Entries tagged with “bookseller” from Tools of Change for Publishing

BN.com Redesign Nets Significant Traffic Increase

Mac Slocum
June 17, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0) | Listen

Barnes and Noble is seeing positive results from its 2007 Web site overhaul. From Publishers Weekly:

... in 2007, the online arm of the retailer posted a 10.1% sales increase, helped by a strong fourth quarter, and the solid results continued into the first period of 2008: B&N.com posted a 7.2% sales increase, compared to an increase of 1.1% for the stores.

BN.com CEO Marie Toulantis says shopping and community improvements, such as the "see inside" preview tool and new groups/clubs, aim to increase visitor engagement. Those improvements are working: PW says visits to BN.com jumped from 70 million in 2006 to 138 million in 2007.

Related Stories:

• BN.com Selling Digital Magazine Subscriptions and Back Issues
• B&N Considering Borders Acquisition
• Borders Goes Solo on New Web Site
• Amazon Growth Fuels Online's Book Market Share

Borders Cuts 274 Positions

Peter Brantley
June 3, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0) | Listen

Borders is cutting 274 jobs, with most of the hit being absorbed by corporate groups within the company's Ann Arbor, Mich. headquarters. From Publishers Weekly:

Borders stressed that with a few exceptions none of the cuts came at the store level and a spokesperson said there are no plans to reduce the number of store employees. The cuts represented about 20% of Borders's corporate positions but only 1% of its total workforce.

The cuts are part of Borders' move to reduce expenses by $120 million over the next year and a half, PW reports.

Late last month, Barnes & Noble said it is studying a possible acquisition of Borders.

Related Stories:

• Borders Goes Solo on New Web Site
• Borders Gets a Better Deal

B&N Considering Borders Acquisition

Mac Slocum
May 21, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0) | Listen

When Borders announced its exploration of "strategic alternatives" in March, speculation marked Barnes & Noble as a possible suitor. The Wall Street Journal says B&N is taking that speculation seriously -- it's assembled an advisory team to study an acquisition of its brick-and-mortar competitor. From the WSJ:

That Barnes & Noble is contemplating a bid illustrates how competitive book retailing has become ... Not only have Amazon and other Web retailers taken a significant portion of the $15 billion consumer book business, but also book sales have shown little real growth in recent years.

(Via Publishers Weekly)

Related Stories:

• Borders Gets a Better Deal
• Borders Prototype Store Shows Off Digital Center
• Amazon Growth Fuels Online's Book Market Share

Bookstores Confront Fake Author Scam

Mac Slocum
April 30, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0) | Listen

Scammers claiming to be authors are trying to pluck money from California booksellers. From the L.A. Times:

... slowly but surely, stores are being contacted by people claiming to be someone they're not and trying to persuade the bookstore staff to send them money. It's bewildering to a community that operates largely on trust and personal relationships.

The "authors" call retailers with a sob story -- their car was impounded, their computer was stolen, etc. -- and they ask the bookstore owners to wire funds to help them out of their jams.

The onslaught of digital scams from deposed Nigerian princes must have prepared the booksellers for this latest scam; all of the interviewed retailers caught on before sending money.

(Via Publishers Weekly)

Tim O'Reilly: Amazon Has Publishers in its Sights

Andrew Savikas
April 17, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0) | Listen

Over on the the O'Reilly Radar blog, Tim O'Reilly offers a warning for publishers, and cautions Amazon against "irreparably" harming the publishing ecosystem:

It is a free-market economy, and competition is the name of the game. But as Amazon's market power increases, it needs to be mindful of whether its moves, even those that may be good for the company in the short term, are ultimately destructive of the ecosystem on which they depend. I believe that they are heading in that direction, and if they succeed with some of their initiatives, they will wake up one day to discover that they've sown the seeds of their own destruction, just as Microsoft did in the 1990s.

