Now that Barnes & Noble has a potential suitor (or three), Borders may have found a savior in the person of the brother of the new owner of the Detroit Pistons and Palace Entertainment, Flint native Alec Gores. His private equity Gores Group has shown interest in purchasing as many as 200 Borders stores.
Alive and Kicking
Bowker reports that those awaiting the death of traditional books need to be a bit more patient. ISBN registrations for paper and ink books rose around 5%. A breakdown of the categories is here.
And…
The AAP reports overall book sales improved in March over March 2010 sales.
Barnes & Noble Sold?
John Malone, head of media empire Liberty Media, has made an offer to buy Barnes and Noble for $17 per share ($1 billion). Some feel the bidding is just starting.
Amazon Will Publish ebooks
Apparently Amazon feels that since it already owns the ebook market, it will expand into publishing ebooks to compete with the ebooks they already sell for other publishers.
Now that Oprah’s last live show has broadcast,what will her absence mean for book sales?
Borders Blog
Not the corporate crap…a blog by Borders employees. I always thought that Borders’ clerks working the floor were “real” book people. The problem was their managers thought they were “product” managers. Books ain’t products.
Book Expo America Impressions
The publishers and printers I’ve spoken with who attended BEA 2011 have commented that interest in ebooks dominated their conversations. How, why, when, and how much were the questions being asked by publishers feeling the pinch of lost sales. A very basic guide to the mechanics of ebook publishing can be found here. Attendance (less exhibitors) was down slightly from last year.
Paper Plant Closes
Washington State’s Grays Harbor Paper, manufacturer of recycled copy and printing paper, has closed, eliminating 240 jobs. While the mill is over 100 years old, new ownership in 1993 began producing recycled grades, with up to 100% post consumer content.
Modern Paper Making
Modern paper mills are innovating to be more eco-friendly. Check out the inset at the end of this article about the Tamil Nadu mill in India.
Nook vs. iPad vs. Kindle
The ebook hardware race is on. Kindle is king with 65% of the market to iPad’s 10%.
Industry Predictions
PIRA International has just released a forecast through 2020 covering the print, paper and packaging industries.
Playboy Archive Online
For a mere $60 per year, every page of every issue of Playboy magazine will be available as full issues or in a searchable database on your computer. Or try it for $8 a month and reread the Mailer, Kerouac and Vonnegut interviews that you kind of remember.
Nonna’s Book of Mysteries
Mary Osborne’s book Nonna’s Book of Mysteries has been met with multiple awards for this first time author (Lake Street Press). A nomination for an IBPA Ben Franklin award, The Bill Fisher Award for Best First Book (Children’s/Young Adult), is the latest accolade for this wonderful story.
Final thought
Begin every story in the middle. The reader doesn’t care how it begins, he wants to get on with it. Louis L’Amour
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