A local story celebrates how bookstore Point Reyes Station has produced “a literary renaissance…over the past decade in this unlikely rural setting.” Editorial director of Sausalito-based PoliPoint Press Peter Richardson says “Point Reyes Station has a reputation for hosting literary events whose ambitions far outstrip its tiny population.” This spring they hosted a three-day Stegner conference attended by 400 people. Owner Steve Costa is working on “a second conference for March on farm writing, inviting Barbara Kingsolver, Wendell Berry and Wes Jackson, among other likely participants.” He says: “We’re hopeful that Point Reyes, over time, will be recognized as an […]
Bookstores
Downtown Bakersfield Store to Close
Russo’s Books will close their downtown Bakersfield bookstore after 12 years, continuing to operate their two other larger mall-based locations. Owner Michael Russo tells the local paper, “The economy is slow and there just wasn’t enough business to continue operating all three, especially when two of them were just three and a half miles apart.”Bakersfield Californian
Consternation in UK Over Asda's HP Paperback Discount
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 […]
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 […]