BAM announced third quarter sales of $111 million, as same-store sales declined 1.9 percent compared to a year ago. Their net loss of $1.6 million was an improvement over last year’s loss of $2.2 million. Bear in mind, however, that for all booksellers comparisons this reporting quarter, the bar is already quite low. It was this time a year ago, for example, that BAM reported same-store sales had dropped 9.9 percent. So this time they are a doing just a little worse than last year–but last year they were performing terribly. CEO Clyde Anderson reiterated, “Comparable store sales for the […]
Court Sets February 18 Google Books Hearing; Grants Preliminary Approval and New Opt-Out
Judge Denny Chin has reviewed the revised Google Books Settlement proposal and found it to be “within the range of possible approval” and set a February 18 hearing date. The court granted preliminary approval of the amended agreement (a procedural formality rather than a judgment) and recertified the revised settlement classes for settlement purposes only and accepted the expanded author and publisher plaintiffs. Chin has approved a new round of notice beginning December 14 to anyone who registered at the settlement website, opted out, or filed papers with the court, and the new deadline for opt outs and objections is […]
People: Another Hire at Borders, and More
More adjustments to Borders’ deck, as the company has hired yet another complete outsider for a top position. This time it’s mattress executive Bill Dandy who joins the bookseller as svp, marketing, reporting to cmo Mike Edwards, after a three-year stint as evp of marketing at Mattress Firm. Art Keeney–who has been svp, marketing–will move over to svp, store operations. And Larry Norton, who joined Borders recently as svp, merchandising and distribution, changes his position to svp, merchandising for adult trade and children’s books, leading the book buying teams. Elsewhere, at Harlequin’s parent company Torstar, interim head since May David […]
National Book Awards: McCann, Stiles, Hoose and Waldrop
The marketplace made the right predictions on the two highest-profile National Book Awards, as the fiction prize went to the book that has sold the best, both overall and (overwhelmingly) in the four weeks since the nominations were announced: Colum McCann’s LET THE GREAT WORLD SPIN (Random House). Nonfiction also saw the book that has by far sold the best win, with the award going to T. J. Stiles’ THE FIRST TYCOON: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt (Alfred A. Knopf). Conflict issues raised online by Janice Harayda and echoed by the NYT over nominee David Small’s relationship having illustrated […]
People
Danielle Perez is joining New American Library as executive editor, where she will acquire commercial fiction and nonfiction, starting January 4. Perez has been at Bantam for 11 years. Michelle Brower is joining Folio Literary Management as an agent, after five years with Wendy Sherman Associates. Kristin Lang has joined Audible as director of editorial business development. managing the growing fiction publishing program and developing and acquiring new and innovative audio projects. She was editorial director at Macmillan Audio, overseeing the selection and acquisition of over 100 titles annually. Tangentially, Moby Lives speculates on a number of potential candidates for […]
Bookselling: Shirky's Advice to Indie, and More
Clay Shirky wrote interestingly, if at excessive length about local bookstores and what they might need to do in order to survive and prosper. You can skip a big chunk of the first part of the essay… The crux is “the local bookstore creates all kinds of value for its community, whether its providing community bulletin boards, putting rocking chairs in the kids section, hosting book readings, or putting benches out in front of the store. Local writers, harried parents, couples on dates, all get value from a store’s existence as a inviting physical location, value separate from its existence […]