An interesting report is circulating the book blogs, alleging that e-book sales in Canada are down almost five percent. I've seen reporting on the Booknet Canada report on at least 3 blogs (for example, here and here and here, but nobody seems quite sure what to make of it. We're selling lots and lots of devices here in Canada, aren't we? We're Kobo's number one country! So what, exactly, are we reading? Are e-book sales on the decline? Here are a few thoughts about what may be going on here: 1. Device Availability is Limited This is partly because the retail scene is limited! We've only just gotten Target here, and it opened...

Spotted my first Kobo Aura HD this weekend! My local Indigo had added the new 30-percent larger 6.8 inch reader to its in-store display, and I got to play with one for a few minutes. And my first impression? It was fine. That's it. That's all I can really say about it. It's bigger and it weighs a little more, but other than that, it was virtually identical to my Kobo Glo. It has the same font controls, the same general interface, the same glow light for reading in the dark. All of those were great features on my Glo, and they...

There is a great thread going on at Mobile Read on the Kobo series and their success in Canada. The poster, Scrapking, points out that Kobo was not the first reader available in Canada—that honor goes to Sony—but it has now become by far the dominant. The evidence? A glance at the flyers the big electronics chains are putting out these days. Scrapking reports: ♦ Future Shop: half-page spread, all Kobo products but one ♦ Best Buy: half-page spread, all Kobo save a lone Sony placed off to the side ♦ Staples: 'big' spread featuring all Kobo and no competitors at all ♦ The Source: two kobo mentions in main...

From The Globe and Mail: ... The dual-reading consumers augur well for the future of her business, Indigo Books & Music Inc.,as it gets squeezed by the inexorable shift to e-reading. As a result of that shift, Ms. Reisman, Indigo’s chief executive officer, has spearheaded a massive transformation of Indigo as predominantly a bookseller into what she calls a cultural department store – turning to a wider array of products for children, babies and the home. Her reinvention notwithstanding, “the book business is still a thriving business,” she said at Indigo’s annual meeting on Wednesday. “What strikes us most significantly is the percentage of people...

Are Barnes & Noble, Books a Million, and Indigo making a wise move by not carrying the books from Amazon’s publishing arm, or are they cutting off their noses to spite their faces? This is the question that Mike Shatzkin addresses in his latest column. He notes that a reporter contacted him, undoubtedly expecting the same sort of attacks on the move posted by some major media outlets, and was rather surprised when Shatzkin said that, from a self-interested point of view, the decision made perfect sense. Shatzkin recapitulates the recent history between Amazon, the Big Six publishers, and...

Canadian bookstore chain Indigo has added its voice to Barnes & Noble and Books a Million in stating that it will not carry books published by Amazon’s publishing imprint, the Globe and Mail reports. Indigo issued the standard statement decrying Amazon’s predatory tactics and congratulating Barnes & Noble for “taking a leadership stance on the matter.” Not too surprising, especially given that Indigo was the creator of Kobo, one of the only serious e-book competitors Amazon has. The Globe and Mail article characterizes this as a “setback” for Amazon, and quotes the Wall Street Journal that this is “sending...

From TheStar: Big changes at Indigo Books & Music have left Canadian publishers nervously anticipating the fall and Christmas retail season. By now, regular customers have noticed lamps, clocks, scarves and other Indigo-brand lifestyle products displayed in priority areas where book tables once stood. But the changes don’t stop there. Canada’s largest bricks-and-motor books retailer has shortened its minimum shelf life for books, taken control away from publishers regarding display space and introduced a marketing charge to publishers on every book sold. “If there is a reduced space for books in the store, then the percentage...

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...

According to The Bookseller Canadian book retailer Indigo saw a 14% revenue rise because of ecommerce sales and sales of the Kobo ebook reader. Kobo e-readers were among the bestselling items at its stores during the holiday season, while sales from its website, chapters. indigo.ca, were up 6.5%. Chief Executive of Indigo, Heather Reisman, said that the company was in the process of redefining it’s core focus and was therefore encouraged with it’s growth in the digital sector. :We are pleased with our top line revenue growth, particularly in our rapidly growing digital business," Reisman said in a statement. "Kobo eReaders were...

Here's an interesting story from the major daily paper here: Indigo Makes Bigger Play for Toy Market Buried four paragraphs in, this throwaway line hints at potential big news for trend watchers following the book market right now: "With the popularity of e-readers, like Indigo’s Kobo, freeing up more shelf space, a number of book retailers are expanding into new categories to boost sales." Indigo is Canada's version of Borders or Barnes and Noble---the major book store chain---and a major shareholder in Kobo. If it's true that their Kobo plans are freeing up valuable retail real estate, it makes sense they want to fill...

I have seen the future saviour of the publishing industry, and it's not the agents or the executives or the distributors. It's Starbucks. I was there for the first time today following the roll-out of Canada/USA-wide free wifi at every Starbucks location, and it really hit me how the publishing industry stands to benefit from the growing ubiquity of in-store coffee shops and free public wifi. A COFFEE SHOP AT EVERY BOOKSTORE In Canada, the major bookstore chain is Indigo. They are in every mall, in every community, all over the big cities and in every town. And each of them has...

The Kobo Reader will be hitting retail over the next two months, and I was delighted to get my hands on a loaner unit to offer you an early look. My device is definitely a beta version---the desktop software it comes with for Mac and Windows was not fully operable, and the magazine and newspaper subscriptions were not active on either the device or the Kobo website. So don't take my review as the final word---rather, this is a teaser of what you can expect from the Kobo Reader and on how it stacks up to the other...