A study by Chicago’s Grant Thornton warns that 10,000 retail stores across the US may close this year–twice the number of last year’s closings. Among the sectors they predict will be hardest hit are bookstores, with the firm saying that 400 bookstores could close in 2009, which they calculate as a 500 percent increase over 2008. (That would seem to undercount the 2008 closings given the reductions at Borders Group. And we could only find the prediction on bookstores in this Chicago Sun Times article, rather than the report itself.)Sun TimesDownload study
People: Munro Leaves Giller to Others
Recent Man Booker International Prize winner and two-time Giller winner Alice Munro, 78, has withdrawn her just-released story collection TOO MUCH HAPPINESS from consideration for the 2009 Giller prize. Publisher Douglas Gibson says: “Her reason is that she has won twice and would like to leave the field to younger writers. In my role as greedy publisher I pointed out that the Giller Prize produces so much publicity, that even to be nominated for it is tremendous publicity. But her mind is made up on this. Alice preferred to withdraw from the competition.”Globe and Mail
BN to Distribute Smashwords Titles
Ebook distributor and online self-publishing platform Smashwords announced late Friday that BarnesandNoble.com will sell titles from the company as part of its new “premium feed.” Smashwords, which says they publish about 2,600 titles electronically, will sell to BN.com at a traditional discount of approximately 50 percent, and will keep approximately 7.5 percent as their commission, giving authors and publishers 42.5 percent of the sale. Founder Mark Coker says that “additional distribution relationships are forthcoming.” He says that “until today, it was difficult if not impossible for independent authors and publishers to gain such mainstream digital distibution.”Company announcement
Earnings Soar at Hachette in First Half of 2009
Lagardere reported complete results for the first six months of their fiscal year today (having already reported preliminary sales in July). The publishing division’s EBIT was 112 million euros, up by 61% from last year, on sales of 1.009 billion euros. The company congratulates itself on their “excellent performance” and exudes that it was “all the more remarkable given that the publishing sector is actually contracting slightly in all the markets where we operate.” (Indeed the parent company took a total of 332 million euros in impairment, amortization and restructuring charges during the period.) In the first quarter, out of […]
EU Begins Consultation on Future of Digitized Books
Europeana, the EU’s digital library, has more than doubled its collection of digital books, maps, photographs and other items since its November 2008 inception and with projections of up to 10 million by 2010, the European Commission has opened up a public inquiry on the future challenges for book digitisation in Europe and the need to reform copyright framework that runs until November 15. In a statement, Viviane Reding, EU Commissioner for Information Society and Media “finds it alarming” that Europeana makes only 5% of all digitized books available, with much of those works from a single country. Other issues […]
E-News: Sony Reader in Europe, Frustration with Kindle Licenses, and More
WHSmith and Waterstone’s appear to be heading towards a price war on Sony Readers once the latter retailer’s exclusive period ends on September 17th. Waterstone’s will be selling the new Sony Reader – Touch for £249.99, however the WHS website is selling it for £219. With the Sony Reader – Pocket Waterstone’s is taking pre-orders for £179.99 whereas WHS is offering it at £159.The Bookseller But don’t expect the Daily Edition, Sony’s touchscreen wireless reader, to be available in the UK anytime soon. Sony did confirm it will be sold there, but that it may take “a year or two.”PC […]