Related Story:

• Amazon Growth Fuels Online's Book Market Share

Amazon Growth Fuels Online's Book Market Share

Mac Slocum
April 16, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (1) | Listen

Online retailers claim 21-30 percent of the consumer trade book market, according to two recent surveys. Publishers Weekly says much of this growth comes from Amazon:

In discussing their 2007 results, both Penguin's David Shanks and Simon & Schuster's Carolyn Reidy said the e-tailer was their fastest-growing account last year, while Quarto Group chairman Laurence Orbach noted that sales of its MBI Distribution subsidiary have increased by more than 10 percent at Amazon in each of the last three years.

Related Stories:

• Publishers Beware: Amazon has you in their sights
• Amazon Ups the Ante on Platform Lock-In
• Report: Book Sales Up 7 Percent in Early '08

Roundup: Free Doesn't Always Apply, Kindle's Ebook Impact, Indie Bookstores and Chains Face Same Competitor, UK Publishers and Amazon in Price Battle, Borders Gets a Better Deal

Mac Slocum
April 11, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0) | Listen

Free Doesn't Work for Every Company

From Peter Brantley: Hank Williams of Why Does Everything Suck? does an informal economic critique of Chris Anderson's "things tend to free" hypothesis:

"Some of you will argue that Google does fine based purely on advertising. But just because one company can commoditize everyone else's work and make pennies on things that used to generate dollars, is that sustainable across the whole economy? Or would we really be reducing the overall amount of money flowing into the digital market and therefore to the overall labor force?" (Continue reading ...)

An Educated Guess at Kindle's Impact

Kindle sales figures aren't available and the devices are still sold out, but the Associated Press notes a connection between the Kindle's Nov. '07 release and an uptick in ebook sales across the industry:

Publishing officials are reluctant to discuss sales figures, but say that they have seen double digit increases in e-book sales since the Kindle's release, including renewed interest in downloads on the Sony Reader.

Independent Booksellers and Chains Face Big-Box Competitors

Looks like the "enemy of my enemy is my friend" maxim is coming in to play with the increased attention big-box retailers are giving to books. Small indie booksellers and chain stores, such as Borders and B&N, are feeling the pinch from big-box store markdowns. From the Washington Post:

Costco, Target, Wal-Mart and Sam's Club aren't just moving in for the kill with big discounts on the latest Stephen King or John Grisham page-turners. They are also engaging the culturally connected, targeting readers who delight in cocktail or book-club conversation about the latest titles. About 34 percent of book buyers made purchases at such locations last year, according to the Simmons National Consumer Survey.

Publishers and Amazon Locked in Price War

The UK's Times Online says Penguin, Bloomsbury and other publishers are trying to woo customers with steep discounts on their own Web sites. Amazon isn't happy about the cuts:

There are fears that Amazon may retaliate by regarding a publisher’s online price as the recommended retail price and applying its trading terms to that. If a publisher discounts a £20 book to £15 online and Amazon has a contract for a 50 percent discount on the full price, Amazon would pay the company £7.50 instead of £10. Publishers say that this would be unfair and could ultimately drive up prices.

Borders Gets a Better Deal

Borders has revised its $42.5 million loan with Pershing Square Capital Management. According to The Bookseller, the loan interest rate has been reduced from 12.5 percent to 9.8 percent. Pershing has also boosted its backup offer for Borders' international operations to $135 million.

Related:

• See more publishing news and insight in the TOC News section.

Converted Church Sells Books, Attracts Tourists

Mac Slocum
April 10, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0) | Listen

Here's a new spin on retail: "Bookstore as tourist attraction." The Selexyz Dominicanen bookstore in Maastricht, Netherlands -- housed in a reworked 13th-century Dominican church -- is attracting both book patrons and tourists. From The Guardian:

The beautifully restored building is an attraction in its own right, and yet the installation of a towering, three-storey black steel bookstack in the long, high nave, together with a fashionable if somewhat noisy cafe in the choir, works extraordinarily well. Church and bookshop look as if they might have been made for one another.

