Got the following email from Thad McIlroy of The Future of Publishing: I thought you might get a kick out of this: http://thefutureofpublishing.com/2011/11/music-business-teach-the-book-business/ I took a Salon.com article on the death of record stores and substituted "bookstores" throughout: It's scary that it reads so convincingly. Best regards, Thad Here's the beginning: As book sales plummet and famed shops close, brave entrepreneurs are trying to reinvent the model. Is it too late? On Wednesday night, hundreds of people passed through the doors of Other Books, one of New York City’s last bookstores. Yes, there was free booze. But the young, plugged-in crowd came to celebrate, not necessarily...

The Bookseller has a feature interview with James Daunt, the new managing director of UK bookstore Waterstone’s. Daunt talks about his impressions of the future of the book and e-book, and why publishers are still important in the modern publishing landscape. Daunt thinks that we will continue to read books in multiple ways, on a number of different platforms including paper. Paper will not disappear, but we will read a lot more digitally than we have been. And with so many other distractions available on tablet devices at the swipe of a finger, books will face a challenge competing...

Here's a part of an excellent, and long, article in American Bookselling Association's Bookselleing this Week.: The best approach to promoting e-books is multiple approaches — feature them in general and targeted electronic and print newsletters, advertise online and in-store, train staff, and “just be relentless”— is the collective opinion of booksellers who recently talked to Bookselling This Week about e-book marketing — Paul Hanson of Village Books, Christie Olson Day at Gallery Bookshop & Bookwinkle’s Children’s Books, and Pete Mulvihill of Green Apple Books. One of the key elements of a multifaceted approach according to Paul Hanson, the community outreach director at Village...

It is becoming increasingly clear that bookshops, both chains and independents, are the first segment of the trade book publishing industry to face wrenching decisions that amount to bets on survival in this digital transition. Publishers, agents, authors, wholesalers and many others all need to respond and some have already made significant efforts to do so, but it is clear that bookshops are the facing the full thrust of this change right now. The way I see it bookshops have three choices: 1) Bet On Digital Betting on digital means much less emphasis on real bricks and mortar locations. In order to win in this space...

I found out about this via a post by Jason Boog at GalleyCat.  Here is what the Help Es-Borders Employees site says about itself: If you know of a way to help ex-Borders employees, e-mail deadlanguages@gmail.com or chris@neverendmedia.com and we'll post it here. Or let us know if you want to be added as a contributor. All offers to help welcome. ...

The Register reports that Australian bookstore chain Dymocks is rolling out its own local Amazon-style end-to-end self-publishing solution. It will include all the traditional publishing services, such as book/e-book design, editing, cover art, and so on, and also e-book and print-on-demand delivery “anywhere in Australia.” It’s not clear exactly how much this service will cost, though judging from the article it will be aiming to undercut existing self-publishing operations that reportedly charge as much as $AU3,000 for a 100-book print run....

So says a report from Simba Information.  From the press release: A recent report by media and publishing forecast firm Simba Information found that even though bookstores have lost some of their customer base over the years, the channel feeds into the e-book universe by serving as a 'book showroom' for the roughly 10% of U.S. adults who buy e-books. "Believing that adults will begin taking to e-books in large numbers because of Borders' liquidation is a dangerous assumption," said Michael Norris, senior analyst of Simba Information's Trade Books Group, commenting on the report. "Since most adults buy books...

The Bookseller reports that Canadian bookstore chain Indigo Books & Music has angered publishers with a recent decision to reduce the number of books it carries and evaluate books for success (and potential publisher returns) after 45 days instead of 90. Since 1st June, Indigo has been moving towards a product mix that includes more giftware and toys, with less shelf space reserved for books. The company will also now evaluate the success of a book after 45 days rather than 90 days. Janet Eger, spokeswoman for Indigo, said the chain would look at product...

Publishers Weekly reported on the third annual Canadian Booksellers Association National Conference.  On the ebook presentations they said: Both presentations on e-book innovations came from Canadian companies. As announced just before the conference, Quebec-based Transcontinental Printing is now offering English Canadian bookstores access to an e-book distribution system that Transcontinental has already been using for clients in France, Italy and Quebec for a couple of years. The system will enable bookstores to sell e-books in Transcontinental’s digital warehouse via their own websites, and the company was demonstrating how it works at a display table during the conference’s exhibitor showcase on Saturday...

Is the sale or bankruptcy of bookstore chains becoming a trend? The Bookseller reports that HMV, the corporate owner of UK bookstore chain Waterstone’s, is “pursuing strategic options,” which is to say, trying to sell the chain off. HMV has not been having a very good year financially, and seems to want to lighten the load. Waterstones founder Tim Waterstone is trying to get financing together to buy the chain, wanting to return it “to its roots as a stock-holding book chain with knowledgeable staff.” It isn’t clear from the article whether this means he also plans to move...

I can't tell you the last print book I bought.  Ever since I got a Kindle more than 3 years ago I've gone almost exclusively with ebooks.  Despite that fact, I visit any one of several local bookstores at least once a week.  I go there because I'm able to browse and discover products in a way that I simply can't do online. My iPhone is always with me when I'm in the bookstore.  Many times I've found a book that interests me, I pick it up and browse through it, then pull out my...

Although Barnes had a good last quarter—7% increase in total sales, 64% increase in sales at Barnes&Noble.com—the bankruptcy of Borders is inclining its board to be cautious. The company’s sales report contained a note stating that it has decided to suspend its quarterly stockholder dividend payment in order to have more cash on hand so it can meet whatever market challenges and opportunities caused by this sudden new development. Not too surprising. It’s not beyond the realm of possibility that B&N might expand into an abandoned Borders storefront or two, and having more cash on hand could help them...