Four St. Louis bookstores–Left Bank Books, Pudd’nhead Books, Main Street Books and Subterranean Books (which has said it might have to close this year)–have formed the St. Louis Independent Bookstore Alliance. They have a Facebook page, a joint website in the works, and are planning a bookstore tour. And they expect to welcome other area stores to the alliance. Nikki Furrer of Pudd’nhead Books says “This is a chance for all of us to promote St. Louis and stores that people here have not heard of.” Pasadena’s Vroman’s is “very sad to see Borders go, but we’re also excited for […]
BlogWorld Pairs with BEA
BlogWorld & New Media Expo, which calls itself “the world’s largest social media conference,” will add a New York show to their schedule by co-locating with Book Expo America. BEA badge holders will have free access to the Blogworld exhibit floor, but will need to purchase conference tickets separately. And BlogWorld attendees–expected to number more than 1,500–will have access to BEA. The new show also anticipates having 100 sponsors/exhibitors and 200 speakers. Their primary conference day will be Tuesday, May 24 (the day BEA’s exhibit floor opens) with two days of exhibits on the May 25 and 26.
Who Else Benefits – Or Suffers – From Borders’ Bankruptcy?
In addition to the bankruptcy’s effect on book sales and publishers’ respective bottom lines, Borders’ Chapter 11 filing will have a domino effect on a number of related players, among them: LandlordsPublicly-traded Michigan-based Agree Realty was often cited as being in the most precarious position, because Borders stores made up approximately 20% of their total real estate portfolio (and was as high as 27%). Yesterday Agree released a statement indicating that 5 of the 14 Borders properties it owns (which includes company headquarters in Ann Arbor, up for sale, and two buildings not currently occupied by Borders) are slated for […]
Australia/New Zealand’s Dominant Bookstore Group Also Files for Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is spreading through the world English-publishing world as Australia and New Zealand’s leading bookselling organization RedGroup Retail has been placed into voluntary administration by private equity owners PEP. The group comprises Angus & Robertson in Australia (with over 160 stores), Whitcoulls in New Zealand (with 65 stores), Borders in Australia (26 stores), New Zealand and Singapore, and the Calendar Club in both Australia and New Zealand. The combined entities employ approximately 2,500 people. The Age reported today that REDgroup “was forced to call in administrators to the businesses this afternoon following a board meeting.” All stores are slated to […]
Profits on the Rebound at Simon & Schuster; Magazine Says Random House May Slide
Sales at Simon & Schuster rose in the fourth quarter, up 5 percent to $231.7 million, but even with that improvement sales for the full year fell just below last year’s weak total, at $790.8 million falling $2.7 million below 2009’s mark. But strong fourth quarter profits of $20.1 million in OIBDA (up from $15.2 million a year ago) lifted income for the full year to $71.8 million, a 33 percent improvement over 2009. Operating income showed similar improvement, at $17.9 million for the fourth quarter, and $64.6 million for the full year. The company did record an unspecified “increased […]
People, Etc.
Hachette Book Group has reorganized its Online Marketing efforts. Effective today, Kelly Leonard will be VP, Executive Director, Web Strategies, responsible for responsible for the strategy and ongoing development of all HBG corporate and product websites. Associate Director Online Marketing Brad Parsons and Online Marketing Coordinator Brianne Beers move to Grand Central and report to Jennifer Romanello. Anna Balasi joins Little, Brown as Online Marketing Associate, while Sarah Reck will continue to work as a Web Publicist on Center Street titles, but will now report to Harry Helm. Sally Kim will join Touchstone as editorial director, reporting to publisher Stacy […]