Mike Shatzkin of the Idea Logical Company took a retro tack at the Seybold Seminars last month as he rolled out “a brand new opportunity to get more sales and lower the returns of physical books.” We offer a brief excerpt of his remarks. Here’s the fact most publishers and chain booksellers seem to ignore:…Continue Reading
Just How Big Is The ‘Off-The-Books’ Book Business? Sashay into any Barnes & Noble superstore, and there they are. Past the Barnes & Noble Café–branded 3-piece tea sets (“Great Curves. Excellent Style.”), past the Barnes & Noble–branded laser stationery, the velvet CD wallets, and the handy personal cash boxes, are, of course, the Barnes &…Continue Reading
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Tagged Advanced Marketing Services, Advantage Publishing Group, Alan Kahn, AMS, Anne Roman, Barnes & Noble, book sales, Books Are Fun, Borders, Chapters, CliffsNotes, Costco, Friedman/Farifax, Hugh Levin, Joel Feigenbaum, John Kelly, Kim Cattrall, Laurel Glen, Laurence Orbach, Len Riggio, Mel Shapiro, Metrobooks, Michael Friedman Publishing Group, Polestar Press, Portable Press, Prospero Books, Publishers Group West, Quarto, Raincoast, Reader's Digest, Sam's Club, Silver Dolphin, Sparknotes, Sterling, Thunder Bay Press, Uncle John's Bathroom Reader, Warner
Calendar Publishing Clocks Another Year. But Is There Life After ‘The Far Side’? The Far Side Off-the-Wall Calendar, Gary Larson’s page-a-day phenomenon that has been the number one selling boxed calendar for more than a decade, is history. “He decided that 17 years was enough,” says Michael Nonbello, VP for Andrews McMeel Publishing. “Larson wanted…Continue Reading
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Tagged American Greetings, Andrews McMeel Publishing, Anne Geddes, At-a-Glance, Barnes & Noble, Borders, BrownTrout, Calendar Club, Charles Miers, Chess Press, Chiquita, Date Works, Day by Day, Far Side Off-the-Wall Calendar, Gary Larson, HarperCollins, HarperEntertainment, Harry Potter, Hyperion, John Lash, Lisa Gulick, Michael Nonbello, Mike Brown, Mike Hejny, Motorbooks International, Penguin Putnam, Ricky Martin, Rizzoli, Simon & Schuster, Sunbelt PUblications, The Date Place, The New Girls of Maxim, Tom Dupree, Twentieth Century Fox, Universe, Workman
McGraw-Hill’s Kids Group Sets Sights on the Trade Eleven years ago McGraw-Hill Inc. sacked more than 1,000 people and gutted its own infrastructure, shrinking its operating units from what had once been five, to three, and then two. Corporate vultures were regularly dive-bombing the company’s Sixth Avenue headquarters, girding for the last great hostile takeover…Continue Reading
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Tagged AccessScience.com, Barnes & Noble, Bedrick Books, Borders, Carole Mills, Carus, Child Star, Cricket, Disney, George Bratton, Jeanne Finestone, Joan Lunden, Little Critter, Lowell House, McGraw Hill Children's Publishing, McGraw-Hill Companies, McGraw-Hill Learning Network, McGraw-Hill Professional, Mercer Mayer, MHKids.com, MHLN.com, NTC/Contemporary, Open Court, PageOut, Sam's Club, Shirley Temple, Spectrum, Times Mirror, Tracey Dils, Tribune Education, Vincent Douglas, Winnie the Pooh
PEOPLE Much news in the beginning of this year: Long anticipated, and widely reported (in some places, more than once), Sarah Crichton is out and Michael Pietsch is in at Little, Brown. In other TWP news, Time Life Books is closing and Neil Levin is heading the new group (down to a dozen or so…Continue Reading
Posted in Book View •
Tagged A Common Reader, American Greetings, Avalon, Baker & Taylor, Bantam, Barnes & Noble, Barnes & Noble Digital, Barrie Hitchon, Bell Sports, Bertelsmann, Beth Eller, Borders, Brian Murray, Broadway Books, Candy Lee, Carol Berkin, Carolyn Reidy, CDS, Chris Anderson, Chris McKenney, Constance Sayre, Craig Copetas, Craig Richards, Crown, Daedalus Books, Dan Green, David Fickling, David Lappin, Deborah Brodie, Deborah Raffin, Delacorte, Denny Hatch, Digital Pond, Dove Audio, ebrary, First Generations, Gary Rautenstrauch, Gilbert Perlman, Harcourt, Harmony, HarperCollins, Hill & Wang, Hyperion Children's, Ingram, Inside.com, Jane Isay, Jeanne Finestone, Jon Karp, Judith Curr, Judy Korman, Jupiter, Kaplan, Kate Jackson, Katherine Tegen, Katie Hall, Kay Lee Davis, Kit van Tulleken, Larry Ashmead, Larry Kirshbaum, Laura Nolan, Little Brown, Louis Baum, Marc Rich, Market Partners International, Maureen Egen, McClanahan Publishing, McGraw-Hill, Michael Ovitz, Michael Pietsch, Michael Viner, Mike Winton, Millbrook, Mitchell Beazley, Neil Levin, New Millennium Worldwide, North-South, Octopus Groups, Olga Vezeriz, Paul McLaughlin, Peter Dubuisson, Peterson Magazines, PGI, Pocket Books, PRI, Publishers Group West, Publishers Weekly, Random House, Rebecca Strong, Richard Willis, Rodale Trade Books, Rosamund Pilcher, S&S, Sarah Crichton, Scholastic UK, Scribner, Shaye Areheart, Simon Boughton, Simonne Waud, Steve Black, Susan Massey, Susan Reich, The Free Press, Therese Burke, Time Warner Press, Time-Life Books, Tom Dunne, Tom Haworth, Tom Turvey, Troll Communications, Two-Can Publishing, Viking, Wendy Lamb, YS Chi
