From The Bookseller: Waterstones’ new warehouse system is now “stable and effective” but the chain needs to clear a backlog of orders before the “painful process” is over, chief operating officer Kate Skipper has said. The retailer has been battling problems since July, when it upgraded its stock distribution technology. Although it initially said it aimed to … Read more
From The Bookseller: Waterstones employees will not be expected to intervene or attempt to police mask wearing in stores from 19th July, the retailer has confirmed, after announcing it would “encourage” customers to don face coverings and observe social distancing after restrictions are lifted across England. On 13th July, Waterstones tweeted it had made the … Read more
From Shelf Awareness: Similar to the layoffs of longtime buyers at Barnes & Noble last month, Foyles–the small British chain also owned by Elliott Management and run by Waterstones managing director/B&N CEO James Daunt–has let go several buyers, as well as a group store manager, according to the Bookseller. The moves follow the layoffs at Foyles of three … Read more
From The New Publishing Standard: If it seemed, for a while, that online print sales could sustain publishers and booksellers through the pandemic crisis, it now looks increasingly like the UK will follow the path of Italy and Spain where print distribution is at a virtual standstill. Here’s the thing: it may well be convenient … Read more
From The New Publishing Standard: Sometimes it can be embarrassing to be British. First we had Brexit. Then the coronavirus arrived and our government looked the other way. Now the coronavirus is firmly established in the UK, spiralling out of control, and the Prime Minister is sending out mixed messages about social distancing, one second … Read more
From The Bookseller: The rise accompanies the government’s national living wage increase due in April, which will see the national living wage (for those over 25) increase 6.2% from £8.21 to £8.72. The Waterstones increase goes slightly further with booksellers above the national living wage also being given a 6.2% rise. The increase applies to … Read more
From The Digital Reader: Two UK bookstore chains are merging. Waterstones, a chain of 250 stores with revenues around 388 million pounds per year, is buying Foyles, a chain of 7 stores generating around 25 million pounds per year (according to revenue statements filed with Companies House). This is a big deal in the UK because these … Read more
From the BBC: Book chain Waterstones has been bought by activist investment firm Elliott Advisors for an undisclosed amount. James Daunt, the chain’s chief executive since 2011, will remain in the post under the new ownership, along with his key management team. Mr Daunt said the sale should mean the chain could grow a lot … Read more
From Shelf Awareness: Waterstones, the main bookselling chain in the U.K., may be for sale. Alexander Mamut, the Russian billionaire who bought Waterstones in 2011 for £53 million (about $70 million at current exchange rates), has asked N.M. Rothschild & Sons to advise him on strategic options, including a sale of the bookseller for £250 million … Read more
From The Bookseller: Waterstones has reported a profit for the first time under the ownership of Russian businessman Alexander Mamut and direction of its m.d. James Daunt. Boosted by “better standards of bookselling”, the 270-store chain saw sales rise by 4% to £409.1m in the year to 30th April 2016, helping it achieve an operating … Read more
From The Guardian: Some days I would rather get my bikini line waxed in the window of Dunelm than walk into another bookshop. Not that bookshops aren’t wonderful places. Of course they are. Bookshops are seething with joy and knowledge and comfort and diversion. They are hideously beautiful to look at, full of like-minded people … Read more
From The Independent: The end of January, just before midnight. At a Barnes & Noble bookshop in New York, a woman with perfect hair slips through a crowd, dressed in all black and knee-high boots. “I grew up going to midnight release parties,” she confesses into her microphone. “I was a nerd back when it … Read more
From The Bookseller: This year marks my sixth anniversary of becoming a bookseller. I started off at Waterstones in Newcastle, and moved to work for the bound in Whitley Bay just after the pandemic. I read a little of everything, from niche horror novels to the latest bestsellers. But what really galvanised me as a … Read more
From The Bookseller: Book pricing has stagnated over the past two decades, leading to severe real-term declines in price per book, according to analysis by Enders. The report, which uses Nielsen BookScan data as well analysis by a team of Enders researchers, says “nominal prices are now on the rise, but they are still swamped … Read more
From The Bookseller: Last week I spoke at a local secondary school about bookselling and running a small business. One of the questions asked was “What’s the hardest part of owning a business?” “Fear of failure,” I said. What I didn’t say was that, at the moment, things are scary. We’ve led a fairly charmed … Read more
From The New Publishing Standard: “The rise of BookTok titles has meant less visibility for other titles, whether they’re longstanding authors or debuts.” That’s per a post in The Guardian this weekend that takes yet another look at the BookTok phenomenon, happy to report easy-come quotes, but as ever short on analysis for what it … Read more
From Book Riot: When I realized my childhood Barnes & Noble was closing, I was devastated. I’m an indie bookstore lover, but growing up, there were no indie bookstores in my town: only one gorgeous, cozy Barnes & Noble. We went to book clubs there as kids, met there as teens basically every Friday night, … Read more
