Just as Engadget was hitting publish on its first posts, I was putting a freshly minted English degree to use working at an indie bookshop in Los Angeles. In seemingly unrelated news, Amazon had just reported its first profitable year after switching from selling books to selling “everything” four years before. (It still sold a lot of books.) Our bookstore did a good job keeping shelves stocked with a balance of the more worthy popular hits and smaller, better fare. But we couldn’t have every book a customer might want, so we offered to order any in-print title. If a distributor had it, it’d take about a week to get in, longer if we had to go through the publisher. That seemed fine for most customers. But sometimes “about a week” was too long. A few people came right out and said, “Nah, I’ll order it on Amazon.” In 2005, Amazon launched Prime, the membership program that, for $79 a year, gave customers unlimited two-day shipping on most orders. At launch, CEO Jeff Bezos called it “‘all-you-can-eat’ express shipping.” No one knew at the time how hungry the world was for Amazon’s brand of convenience. And now, nearly two decades later, we’ve seen the shifts that accommodate that buffet — in labor, retail and the entire customer experience. Prime wasn’t an overnight success. It’s estimated that six years after launch, just four million households paid for the service. But 10 years later, in 2021, Bezos claimed it had accrued 200 million members worldwide. Outside of that... Continue reading at 'Engadget'
[ Engadget | 2024-03-08 14:15:57 UTC ]
The young woman—young, though nearly forty—stood with her head bent slightly toward the window of McNally Jackson bookstore on Prince Street. She had stopped mid-stride, was on her way somewhere—was, in fact, late—and to see her father’s image in a bookstore window was not anymore such a new... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2025-03-03 09:18:50 UTC ]
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On July 30th, 2024, East Bay Booksellers in Oakland, California was completely destroyed by a fire. The bookstore (previously DIESEL, a Bookstore) had been in that location for thirty years. In the months that followed, its owner, Brad Johnson, began keeping a journal of thoughts. What follows... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2025-02-26 13:46:45 UTC ]
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Andrea Barrett on why writing fresh historical fiction means more than cosplaying the past. | Lit Hub Craft Bookstore owner Brad Johnson reflects on the total destruction, by fire, of East Bay Booksellers (and its rebirth!). | Lit Hub Bookstores Michael Hiltzik on how California made Ronald... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2025-02-26 11:30:54 UTC ]
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Matthew Teller, whose books include Nine Quarters of Jerusalem, said the society’s response to the event which saw two leading booksellers detained was ‘an abject failure’A writer has left the Society of Authors (SoA) in protest after the UK’s largest writers’ body made a statement on a recent... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2025-02-20 17:34:09 UTC ]
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Edward Underhill didn’t plan on having his debut adult fiction book, The In-Between Bookstore, featuring a trans main character, come out six days before the Trump inauguration, but it’s kind of perfect timing. Especially since the book features a time slip, where Darby Madden meets his younger... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2025-02-17 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Regular bookstores might be dying—but bookstores dedicated to romance novels are thriving thanks to TikTok and a desire for third places. Throughout Harvard Square, there are many bookshop brimming with the latest literary fiction and intellectual memoirs, patronized by scholarly types. But in... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2025-02-13 10:30:00 UTC ]
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Industry organizations and publishers are condemning the detention of two Palestinian booksellers by Israeli police, who raided the Educational Bookshop in East Jerusalem on February 9, seizing books that they alleged incited terrorism. The booksellers were confined to house arrest this morning. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2025-02-11 05:00:00 UTC ]
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An industry analyst on book sales trends to watch this year, plus Barbara Kingsolver builds a rehab center, bookstore weddings, and more. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2025-02-10 16:40:00 UTC ]
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This year’s authors range from debut stars to award-winning industry regulars, writing books in a range of categories and all certain to fly off bookstore shelves. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2025-02-07 05:00:00 UTC ]
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A good book that’s set on a farm can immerse you in an historical epoch, make you laugh until your sides hurt, inspire you to fight for a just cause, or sob over an unjust death. And it can so engross you that by the time you turn the last page, you might be bubbling […] The post 7 Captivating... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2025-02-06 12:05:00 UTC ]
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After a decade of downsizing, the beloved bookseller is seeing a resurgence thanks in part to TikTok’s #BookTok and a rise in so-called third spaces. January was a long month, but we finally have some good news in 2025: Bookseller Barnes & Noble plans to open at least 60 new stores this... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2025-02-03 20:30:00 UTC ]
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Hooray, a spot of good news! The Gotham Book Prize, given annually to recognize a new book about New York City, has just released its list of finalists. Formed in 2020 by Howard Wolfson of Bloomberg Philanthropies and Bradley Tusk, who owns the indie bookstore P&T Knitwear, the Gotham Prize... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2025-01-31 16:59:30 UTC ]
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Independent bookstores in more than 30 cities across six continents will participate in the first synchronized Global Bookstore Crawl on April 26, coinciding with Independent Bookstore Day in the U.S. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2025-01-30 05:00:00 UTC ]
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As of this morning, you can now easily buy ebooks from your local indie bookstore. Thanks to Bookshop.org, the reigning David to Am*zon’s Goliath. As Wired reports, a new platform on the site will now sell ebooks directly to customers. Bookshop users can buy and read titles via a handy-dandy... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2025-01-28 14:35:29 UTC ]
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Jennifer Rudolph Walsh and Victoria Jackson, the founders of Godmothers bookstore in California, discuss embracing the uncertainty of transitions, creating space for serendipity, and being open to surprises. Each time I walk into a bookstore I choose a book of poetry off the shelf and open it... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2025-01-08 10:30:00 UTC ]
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Read with Jenna and Barnes & Noble spotlight Emma Knight's debut novel, Oprah's Book Club celebrates the 20th anniversary of Eckhart Tolle's 'A New Earth,' and more. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2025-01-08 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Online bookstore Allstora, founded by RuPaul, has partnered with actress and trans activist Dylan Mulvaney and Gus Kenworthy, an Olympic medalist in freestyle skiing, to launch two new book clubs, which will distribute 2,500 banned books to LGBTQ+ organizations across the country. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-12-17 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Penguin Random House will distribute all titles published by Boom! Studios, which it acquired this August, starting next July, taking over distribution to the bookstore trade from Simon & Schuster and to the direct market from Diamond Comic Distributors. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-12-11 05:00:00 UTC ]
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