Reports from Regional Trade Shows Synchronicity was the unofficial theme for the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association’s annual fall conference, which returned to Portland on Sept. 15 – 17 after a three-year hiatus. At the show’s “Celebration of Authors,” for example, the self-deprecating Elwood Reid recounted his strange long trip from life as a “big dumb…Continue Reading
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Tagged ABA, B&N, Bookland of Maine, Booksense, Borders, Carole Horne, David Godine, Doubleday, Elwood Reid, Graphic Arts, Harvard Book Store, Jim Harris, Karl Pohrt, Lauriat's, Learningsmith, Marc Seagar, Marcella Smith, Midnight Sun, New England Booksellers Association, Noel Pasco, Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association, Rusty Drugan, Saul Gilman, Seamus Heaney, The Shaman Drum, Waterstones
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED AT INSIDE.COM (10/16/00) For years Borders has been known to publishing folk as a well-run but insular company located in the wilds of Ann Arbor, Mich. It tends to be publicity averse, even secretive in its dealings. Though it had been every bit as aggressive as its main competitor, Barnes & Noble, in…Continue Reading
PEOPLE Rosanna Hansen has been named SVP, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Weekly Reader Corp. She left Reader’s Digest Children’s last month. . . Liz Maguire is leaving Free Press for Basic, where she will be Associate Publisher, Editorial Director. . . Since Abrams bought STC and Smithmark, there have been several casualties, including SVP Director…Continue Reading
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Tagged Abrams, Anchor, Arthur Seelan, Audrey Barr, Avon, B&N, Basic Books, Bertelsmann, Bill Phillips, bob Contant, BOMC, Bookspan, Borders, Celia McGee, Christian Red, Christine Cody, Clare Ferraro, Drama Bookshop, eBay, Free Press, Geoff Shandler, Geoffrey Burn, grok, HarperCollins, iUniverse.com, Jason Zuzga, Jennifer Hershey, Jessica Carter, Jill Cohen, Joseph Montebello, Karen Murgolo, Karen Patterson, Kathryn Court, Knopf, Larousse Kingfisher Chambers, Laurie Rippon, Lisa Queen, Little Brown, Liz Maguire, Marcella Hazan, Maria Guarnaschelli, Michael Murphy, Moffat Yard & Co., Morrow, Nicholas Callaway, Norton, Pam Art, Paula Litzky, Penguin, Plume, QVC Publishing, Radio City Music Hall, Reader's Digest, Robert Sterling Yard, Roberto de Vicq de Cumptich, Rosanna Hansen, Rosemarie Morse, Rozanne Seelan, S&S, Scribner, Shakespeare in Central Park, Smithmark, St. Marks Bookshop, Stanford Univ Press, STC, Steve Riggio, Steve Tager, Steve Zeitchik, Storey Communications, Susan Friedland, Susan Lescher, Switchouse.com, Thomas Middelhoff, Thomson, Tony Chirico, Victoria Skurnick, Vintage, Woody Allen
Is Borders’ “go-slow” approach to the online marketplace really a stroke of brilliance after all, as the Wall Street Journal recently postulated? The argument goes like this: despite the company’s listless approach to the Internet, which drove investors so bonkers that Borders rolled out the auction block earlier this year in search of a buyout…Continue Reading
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Tagged Amazon, Apollo Management, B&N.com, Bain Capital, Blackstone Group, BOL.com, Borders, Borders.com, Centerseat, eBay, Harris Interactive, Len Cosimano, Rain, Tami Heim, U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray
PEOPLE Mark Pattis, who had been CEO of Tribune Education, but left in March, right before the division was put on the market (it was just sold to McGraw–Hill), has become an investor. He is a partner in Next Chapter Holdings, a company that invests in a number of areas, including books, magazines, and digital…Continue Reading
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Tagged Alan Smagler, Amy Metsch, Ann Patty, Auerbach, AuthorsOnline.com, Bantam, Bill Wright, BookTech, Borders, Carlisle & Co., Carol Publishing, Citadel, Consciously Female, Daisy Maryles, Dan Weiss, David Denby, David Kuo, Doe Coover, Dot.Bomb, Dr. Tracy Gaudet, Drenka Willen, Eileen Goudge, Elisabeth Kerr, Emily Heckman, Franklin & Siegal, Gay Bryant, George Bick, Glen Hartley, Goldman Sachs, Hachette, Harcourt, HarperCollins, Hearst, Heidi Freund, Hyperion, Jane Isay, Jennifer Landers, Kathy Robbins, Ken Wright, Kensington, Konemann, Larry Chilnick, Linda C. Howey, Little Brown, Lucinda Karter, Marilyn Slankard, Mark Pattis, Marly Rusoff, McGraw-Hill, Merrill Lynch, Meryl Earl, Michael Barson, Michael Jacobs, Michael Pietsch, Molly Stern, Morrow, Morrow/Avon, netLibrary, Next Chapter Holdings, Norton, One Last Dance, Phil Ollila, Pocket, Putnam, Questia Media, QVC, Ralf Daab, Reciprocal, Rick Richter, Rightscenter.com, Routledge, S&S, Sarah Crichton, Scholastic, Second Silence, Susan Ginsburg, te Neues, The Free Press, The Recipe Hall of Fame Cookbook, Tribune, ValueAmerica, Viking, Walter Walker, Wrtier's House, Xlibris