From The Honest Broker: I’ve written too many negative stories about digital media platforms in recent months. I’ve started to worry. Am I turning into Dr. Doom and Mr. Gloom? In all fairness, my predictions have proven sadly accurate. After I served up these dismal forecasts for Facebook, Spotify, Netflix, and others, their share prices took a steep dive. … Read more
From The New Publishing Standard: And somehow Daunt magically beat the ogre at its own game and apparently, they will all live happily ever after. The Forbes headline ran “How an Englishman In New York Turned The Page On Barnes & Noble”. Unfortunately there’s not much “how” in this Forbes post. Hedge-fund buys B&N, appoints British CEO. … Read more
From Publishers Weekly: Approximately one year after Barnes & Noble CEO James Daunt tapped Emily Meehan to reinvent the retailer’s publishing operation, Meehan has unveiled a new name for the press as well as a host of new initiatives. Union Square & Co. is the new public-facing name of what has been known as Sterling … Read more
From SFGate: In 1934, English translator Edward Powys Mathers, renowned for his cryptic crosswords, came up with a new puzzle: a 100-page murder mystery entitled “Cain’s Jawbone.” To solve it, readers must correctly identify all six murderers and their victims, but doing so requires rearranging the book’s pages, which are published out of order. Only … Read more
From Forbes: For the past eight years, Harvard professor Ryan Raffaelli immersed himself in the world of independent bookstores. Concluding his study, he just released a working paper, entitled “Reinventing Retail: The Novel Resurgence of Independent Bookstores,” that summarizes the findings from his extensive research, which included a series of interviews and focus groups, visits … Read more
From FT Magazine (June 2, 2021): On a bright Tuesday in April, the car parks at Fosse Park, an out-of-town shopping centre south of Leicester, are packed. Recently eased lockdown rules have allowed shops to reopen, and many people are enjoying their freedom. Eager customers line up in the sunshine. One of the visitors is … Read more
From the Seattle Times: The opening of a new bookstore is always an act of optimism: a determined belief that there continue to be many people who prefer to pick out books from an actual shelf or table, and buy them while exchanging pleasantries or book recommendations with an actual person. But when the new … Read more
From BBC News: More than 2,500 UK university staff have called for an investigation into the “scandal” of excessive pricing of academic e-books. “Price rises are common, sudden and appear arbitrary” with some digital books increasing by 200%, they say in a letter to Education Committee MPs. Organiser Johanna Anderson said some e-texts can cost 10 … Read more
From NewStatesman: When Bookshop.org arrived in the UK on 2 November [2020], the announcement was met by a huge amount of public enthusiasm from bookshops, publishers, authors, literary critics and readers alike. “This is revolutionary”, read a Guardian headline, while authors including Margaret Atwood, Richard Osman and Caitlin Moran directed their Twitter followers to purchase … Read more
From SFWA: Like so many others connected to this [small-yet-all-consuming] publishing industry, books were my first love. Legend has it that a tiny version of me set eyes on my first library and yelped “oh, Mommy, all these books are for me?!”, convinced that somehow the universe had conspired to erect a house of stories … Read more
From The Bookseller: he Booksellers Association and Bookshop.org have responded to criticism following the launch of the online website in the UK in November. The criticism, which is focused on how effective the website will be at supporting independent bookshops and the BA’s role in facilitating the launch, came in the form of a letter … Read more
From The Wall Street Journal: A year ago, John Radford had little control over the book selection at the Barnes & Noble store he manages in Idaho Falls, Idaho. Executives in New York decided which titles to carry. The retailer’s 600-plus stores were expected to follow that blueprint. Mr. Radford had to stock dozens of … Read more
From RobEager, Marketing Consultant: On behalf of all authors, we want to see your company grow and succeed. Amazon needs a legitimate competitor in order to limit their dominance and create a healthier publishing ecosystem. It is important for your bookstores to thrive and expand. Your organization’s new CEO, James Daunt, made headlines by turning … Read more
From veteran publishing consultant, Mike Shatzkin: In what has to be considered a bit of a coup, BISG Executive Director Brian O’Leary scored a lengthy interview with B&N head James Daunt as the feature of BISG’s annual meeting which took place on September 11. Daunt had a lot to say about his plans for change … Read more
From Jane Friedman: It hasn’t been the best decade for Barnes & Noble, the biggest bookselling chain in the United States. As sales slowly eroded—and Amazon gained dominance—the position of CEO became one of the fastest revolving doors in the publishing industry. Each new leader trotted out a revised “concept store” to revive the fortunes … Read more
From Jacobin: Workers in the book industry often suffer poor conditions and low pay, but are supposed to feel grateful for the privilege of working near books. Casting off such illusions is the first step to organizing publishers and booksellers, and fighting the exploitation that thrives in the hallowed culture industry. . . . . … Read more
