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 woman and Asian American–owned bookstore, in the Chinatown neighborhood in Manhattan, will require a total renovation over the next year due to a fire in a residential unit above its premises. It topped its goal of $150,000 overnight. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-07-07 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Tattered Cover has named Brad Dempsey interim CEO of the Denver bookstore chain, replacing CFO Margie Keenan, who served as interim CEO after former CEO and co-owner Kwame Spearman left in April to start a political career. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-07-06 04:00:00 UTC ]
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NASCAR's Chicago street race during the holiday weekend shut down many businesses along the route, including Exile in Bookville, which sustained thousands of dollars in losses. Some of that loss was alleviated by a spike in online orders by customers wanting to support the store. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-07-05 04:00:00 UTC ]
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A new queer indie bookstore is splitting profits with LGBTQ authors and spreading queer joy and literacy with a rainbow book bus. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-06-20 10:40:00 UTC ]
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The third Barnes & Noble store to unionize, the bookstore workers voted 97% in favor of joining the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, citing safety issues, substandard pay and lack of workplace structure. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-06-08 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Indigo Books & Music, Canada's dominant bookstore chain, announced founder Heather Reisman will retire in August; simultaneously, four board members resigned with one citing a loss of confidence in the board and mistreatment. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-06-08 04:00:00 UTC ]
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We get it, new dads (like new moms) just need a break. Aside from volunteering for babysitting duties, there’s an easy way to help: Get them some new gear. Perhaps some wireless earbuds to listen to podcasts as they put the baby to sleep, or something that could help to distract the youngins so... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2023-06-02 13:15:04 UTC ]
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Today in good news, the American Booksellers Association announced that membership is at its highest level in 20 years. Per reporting by Hillel Italie at the Associated Press: The ABA added 173 members last year, and now has 2,185 bookstore businesses and 2,599 locations. Three years after the... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-05-22 15:55:36 UTC ]
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In a virtual awards show, 'PW' editorial director Jim Milliot named Midtown Scholar in Harrisburg, Pa., the Bookstore of the Year and PRH's Emily Bates the Sales Rep of the Year. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-05-22 04:00:00 UTC ]
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From family sagas that span decades to memoirs about chasing the American dream, these 6 AAPI must-reads hit bookshop shelves this May. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2023-05-18 13:00:16 UTC ]
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The chain’s founder is celebrating its 20th anniversary – but for a while it, and the industry as a whole, was on the brinkTim Richards is celebrating a milestone he feared he might not see – the 20th anniversary of the creation of Vue, Europe’s largest privately owned cinema chain. That... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-05-16 13:00:08 UTC ]
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Some in the book industry have already begun exploring automation of its pitches to readers. We took this functionality for a test drive“Blurb writing is a mini art form,” Iris Murdoch once wrote in a letter to former Penguin blurb writer Elizabeth Buchan. And like many other art forms,... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-05-16 09:00:05 UTC ]
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Throughout 2023, the Midtown Scholar Bookstore is celebrating 20 years as a bricks-and-mortar destination in Harrisburg, Pa. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-05-12 04:00:00 UTC ]
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At Edmonds Bookshop in the historic town center of Edmonds, Wash., Michelle Bear refers to herself not as the owner but as “the most recent and honored caretaker.” Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-05-12 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Sara Hoerdeman, the American Academy of Pediatrics marketing manager for consumer products, didn’t just nominate Harvey’s Tales in Geneva, Ill., to be PW’s 2023 Bookstore of the Year: she wrote a 500-word love letter extolling the virtues of the five-year-old indie, located in an upscale suburb... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-05-12 04:00:00 UTC ]
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“Even though every atom in my body told me opening a shop would be an economic failure, I’d hoped it would save us.” Kelly McMasters on starting a bookstore to save her marriage. | Lit Hub Memoir 21 new books out today: Shakespeare! Eurovision! Revenge! | The Hub This month’s Lit Hub Asks: 5... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-05-09 10:30:21 UTC ]
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The first time I sliced open a box of books in my new bookshop, I breathed in deeply. The pulpy starch of the paper caught in the back of my throat, while the faint chemical sting of the new ink burned high in my nostrils. I imagined a world where this smell was a constant […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-05-09 08:53:39 UTC ]
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The Internet is abuzz over a forthcoming nonfiction book, a 544-page memoir (including 40 full-color photographs) slated to be published by Flatiron on July 9th. Why? Because The Internet thinks it was probably written by Taylor Swift. It all started when the owner of indie bookshop Good... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-05-08 16:47:07 UTC ]
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A 57-year-old “self-styled poet” (aren’t they all?) has spent $116,000 of his own money to build a bookstore in a mountaintop village. Oh, and it’s shaped like the number 7 and contains 7,000 books. No, this is not a parable. As Jiang Libo told the South China Morning Post: Before my bookshop... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-05-08 15:04:22 UTC ]
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Forty years ago, my not-yet-gentrified neighborhood in Brooklyn had one bookstore, Mostly Books. When the owner retired, it became a video store (RIP Cousins). Then it was derelict, then it was councilman’s office, and now it’s (obviously) a real estate office. But in all those years, a... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-05-08 15:00:19 UTC ]
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