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 ]
This summer, Tattered Cover Bookstore will open a children's bookstore in Aurora, Colo., a Denver suburb. The new bookstore will be Tattered Cover's fifth outlet and its first children's specialty bookstore. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-04-08 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
When Dr. Seuss Enterprises announced it would no longer be publishing six of Dr. Seuss’s books which have aged problematically, the bookstore I work at in Scranton, Pennsylvania had a flurry of very concerned customers. People were coming up with stacks of his books along with an... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2021-04-07 11:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Ingram Content Group seeds Binc's 'Survive to Thrive' bookstore grant program, with additional major support from publishers and Bookshop.org. The post US Book Industry Charitable Foundation Raises $1 Million for Bookstores appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2021-04-01 14:26:57 UTC ]
More news stories like this
10 swoon-worthy bookstore pins that'll show off your nerd cred -- and make you want to hit your local indie ASAP. - Kelly Jensen Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2021-03-30 10:38:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Interviews Ellen Adams is a singer-songwriter and prose writer who splits her time between Seattle and Montreal. She has been a Lambda Literary Fellow for nonfiction and a Fulbright Fellow researching politically engaged contemporary art in Thailand.... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2021-03-29 13:25:33 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The five finalists for 2021 Bookstore of the Year reflect the changes that have taken place in the ways that bookstores serve their communities and the increasing role of activism in bookselling today. The five finalists for Rep come from commission groups, Ingram, and the Big Five. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-03-23 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Bouncers, hand deliveries and debt became the new reality for shop owners across the country. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2021-03-15 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
One of the biggest books of this past plague year was Erik Larson’s The Splendid and the Vile. The success of the book is no surprise, Larson’s books are perennial bestsellers and he’s a hell of a storyteller. But the core narrative, the perseverance of the British people in the face of Nazi... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-03-12 09:50:38 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The UK arm of Bookshop.org, the online retailer that partners with indie bookstores, has a new initiative on the way: it’s launching a series of online events for its customers as well as customers of unaffiliated indies. For the first event on March 23rd, Bookshop is partnering with Faber to... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-03-11 19:42:27 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The familiar Amazonian preview called 'Look Inside' gets a storefront cousin in Jellybooks' new 'Discovery,' using QR codes to offer samples. The post UK: Jellybooks Pilots Bookshop ‘Peek Inside’ Capacity at Blackwell’s appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2021-03-11 16:45:04 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Employees at Moe’s Bookstore in Berkeley, Calif. announced that they have formed a union and joined the International Workers of the World (IWW). Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-03-11 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
These works, recommended by local authors and bookstore owners, remind us just how special Washington is. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2021-03-04 15:43:50 UTC ]
More news stories like this
There’s something thrilling about watching a movie or a TV show and finding that you recognize the characters’ surroundings— that you have stood on that street corner or peered into that shop before the characters, before that story begins. As someone who has been basically nowhere, I find it... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-02-26 20:13:15 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Back in 2018, an advert for what seemed like the perfect job for book lovers went viral after Sonu Shivdasani, founder of Soneva luxury holiday resorts, and Philip Blackwell, c.e.o. of Ultimate Library—a company that creates bespoke book collections for hotels and private clients—came up with... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-02-25 23:24:10 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Onto March, and with any luck, you'll soon be able to find some of the covers in our monthly round-up on the shelves of your local bookshop before too long. A fine treat it will be too, as there are plenty of lively illustrated children's jackets here, as well as a handful of lovely treatments... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-02-25 12:50:29 UTC ]
More news stories like this
In the middle of the pandemic, City Lights bookstore is still open and it’s thriving. But yesterday it said goodbye to its eternally hip hundred-and-one-year-old cofounder, the poet, publisher, and community activist Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Continue reading at The Paris Review
[ The Paris Review | 2021-02-24 15:21:05 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Grow your future travel wishlist with a quick tour two bookstores in Seoul: its oldest bookstore as well as an underground bookstore. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2021-02-24 11:38:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Poet whose outlook spanned anarchism, ecology and small business, as founder of the City Lights Bookstore in San FranciscoLawrence Ferlinghetti, poet, artist, activist and founder of San Francisco’s famous City Lights Bookstore, who has died aged 101 of interstitial lung disease, was the least... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2021-02-23 22:42:13 UTC ]
More news stories like this
An unapologetic proponent of “poetry as insurgent art,” he was also a publisher and the owner of the celebrated San Francisco bookstore City Lights. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-02-23 20:23:41 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Poet and countercultural pioneer put on trial for publishing Allen Ginsberg’s Howl went on to become a beloved icon of San FranciscoLawrence Ferlinghetti, the poet, publisher, painter and political activist who co-founded the famous City Lights bookshop in San Francisco and became an icon of the... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2021-02-23 19:42:46 UTC ]
More news stories like this