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 ]
Cultural Cross Sections Dipika Mukherjee A writer travels from Chicago to a residency in rural Malaysia, where part of her novel-in-progress is set. While encountering the many living creatures who surround her and making progress on her work, she... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2019-07-23 13:14:38 UTC ]
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Indie press Open Pen and Newham Bookshop are joining forces to host a fundraiser for the homeless in East London. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-07-22 07:47:05 UTC ]
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Solid State Books is Washington, D.C.’s newest book store serving the H Street neighborhood. Co-owners Jake Cumsky-Whitlock and Scott Abel met while working in another D.C. bookstore back in 2004. In 2017, they teamed up to create Solid State Books with a commitment to dynamic programming and... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2019-07-19 08:45:53 UTC ]
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We talk to Galway institution Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop, which will celebrating its 30th birthday in October, and Nibbies Children’s Bookseller of the Year shortlistee, The Blessington Book Store. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-07-18 23:52:32 UTC ]
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In this week’s episode of A Phone Call From Paul, Paul Holdengraber and John Waters discuss his new memoir, Mr. Know-It-All (or as he describes, a “self-help book for lunatics,” what he’s reading this summer, and his experience working for Mary Oliver at her bookstore in Provincetown. From the... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2019-07-18 08:48:16 UTC ]
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Foyles bookshop has joined forces with indie publisher Jacaranda for its Twenty in 2020 initiative, celebrating black British writers. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-07-17 20:34:16 UTC ]
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Powell’s employees were among a group on Monday night that protested a reading at the bookstore by Blake Nelson, a Portland author whose recent work and public statements have drawn on extremist right-wing rhetoric. Nelson’s newest book, The Red Pill—published by Bombardier Books in... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2019-07-17 18:00:11 UTC ]
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Gardners Books has joined forces with ecommerce firm Monwell Ltd in a new partnership that will see the wholesalers take over the Guardian Bookshop account from Bertrams. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-07-16 23:50:20 UTC ]
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The Tokyo-based bookstore chain is announcing a second venue in the United Arab Emirates, the Dubai store having opened in 2008. The post Japan’s Kinokuniya Announces 33rd Overseas Bookstore in Abu Dhabi appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2019-07-16 05:30:52 UTC ]
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Semicolon—a vibrant new bookstore, community space, and gallery for Chicago’s street art scene—opened its doors on Tuesday with a party and mural unveiling. The store is just one of a handful of woman-owned bookstores in Chicago and its only bookstore owned by a black woman. An author... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2019-07-12 15:33:15 UTC ]
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In a popular trope present most often in YA novels, a character finds a secret key to another world. The key is rarely literal. More often, it’s an action as banal and everyday as leaning against a train platform barrier, walking into a phone booth, or looking for a winter coat in the back of... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2019-07-12 11:02:44 UTC ]
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For years, I had been hearing about a secret bookstore on the Upper East Side, run by the owner out of his apartment. I thought that you could show up only in the company of a regular attendee. (I would later learn that this was not true, that Michael was, as he liked to say […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2019-07-09 20:01:37 UTC ]
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Awesome daily roundup of the most interesting bookish links from around the web. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2019-07-09 10:30:07 UTC ]
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Michael Seidenberg, the beloved owner of New York City's Brazenhead Books, has died. In his later years, Seidenberg ran the bookstore out of his apartment, attracting the city's literati and bookworms. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-07-09 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Since its launch 25 years ago, Amazon's reach has extended well beyond an online bookstore. And while it may seem obvious today, at the time Jeff Bezos was working to get his idea to the masses, many investors thought it would be no match for bookstore giants like Borders and Barnes &... Continue reading at Silicon Valley Business Journal
[ Silicon Valley Business Journal | 2019-07-08 11:14:14 UTC ]
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Since its launch 25 years ago, Amazon's reach has extended well beyond an online bookstore. And while it may seem obvious today, at the time Jeff Bezos was working to get his idea to the masses, many investors thought it would be no match for bookstore giants like Borders and Barnes and... Continue reading at Silicon Valley Business Journal
[ Silicon Valley Business Journal | 2019-07-08 10:53:45 UTC ]
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Since its launch 25 years ago, Amazon's reach has extended well beyond an online bookstore. And while it may seem obvious today, at the time Jeff Bezos was working to get his idea to the masses, many investors thought it would be no match for bookstore giants like Borders and Barnes and... Continue reading at Silicon Valley Business Journal
[ Silicon Valley Business Journal | 2019-07-08 10:00:00 UTC ]
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EVERY YEAR, IT SEEMS, we receive a new diagnosis regarding the viability of books in the digital age: print is dead, print is back, the bookstore is dead, bookstores are back. The nostalgia for and anxiety about print is often reactive, hinting at other anxieties about feeling lonely and... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books
[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2019-07-06 19:00:22 UTC ]
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Since its launch 25 years ago, Amazon's reach has extended well beyond an online bookstore. And while it may seem obvious today, at the time Jeff Bezos was working to get his idea to the masses, many investors thought it would be no match for bookstore giants like Borders and Barnes and... Continue reading at Silicon Valley Business Journal
[ Silicon Valley Business Journal | 2019-07-05 17:38:09 UTC ]
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A Rioter not only got to visit the romance bookstore of her dreams, L.A.'s The Ripped Bodice, but also got a slew of recommendations from a co-owner! Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2019-07-02 10:36:13 UTC ]
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