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 American Booksellers Association's Winter Institute conference convened in Seattle, the first such event since 2020. Four days of events began with city-wide bookstore tours, a meeting of independent publishers and networking receptions. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-02-20 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Small press of the year award shortlists 48 presses that are ‘reaping the rewards from inspirational publishing’, says British book awards chair of judgesSmall presses across the UK and Ireland have had a “year of exceptional sales and profit growth in the face of Brexit and escalating running... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-02-15 09:17:08 UTC ]
More news stories like this
'Invincible' by Robert Kirkman, Cory Walker, and Ryan Ottley is the story of Mark Grayson, a seemingly normal high school kid who is really the superhero called Invincible. A 10-page excerpt from 'Invincible Compendium One', hardcover reprint edition celebrating the 20th anniversary of Invincible. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-02-15 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
When publishers Rare Bird and Unnamed Press moved into Highland Park, North Figueroa Bookshop soon followed, putting down roots in a bookstore-starved neighbohood. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2023-02-14 14:00:08 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Russell Books in a third-generation family bookstore in Victoria, BC. On Wednesday, $55,000 in antiquarian books were stolen in a break-in. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-02-10 15:03:28 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The author of “How to Sell a Haunted House” learned the hard way that standing at the front of a mostly empty bookstore is no fun. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-02-09 10:00:26 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Every bookstore has regulars, but no bookstore has such a wide and eccentric cast of recurring characters as New York’s Strand. To work there, as I did for one memorable year, is to know them: the sellers, the hagglers, the unyielding optimists checking in at the information desk for the... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-02-07 09:57:29 UTC ]
More news stories like this
This year's American Booksellers will open on February 20 in Seattle with a range of bookstore tours introducing booksellers to an assortment of the city’s independent shops. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-02-03 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Authors, booksellers, publishers, distributors, and others with ties to the book industry are invited to nominate their favorite bookstores and sales representatives for PW's annual Bookstore and Sales Rep of the Year Awards. Deadline for submissions is March 1. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-02-02 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The world’s fastest-selling memoir is merely an episode in a soap opera in the Sussexes’ adopted Californian hometownOn the day Prince Harry’s controversial, headline-grabbing memoir Spare officially became the fastest-selling non-fiction book in history, the bookstore in his adoptive hometown... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-01-21 14:25:09 UTC ]
More news stories like this
“I never thought I’d be one of those people,” she said. T Kira Madden and I were sitting in the private room of a fancy strip-mall restaurant in Albany, New York, and I was eating a very expensive salad. Earlier that afternoon, we had given a reading at a local bookstore with T Kira’s... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2023-01-19 12:05:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
I assume that at some point I must’ve told Dan Kois what to do. During the years he worked for me at the grand old Bull’s Head Bookshop on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus somewhere in the late ‘90s. I must’ve said, at least once, “Shelve. Show that customer to the cookbooks. Shut up.” If so, […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-01-17 09:54:33 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Greenlight Bookstore welcomes Will Alexander, finalist for the 2022 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry, to introduce Divine Blue Light, his new collection of poems from the intersection between surrealism and afro-futurism, where Césaire meets Sun Ra. Will Alexander’s poems constitute an alternative... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-01-12 09:52:43 UTC ]
More news stories like this
An independent book shop in Wiltshire, England has become an internet hit after its creative window display of the Duke of Sussex's memoir. Continue reading at HuffPost
[ HuffPost | 2023-01-10 19:17:34 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Remember Ray’s Occult Books, the rundown Manhattan bookstore opened by an unmoored Ray Stantz between Ghostbusters I and II following the city of New York serving him and his fellow ghostbusters with a judicial restraining order for the property damage incurred during their city-saving battle... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-01-09 16:53:03 UTC ]
More news stories like this
With its bookstore on the ground floor and its library upstairs, India's Trilogy serves a loyal following: 'Getting books is our only headache.' The post Mumbai’s Bookstore and Library Trilogy: An Eighth Anniversary appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2023-01-09 13:28:28 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The complexity of the International Publishers Association's service leads Karine Pansa to call for more and better market data. The post Interview with Brazil’s Karine Pansa: IPA’s New President appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2023-01-06 16:21:11 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Here’s a piece of good literary news to start the year: a new independent bookstore named after the legendary Octavia E. Butler is opening in Pasadena, California, where the late Sci-Fi icon was born and raised. I took the leap and quit my job to open my very own bookstore. Octavia’s Bookshelf... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-01-03 17:31:27 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Let's talk about great book titles. But in order to find out what makes a good book title, let's first explore the worst book titles. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-01-03 11:36:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Imagine walking into a bookstore looking for books with a bonkers plot when you see it: the Bananapants Plot section. A dream! Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2022-12-27 11:35:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this