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 ]
Gather ’round, children, and let me tell you a story about the old bugaboo we used to call DRM. Digital Rights Management was the beast under every gamer’s bed in the mid-2000s, an invisible bit of software baked into game discs that dictated and tracked player behavior under the guise of... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2024-03-04 16:30:21 UTC ]
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With its award ceremony coming up in May, the British Book Awards program has released its bookstore and small-press shortlists. The post The UK’s Nibbies: Small Press and Bookstore Shortlists appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2024-03-04 16:24:55 UTC ]
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The star, whose show “RuPaul’s Drag Race” has an international following, is one of the founders of a new online bookstore promoting underrepresented authors. The giveaways are part of its outreach. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2024-03-04 15:05:30 UTC ]
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It’s 1995, and I’m trying to watch a video on the internet. I entered the longest, most complex URL I’d ever seen into AOL’s web browser to view a trailer for Paul W.S. Anderson’s long-awaited film adaptation of Mortal Kombat. I found it in an issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly, tucked away in... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2024-03-01 17:00:14 UTC ]
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Book Rack is the second San Gabriel Valley bookstore to face a reckoning this year. The owner of Vroman's in Pasadena put the store up for sale because he wants to retire. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2024-02-26 11:00:30 UTC ]
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Before running the bookshop, Yeongju had never considered whether she was suitable to be a bookseller. She thought, rather naively, that anyone who loves books could be one. It was only when she started her own bookshop that she realized she had a serious shortcoming. She fumbled questions such... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2024-02-23 09:44:53 UTC ]
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10 Questions for Hwang Bo-reum, by Michelle Johnson Interviews [email protected] Tue, 02/20/2024 - 10:01 Photo by Seong Ji Min Clayhouse Inc.Hwang Bo-reum’s debut novel, Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop, translated by Shanna Tan, was published... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2024-02-20 16:01:47 UTC ]
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This was a regular feature of my childhood, though it feels so long ago and far away, conceptually as well as literally, that I nearly forgot it ever happened: I’d go into town to the mall with my mom, and she’d drop me at the doors of the Borders or Barnes and Noble while she […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2024-02-19 09:55:59 UTC ]
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The Ripped Bodice knows the romance genre inside and out — and they revealed the swoon-worthy books to read right now. Continue reading at HuffPost
[ HuffPost | 2024-02-13 10:45:18 UTC ]
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Private equity investor James Rhee, author of 'Red Helicopter,' suggested ways to amplify a bookstore or brand’s intangible qualities, and conflict resolution specialist William Ury, author of 'Possible,' advised booksellers on how to deal with people's differences "constructively." Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-02-13 05:00:00 UTC ]
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It’s fashion week in New York City, which (alas) doesn’t usually concern us all that much here at Literary Hub. But last night, Anna Sui introduced her fall 2024 collection, entitled “WHODUNNIT!!!,” with a runway show at iconic bookstore The Strand—to best set the stage for its literary... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2024-02-12 18:52:59 UTC ]
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Ewan MacGregor's marvelous mustache, a legendary California bookstore is up for sale, and Florida is (sigh) at it again. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2024-02-08 15:42:21 UTC ]
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Vroman’s is a community landmark in Pasadena, Calif. Now, its longtime owner says he’s ready to turn over the reins. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2024-02-08 14:22:44 UTC ]
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Two investment firms led by Canadian billionaire Gerald Schwartz—an Indigo board member, husband of founder Heather Reisman, and the company's majority owner—has made an offer to acquire the remaining shares of Canada's largest bookstore chain. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-02-05 05:00:00 UTC ]
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“I pulled the Fitzgerald off a shelf in the bookshop where I had a summer job. It was so delicious and joyful to read, I could canter through it with such bright and sudden pleasure, that it felt almost criminal.” Continue reading at The Paris Review
[ The Paris Review | 2024-02-01 15:52:46 UTC ]
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Wear these fun bookish Valentine's Day sweatshirts to go out to pick up your latest bookstore or library finds and more. - Kelly Jensen Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2024-01-29 11:30:00 UTC ]
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Bookstore workers at San Francisco’s City Lights Booksellers and Publishers have agreed to unionize, with the City Lights Workers Union joining the Industrial Workers of the World Local 660. City Lights management has voluntarily recognized the union. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-01-29 05:00:00 UTC ]
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This conversation is a combination of two discussions, one on November 9th 2023 at the event of Philip Pullman receiving the Bodley Medal at the Bodleian Library in Oxford, and the other on November 10th 2023 at a launch event for Philip Goff’s book Why? The Purpose of the Universe at Blackwells... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2024-01-19 09:54:28 UTC ]
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Collette Morgan, owner of the Minneapolis children's bookstore that she and her then-husband opened in 1992, has transferred its ownership to four of the store's eight employees. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-01-19 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Vroman's, a longtime Pasadena bookstore, is for sale. Its owner is also looking to sell its second Pasadena location and Book Soup in West Hollywood. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2024-01-18 18:16:13 UTC ]
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