From NewStatesman: After the recent Black Lives Matter protests, Instagram and Twitter feeds were filled with recommendations for books by black authors. As well as classics by the US writers James Baldwin and Maya Angelou, two contemporary British titles have been at the top of book-stack photos everywhere: Bernardine Evaristo’s Girl, Woman, Other, which won … Read more
From Publishers Weekly: Bertram Group, one of the top U.K. book wholesale companies, is up for sale, according to The Bookseller. An advertisement online notes that the company had revenuer of some £250 million last year, with a gross profit of £9 million. The assets that have been put up for sale include the company’s … Read more
From Book Riot: Barnes & Noble has temporarily closed over 400 of their 627 U.S. stores in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. As differing guidance is issued across the country, the bookselling giant confirmed that they are working with state and local officials to determine next steps to best protect customers and employees. . . … Read more
From Publishing Perspectives: As the worldwide coronavirus emergency deepens into life-and-death gravity for so many in the world, a situation in the United Kingdom has reflected a concern that may play out in many other world markets for books. At this writing The New York Times‘ tallies show Earth to have more than 341,500 people … Read more
From N+1 Magazine: For the first time since 2011, when Borders shut down, or 2007, when Amazon launched the Kindle, or maybe 1455, when Johannes Gutenberg went bankrupt immediately upon printing his game-changing best seller The Bible, the news about book publishing has seemed less than dire. A June 2019 New York Times article captured the … Read more
From Publishing Perspectives: In an announcement today (January 10) from their offices in London’s Bell Yard, the Booksellers Association reports a third year of gains in the number of sales outlets it counts among independent bookstores in Ireland and the UK. The association’s managing director, Meryl Halls, says, in a prepared statement, “It’s very heartening … Read more
from ALLI: This New Year marks not just the turning of a year but the beginning of a decade. Ten years ago the iPhone was a new-fangled piece of technology and ebooks were a rarity. Today, as indie authors get to grips with a plethora of technology, ALLi director Orna Ross looks to the future, … Read more
From Mike Shatzkin: About 25 years ago, Ingram was benefiting from a big buildout of America’s bookstore network. Borders and Barnes & Noble were both opening new stores — big stores — at a rapid rate. Ingram hit a mother lode delivering “store opening assortments” and then, at least in some cases, doing the stock … Read more
From Publishers Weekly: James Daunt has said that the vast 629-store Barnes & Noble chain he’s now overseeing in the United States must rip out what’s boring—both in stores and online—and find its character if it’s to succeed. . . . . Daunt lists three elements of successful bookselling, and personality comes first. Second is … Read more
From The Digital Reader: When news broke in June that B&N had been acquired by the same hedge fund that owned Waterstones, it seemed likely that the first thing to go would be the failing Nook division. Alas, we guessed wrong; the blogging staff got cut first. . . . . There’s no word yet … Read more
From Publishers Weekly: Elliott Advisors has completed its purchase of Barnes & Noble. First announced June 7, the acquisition was officially completed when more than 81% of B&N’s shares were tendered by the August 6 deadline. As a result of the deal, B&N becomes a private company controlled by the private equity firm Elliott Advisors, which also … Read more
From The Bookseller: New library borrowing figures from the US show how far England is lagging behind other countries because of its facilities’ falling book stocks, according to new analysis from library campaigner Tim Coates. Using statistics from the Institute of Museums and Library Services, ex-Waterstones boss Tim Coates produced a chart showing English book loans have … Read more
From Publishers Weekly: Dear Mr. Daunt: I was excited to read that you will be taking the helm of Barnes & Noble when its acquisition by Elliott Advisors is completed later this year. I hope you can help this great retailer, much as you did U.K.’s Waterstones bookstore chain. Do you mind some advice? For … Read more
From Seeking Alpha: Takeover of Barnes & Noble highlights the importance of technology change in media retailing. Lessons from Borders and Blockbuster bankruptcies are still relevant. Loyal customer base supports ongoing Barnes & Noble mall presence. Barnes & Noble, largest US book retailer with a total of 620 stores, announced plans this month to be acquired … Read more
From veteran publishing consultant Mike Shatzkin: The most important question in the world of trade publishing is “what will happen to the book trade”, meaning, primarily, the bookstores (but also the other retailers that sell books, the libraries and the wholesalers that supply them). . . . . [I]t was announced that Barnes & Noble … Read more
From AP Wire via Fox4KC.com Barnes & Noble is being acquired by a hedge fund for $476 million and will be taken private. The national chain that many blamed for the demise of independent bookstores has been ravaged by Amazon.com and other online sellers, but remains a critical outlet for publishers. On Friday, it was … Read more
From The Wall Street Journal: Barnes & Noble Inc. is nearing a deal to be bought by hedge fund Elliott Management Corp., according to people familiar with the matter, as the nation’s largest bookstore chain seeks a new owner after years of decline. Elliott is the lead bidder in an auction that could come to … Read more