Mary Cummings, former administrator of the McKnight Award in Children’s Literature and organizer of the Festival of Children’s Literature at the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis, will be representing children’s books in association with Betsy Amster Literary Enterprises. Hollan Publishing’s principals Holly Schmidt and Allan Penn have joined with literary agent Lori Perkins to form Literary Partners Group, which is launching an online publishing company called Ravenous Romance. They will publish daily novel-length erotic romances, as well as lunchtime short stories, in e-book and downloadable MP3 format, starting December 1. Schmidt says in an announcement “we will succeed by producing […]
Bookstores
The Billionaire and the Bookstore
Apparently folks on Nantucket are trying hard to find some kind of dark side to Wendy Schmidt (wife of Google ceo Eric Schmidt) and her support for local businesses–including her saving of Mitchell’s Book Corner. “Nantucket philanthropists do not, as a rule, stick their noses into the business of running the town. Last year, Wendy Schmidt changed that. She donated land for a transit hub, then saved the bookstore. Now she’s talking about saving other local businesses, at least ones that she and her advisers deem worthy of preservation, and, in doing so, she may be changing the face of […]
Plus: Skylight for Kids; More "Guernsey" and Announcements
Skylight’s new next-door space Skylight Books 1814 “allows us to expand a number of our sections into the new store, but also expand and better display things in our existing store, including the children’s section and the fiction section,” co-owner Kerry Slattery tells the LAT. After a soft opening last month, on Saturday they “are throwing an opening gala Saturday that is equal parts coming-out party and thank-you celebration for the community.” Slattery notes, “When we opened 12 years ago, we were debating if we would even have a children’s section, because it seemed to be mostly older people and […]
BN Continuing to Develop Digital Products
In yesterday’s conference call following their earnings reports, BN ceo Steve Riggio answered an analyst’s question about the chain’s plans for new technology and the marketplace: “We began selling digital magazines earlier this year on the website. We’re very encouraged by what we’re seeing there and like with all new strategic developments of any type, we will announce it on the day that we launch but we can’t really make any further comments on anything that we will be doing or might be doing, it’s just so highly strategic…. We do not believe that eBooks is the total universe of […]
Tough times for Seattle's Bookstores
The Seattle PI looks at the rash of store closings and tough retail environment, even in the highly-literate Seattle. It “has more bookstores per capita than any other city in the country, according to the “America’s Most Literate Cities” survey conducted by Jack Miller, president of Central Connecticut State University — 174 at last count. But running a bookstore has always been an occupation for dreamers, and area independent stores have had to confront the realities of wresting a living from a low-margin business in an increasingly expensive town.” More broadly, Miller notes that “not a single city in our […]
Waterstone Takes over Books Etc. Stores
Waterstone’s will take over eight Books Etc stores in the London region after striking a deal with Borders, Books Etc’s parent company. The stores’ leases will be transferred from Books Etc to Waterstone’s, which has paid nothing for the sites. The branches that will be transferred are Fleet Street, London Wall, Holborn, Wandsworth, Uxbridge, Finchley and two sites in Canary Wharf.Bookseller