Sales of the paperback release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in the UK were dominated by Asda after they decided to sell the book for just one pound for the first three days. Asda book buyer Steph Bateson says they sold just under 40,000 copies during the promotion, while Nielsen Bookscan tracked sales industrywide of 46,257 copies in that three-day period. Despite the money lost by the chain on the promotion, Bateson tells the Bookseller “I think we have shaken the other retailers up a bit, which was always our intention,” calling it a “genuine footfall and sales-driving […]
Bookstores
ABA to Partner with Applewood on POD
I love the tidbit via Vermont Public Radio that, despite publishing world dreams that a POD book machine within a bookstore will make available countless titles efficiently to individual customers, what those customers really want is to make their own books. There is, potentially, huge opportunity there for physical bookstores, since the dozens of web sites that offer such services don’t have their own retail outlets. The bookstore is a natural place to go for help in publishing your own book (and if you buy the right package, they’ll put it on sale for you, too.) I’ve noted in speeches […]
New Indie Bookstore in Berkshires
“Pittsfield now has its own downtown bookstore. Chapters Bookstore, Inc., a new independently owned bookstore under the management of Aimee McLear, and Kelly Wright,” which opens today. The co-owners “have extensive bookselling and management experience.” The 2,000-square-foot selling space is at 78 North Street.iBerkshires
Olsson's Wins Conversion to Chapter 11
Struggling under an involuntary Chapter 7 liquidation filing from a group of creditors, Washington, DC-area bookseller Olsson’s was granted a conversion to Chapter 11 status by a Federal Bankruptcy court of Maryland last Friday. Olsson’s listed assets of $929,428 and liabilities of $1,951,629. In a filing from three major publishers, Random House has an unsecured claim of more than $175,000, while Penguin’s claim is more than $171,500 and Hachette is owed just under $40,000. Principal owner John Olsson still expresses hope that the store group will “maintain operations while implementing a plan for successful restructuring.” Comptroller says all they need […]
Borders Live with Audio Downloads
The promised inclusion of downloadable audiobooks at Borders’ web site has gone live, with “an initial 15,000 titles” on offer. The company says that over a third of those titles are available in (DRM-free) MP3 files. Starting today and running through Saturday, you can download a free audio version of Jon Krakauer’s INTO THE WILD, and an additional 15 titles from top authors (including the topical TWILIGHT by Stephenie Meyer) will sold at the promotional discount price of $9.95 through July 22. As noted previously, Borders has partnered with OverDrive for both the inventory and the underlying technology for the […]
Author Solutions Partners Include Alibris
First announced in June with 10 partners, Author Solutions has signed another 13 sites to the program that makes their self-publishing platform available to other entities on a revenue-sharing basis. Interestingly, among the latest partners is online bookselling powerhouse Alibris, which creates all kinds of interesting possibilities. Author Solutions calls the program “a turnkey revenue producer for online communities, printers, retailers, and publishers. The platform has all of our publishing expertise ‘baked in.’ It can be skinned with our partners’ branding and we provide all necessary IT and back-end support.”Release