Just as when the automakers were threatened with closure and thousands of suppliers, restaurants and municipalities realized they would also face bankruptcy from the plant closings, so will the Borders closing affect thousands of others not among Borders’ 10,700 employees. Even though the liquidation had been on the horizon for months it doesn’t mean there was any way for Borders’ suppliers to adjust for the coming apocalypse.
While I have much less at stake than those suppliers, I will miss Borders very much. Whether meeting publishers over a coffee or finding just the right books for gifts, the experience was always positive. I generally found the staff accessible, knowledgeable and pleasant. I’m sure over the past 40 years I experienced exceptions to this, but I met a lot of book lovers who worked there.
Management was a different matter. The string of mediocre to terrible CEOs started with the hiring of Phil Pfeffer in 1999 (who lasted 5 months and was given the company’s 1st quarter profits to leave) then Greg Josefowicz (who closed Borders’ ecommerce site to let Amazon handle Borders’ sales) from food and drug retailer Jewel-Osco and was apparently one of the many CEOs that believed a product is a product is a product.
Then came George Jones (from Saks Department Store Group) who left after three years and got $2.3 million to resign, Ron Marshall in 2009 lasted almost a year then jumped from one sinking ship to another as CEO of food retailer A&P and lasted all of five months there.
Finally Mike Edwards lasted six months as head of Borders Group then was moved to the Borders Inc. subsidiary as President. His accomplishments include orchestrating big bonuses for the administrators who stayed around to dump the mess they’d created.
I guess this is why American CEOs make so much more than CEOs in the rest of the world.
And now for the rest of the stories…
RIP Borders
The news media in Ann Arbor has been very somber in reporting the d emise of the Borders Group, while local citizens compose odes to the fallen brand, and not just because of the 10,700 lost jobs (400 at the Ann Arbor headquarters). Those who lived in the area and shopped at the first Borders remember the simple pleasure of shopping in such an unusually large bookstore stocking so many titles, a very knowledgeable sales staff, and a convenient location in an old Ann Arbor storefront.
But that store closed years ago and has never really been replaced. The company that liquidated last month owned retail outlets for various media products, not bookstores.
They Printed it Where?
Rep. Kim Simac (R-WI) printed her self-published book American Soldier Proud and Free in China. Her campaign manager said she didn’t know her printer, RR Donnelly, printed the book off-shore. Now her second book is out, Girls Play Hockey Too! and you guessed it, “Printed in China”.
A New Booksellers Landscape
The American Booksellers Association is offering tips to independent bookstore owners to help them capitalize on Borders store closings.
Book Stats 2008-2010
The AAP and the BISG have compiled the first annual study of the book industry. $395 will get you the PDF with a single user license.
Apple Enforces Rules
Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Kobo have removed links to their stores from Apple iOS. The direct links to purchase ebooks cheated Apple out of its 30% commission. The Apple App Store has sold 15 billion downloads since opening three years ago.
etextbooks for South Korea by 2015
Schools in South Korea will abandon conventional textbooks in favor of etextbooks.
Conventional books, ebooks, and the Future
Frank Romano has taught, written and consulted printers and publishers for over 40 years and offers some perspective on the future of books.
Google to Digitize 250,000 Books
Google has reached an agreement with the British Library to digitize and make available through Google Books 250,000 books published between 1700 and 1870.
Worst Opening Sentence
The winner of the 2011 Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest for the worst opening sentence for a novel is Sue Fondrie of Oshkosh, WI for this gem.
NYC Display Fonts
The best book cover designers work magic with display fonts. These photos of display fonts in NYC remind us that fonts can communicate as well as the words they form.
Harry Potter ebooks
God bless J.K. Rowling for selling 450 million conventional books of the seven volume
Harry Potter series. Coming this October are the inevitable ebook and audiobook versions. Rowling will also debut the much anticipated web site Pottermore in October.
On The Road with Kerouac
Penguin Books Amplified Editions has released an “amplified” ebook of Jack Kerouac’s On The Road which includes photos, maps, audio etc. relevant to this iconic story.
Traveling Letterpress Lady
While it’s been decades since books were commonly printed on letterpresses, the simple beauty of work printed on one still inspires. Kyle Durrie is traveling the country offering spectators a hands-on letterpress operation experience. Check here for the towns and dates she will visit with her demonstrations.
Final Thought
There is a temperate zone in the mind, between luxurious indolence and exacting work; and it is to this region, just between laziness and labor, that summer reading belongs. Henry Ward Beecher
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