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 ]
I work as the bookstore manager for a bookstore in the Hudson Valley and one of the things that means is that I handle not only the ordering of most of our books, but the unboxing of them as well. I get to put hands (or at least eyes) on basically every book that comes […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2024-10-24 14:25:11 UTC ]
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In The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore, history professor Evan Friss explores how bookstores have shaped reading, publishing, politics, and community, beginning in the 18th century. I talked with Friss about the value of indie bookstores, the bygone dominance of Barnes & Noble,... Continue reading at The Millions
[ The Millions | 2024-10-22 12:00:00 UTC ]
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If you find your keys tend to go missing just as you need to leave the house (and particularly when you’re already late), Bluetooth tracker can help. Attach these handy fobs to your keys, wallet, jacket, purse, bag or whatever else you need to get going. Some trackers even rely on vast networks... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2024-10-22 09:00:48 UTC ]
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Yu & Me Books, located in the heart of Manhattan's Chinatown, has become a literary haven for immigrant authors and writers of color. Continue reading at HuffPost
[ HuffPost | 2024-10-21 15:07:34 UTC ]
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In the Central Eastside Industrial District of Portland, Ore., Patrick Leonard has opened Postcard Bookshop, a store featuring global literature and culture, children’s titles, and sidelines including journals and games for people on the move. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-10-21 04:00:00 UTC ]
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A Guide to Bookstore Customers, Award-Winning Fantasy, MId-Century Queer Romance, and More in Today's Best Book Deals Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2024-10-20 12:00:00 UTC ]
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The owner of the bookstore Bettie’s Pages in Lowell, Mich., is “an outspokenly progressive voice running a small business successfully in a conservative small town” and a tireless advocate for the freedom to read. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-10-10 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Two sisters, Barbara Cerda and Valeria Cerda, the co-owners of La Revo Books, a pop-up bookstore in Milwaukee, were named MIBA's booksellers of the year for 202. The two founded La Revo in 2021 to sell Spanish-language literature. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-10-07 04:00:00 UTC ]
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American myths and monsters, goddesses in Greek myth, a bookstore stuck in the past, and more of today's best book deals Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2024-09-27 15:11:57 UTC ]
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The feminist bookstore, founded in 1979, has been named the Great Lakes Bookstore of the Year by the Great Lakes Independent Booksellers Association. It is the inaugural recipient of the award. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-09-27 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Plus the second annual Banned Wagon tour, books about books, gifts for indie bookstore lovers, and more today on Book Riot. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2024-09-23 13:45:00 UTC ]
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On Saturdays in late ’90s, my father, a taxi driver, would pool his tips for the week and take me, a child too precocious for his own good, to a local bookstore in search of my next read. Together, we silently wandered the store, picking up paperbacks and inspecting their pages. On shelves that... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2024-09-17 08:55:21 UTC ]
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A party supported by pals who made it through rush hour rain was appropriate for an anthology celebrating female friendshipNervous as I am of organising parties, I could hardly have launched a book about friendship without throwing one. And so it was that last Tuesday night, I found myself in... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2024-09-14 15:00:31 UTC ]
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A funny spy thriller, a classic album, a blockbuster feminist exhibition, a good book about a bad childhood and the end of our summer of sport Continue reading at The Conversation
[ The Conversation | 2024-09-06 15:43:26 UTC ]
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A sweetly situated bookstore and its bookseller in France leads Richard Charkin to speculate on job titles in publishing. The post Richard Charkin in France: What’s in a Name? appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2024-08-30 19:45:11 UTC ]
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Evan Friss’ The Bookshop, Katherine Bucknell’s Christopher Isherwood: Inside Out, and Alexis Pauline Gumbs’ Survival Is a Promise: The Eternal Life of Audre Lorde all feature among the best reviewed books of the month. Brought to you by Book Marks, Lit Hub’s home for book reviews. * 1. The... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2024-08-30 08:56:41 UTC ]
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Bookshop gets into used books, guessing the 2024 NBA Long List for Fiction, and a couple of real bummer stories in today's book news. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2024-08-28 21:45:13 UTC ]
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The story of the sale of a bookstore heiress’s penthouse seems to have ended on a bittersweet note.Stephanie Riggio Bulger, whose father, Len Riggio, is the former chairman of the Barnes & Noble retail chain, has finally found a taker for her four-bedroom duplex condo in Chelsea after two... Continue reading at Crains New York
[ Crains New York | 2024-08-22 15:41:31 UTC ]
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“Although Nazis were more famous for burning books, they also sold them.” Evan Friss on when the Nazis opened a propaganda bookstore in Los Angeles. | Lit Hub Bookstores Get ready for the literary film and TV you need to watch this fall. | Lit Hub Film “He was not one of those people who […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2024-08-21 10:30:24 UTC ]
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In the first half of the twentieth century, radical bookstores took many forms and often served as part of larger, multichannel campaigns. Nazis, as well as Communists and Socialists, organized festivals and parades, dances and concerts, and schools and camps to disseminate critiques of American... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2024-08-21 08:56:24 UTC ]
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