Owners of Washington, DC-area Vertigo Books are struggling to stay in business and last month they told customers the store was “at risk.” Co-owner Bridget Warren says, “It was a combination of the economy and Internet sales.” Husband Todd Stewart adds, “It’s been a bad year all year, but come September….” The Washington Post looks at their efforts against the backdrop of the many Washington, DC indies that have gone out of business in recent years. It’s also framed against a recent screening at Vertigo of producer-director Alex Beckstead’s movie Paperback Dreams, which follows the fate of Kepler’s and Cody’s […]
Bookstores
Watch Mitchell Kaplan
The owner of Books and Books and co-founder of the Miami International Book Fair Mitchell Kaplan has a nice two-minute interview with Miami New Times as the fair celebrates its 25th anniversary of bringing major authors to Miami.
Consensus: You Are Nervous
The NYT reviews most of the reasons publishers and booksellers are nervous about the state of business this holiday season. The article doesn’t face the downturn in profitable backlist, noting instead that “publishers continue to plan for blockbuster sales of marquee-brand books.” At the same time, they note there are big books–300,000 copies of Wally Lamb’s The Hour I First Believed–and very big books, with 1.25 million copies of “You: Being Beautiful — The Owner’s Manual to Inner and Outer Beauty.”NYT USA Today looked at a similar theme yesterday.
Vroman's Backs Off Expansion Plan
Pasadena’s Vroman’s Bookstore has cancelled plans to purchase a newly-renovated building in Old Town Monrovia for a new store. Vroman’s president Joel Sheldon said in a statement “the more recent economic conditions and variances have caused our board of directors to adopt a more conservative approach regarding expansion at this timePasadena Star
Retail: Lights Out On Public Radio Show; New Store in FL; Music Publishing vs. The Internet
* “Live from Prairie Lights,” the Iowa Public Radio show typically taped at Prairie Lights bookstore, will come to an end after an 18 year run, with the final show airing in December. Interim executive director of Iowa Public Radio Steve Carignan says the show has “a very loyal but very small audience.” In the Press-Citizen newspaper, co-owner of the store Jim Harris “said the program is part of Iowa City culture and said the news was disappointing” but “does not come as a surprise. He said that when the program was switched from being broadcast live to Saturdays, the […]
Indigo Has An e-Content Play
Canada’s dominant retailer Indigo has plans for a electronic text offering focused on free and paid downloads for mobile devices, Quill and Quire reports. The enterprise will be established as a separately-branded subsidiary of Indigo, serving customers throughout North America (with intentions of going global), and set to launch in early 2009. “The final details won’t be unveiled until December,” the magazine reports, but Indigo cto Michael Serbinis confirms certain detials. Material on offer will range from complete e-books for mobile reading to small chunks (chapters, articles and short stories) and user-generated content. It sounds as if download fees will […]