The New Yorker did a very provocative story dated October 21 about Barnes & Noble that included a great deal of information gained from a phone interview by writer David Sax with B&N significant shareholder and chairman Leonard Riggio. B&N is a subject of obsessive interest to book publishers and their friends, family, and ecosystem. […]
Four players in the book business with the power to rewrite some of the rules
The news came last week that ReaderLink has purchased Anderson News. Those two companies have been the leading suppliers of books to the mass merchandisers: primarily Wal-mart, Target, and Sam’s Club. There are other players selling books in the space, including Ingram, Baker & Taylor, and smaller distributors like the less-well-known American West. But most […]
Can crowd-sourced retailing give Amazon a run for its money?
Although it has always seemed sensible for publishers to sell their books (and then ebooks) directly to end users, it has never looked to me like that could be a very big business. In the online environment, your favorite “store” — the one you’re loyal to and perhaps even have an investment in patronizing (which […]
Book publishing may not remain a stand-alone industry and book retailing will demonstrate that first
You are missing some good fun if you don’t know those AT&T commercials where the grown-up sits around a table with a bunch of really little kids and asks them questions like “what’s better: faster or slower?” There always seems to be an obvious “correct” answer. Those kids could answer some important questions about ebook […]
Don’t blame Amazon, Facebook, and Twitter for the fact that technology changes behavior
In the past week, we have seen the Louis C.K. rant against smart phones, the Jonathan Franzen deep intellectual swipe at what Amazon is doing to the world of publishing, and I had an exchange with a very dear old friend who does email (his wife doesn’t), but can’t handle texting or Facebook. Or thinks he […]