supervisor positions.” They note that “no changes were made at the general manager level–the top position in each store–but in the majority of Borders locations, one or two other leadership positions, such as sales managers, inventory managers, training supervisors and merchandise supervisors, were eliminated as the company resets its superstore management structure to correspond to sales volume on a store-by-store basis.” Similar changes to manager and supervision positions at Waldenbooks are eliminating […]
Barnes & Noble Buys Fictionwise
The ereading (and eretailing) landscape continues to get more interesting as BN has bolstered their quiet development efforts in digital content by purchasing Fictionwise for $15.7 million in cash. As part of this morning’s announcement the company acknowledges for the first time “the launch of an e-Bookstore later this year.” They say, “Barnes & Noble said it plans to use Fictionwise as part of its overall digital strategy, which includes the launch of an e-Bookstore later this year.” Barnes & Noble says they will keep Fictionwise as a separate business unit and founders Steve and Scott Pendergrast will continue to […]