Pictures and further details are available at thecoolhunter.net and Elsevier Retail.

(Via Shelf Awareness.)

Independent Booksellers and Chains Face Big-Box Competitors

Mac Slocum
April 8, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0) | Listen

Looks like the "enemy of my enemy is my friend" maxim is coming in to play with the increased attention big-box retailers are giving to books. Small indie booksellers and chain stores, such as Borders and B&N, are feeling the pinch from big-box store markdowns. From the Washington Post:

Costco, Target, Wal-Mart and Sam's Club aren't just moving in for the kill with big discounts on the latest Stephen King or John Grisham page-turners. They are also engaging the culturally connected, targeting readers who delight in cocktail or book-club conversation about the latest titles. About 34 percent of book buyers made purchases at such locations last year, according to the Simmons National Consumer Survey.

Further Thoughts on Amazon/BookSurge

Laura Dawson
April 3, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (1) | Listen

I keep turning the Amazon/BookSurge story over in my mind, and decided today that it was worth a deep look at the stakeholders, and their stakes:

Print-on-Demand (POD) publishers: These include self-published authors as well as publishers with tens of thousands of titles. The POD model is cost-effective for many types of publishing. POD publishers choose their printers based on cost, quality of the product they turn out, and other differentiating terms.

Amazon: Not only do they sell books, but through their POD service BookSurge, they print them. They have just mandated to POD publishers that they will only sell POD titles printed by BookSurge. If POD publishers want to sell non-BookSurge books, they need to pre-print copies and send them to Amazon's warehouse. This takes the "OD" out of POD, and defeats the business model entirely.

What Amazon has done, essentially, is force the POD publishers to choose between BookSurge, its proprietary service with a proprietary format, and Lightning Source/Lulu/etc. Amazon says that it hasn't actually forced a choice -- that publishers are free to use whatever service they like and then pre-print five copies to be stored in Amazon's warehouses. For a small publisher, that's pretty demanding, and the fact is, most POD publishers use on-demand technology because it's cheaper. By pre-printing titles for sale, small publishers get into the same business that mainstream publishers do -- the business of pulping and remaindering books that don't sell.

Ingram: Not only do they distribute books, but their POD service Lightning Source prints them. Lightning Source is the largest POD service in the country. They also ship titles for Amazon that aren't carried by other sources. Ingram on Monday said that none of this actually had any impact on Lightning Source, but that's not the case. Amazon has said they will not send true POD orders to Lightning Source. The only way they will sell Lightning Source titles is if they already have those books in the warehouse.

Barnes & Noble: Like Amazon, of course, they sell books. They also have a very close relationship with Ingram. They will not sell any books printed by BookSurge. It may be that Ingram doesn't do anything directly to Amazon in retaliation for this loss of business, but they might suddenly get even closer to Barnes & Noble than they already are -- maybe team for an exclusive digital initiative.

Baker & Taylor: Like Ingram, they distribute books. They are the preferred vendor for Amazon, though Amazon will go to Ingram if B&T doesn't carry the book in question. One issue is, will the non-BookSurge books reside in B&T warehouses? Could B&T find itself carrying Lightning Source books because Amazon will only deal with those as they deal with books from non-POD publishers?

Borders: In trouble. Relaunching a website, purportedly on May 3. This is where Borders could get smart and play Switzerland. They could serve as a POD portal, selling all POD titles regardless of affiliation. But at this point it's asking a lot for Borders to keep its head above water, much less strategize at this long-tail level. So unless they've suddenly acquired some major talent in several divisions of their Web site, that's rather a long shot.

The Customer: He just wants a book -- his mom's book, a how-to book, a book on an obscure topic. He wants a book that may only be available on-demand. How does he know where to find it? Why must he go to Amazon, and then B&N, to see if he can get it? Amazon's not going to sell Lightning Source titles; B&N's not going to sell BookSurge titles. But the customer doesn't know or care who the printer is. He just wants to be able to find and buy the book.

That all said ... it's worth looking at both Lightning Source and BookSurge with a microscope.

Ingram has done some interesting things with regard to book distribution in the last few years. First, they created Ingram Digital Group (IDG), which is charged with exploring content delivery initiatives to both retail outlets and libraries. Second, they acquired VitalSource, an ebook platform heavily in use by college textbook publishers. Third, they acquired Coutts, whose MyiLibrary product is also an ebook platform for the academic and institutional market.

So Ingram has these delivery systems for large amounts of content, ready to package as white-label platforms with subscriptions included. With the digital files that Lightning Source uses, Ingram could conceivably distribute the current POD offerings as ebooks as well, distributed across its Coutts or VitalSource platforms.

Meanwhile, Amazon is scanning books for its "Look Inside" program. Obviously, it has a platform capable of delivering ebooks -- it does so daily. If Amazon insists that its POD publishers stick with BookSurge, and treats other POD vendors as traditional book publishers, then it could conceivably build a feeder system like IDG has with Lightning Source: from BookSurge into the "Look Inside" platform and into ebooks.

And if Ingram's longtime alliance with B&N (10 years ago, B&N attempted to buy Ingram) is threatening Amazon -- if the mere potential of IDG allying with B&N.com to distribute Lightning Source/VitalSource/MyiLibrary content as ebooks is at all threatening to Amazon -- then surely Amazon's sudden focus on BookSurge is a natural one.

Borders Prototype Store Shows Off Digital Center

Mac Slocum
March 26, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0) | Listen

Borders' move toward digital services is on display in the company's Ann Arbor, Mich. prototype store.

The store's music section has been downgraded to make room for a new digital center that offers access to audio books, personal publishing via Lulu.com, photo printing, music downloads, and genealogy tools. Borders is also displaying related products, including Sony's ebook reader, digital cameras, and GPS devices.

Ebooks aren't specifically mentioned in any of the digital center coverage, but Borders and Sony recently teamed on a co-branded ebook store that is only accessible through customized software.

Report: Book Sales Up 7 Percent in Early '08

Mac Slocum
March 25, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0) | Listen

U.S. book sales were up 7.2 percent in Jan. '08, according to the Association of American Publishers.

Sales were driven by the adult categories:

• Adult hardcover -- $94.4 million/+4.2 percent over Jan. '07
• Adult paperback -- $135.2 million/+37.6 percent
• Adult mass market -- $65.3 million/+17.3 percent

The children's market splintered. Children/young-adult paperback sales were up 28.2 percent ($34 million), but hardcover titles were down 21.9 percent ($33.6 million).

Ebooks and audio books saw double-digit growth: ebooks posted $3.1 million in sales, an increase of 26.1 percent over Jan. '07; audio books brought in $13.5 million, a boost of 16.8 percent from the same period a year ago.

Last week, bookstore sales figures from the U.S. Census Bureau showed a 4.7 percent increase in Jan. '08.

(Via GalleyCat).

Borders Stores Turn Back on Long Tail

Mac Slocum
March 12, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0) | Listen

Borders is counting on a simple turn of the wrist to boost profits and reduce in-store inventory. According to the Wall Street Journal (subscription required), the retailer is displaying three times as many books "face out."

Shelf Awareness notes:

" ... The new approach has led to sales increases 'in the double digits' and has led to the removal of 5%-10% of the average store's titles -- many of which sell only one copy a year in each store."

Borders' move could introduce a unique opportunity for retailers with offline and online storefronts: eschew the long tail in brick and mortar outlets and embrace the long tail on the Web.

Enterprising book marketers could also take a note from the seamless integration we're all experiencing on the Web: just as Web apps unite the desktop with the server-side, a retail store could merge with the retailer's online presence through in-store kiosks (perhaps with a Cover Flow layout to continue the "face out" concept) and print-on-demand equipment.

For these offline-online companies, the long tail doesn't need to be an either/or proposition.