Archive for 'Borders'
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The guys over at MobileRead noticed that the Borders Beta didn’t have the Sony Reader listed or any ebooks. In fact, in searching ebooks, Bob Russell noted that you received a sad error message: ” Did you mean books?”.
Cheer up guys, Borders and Sony are launching a co branded eBook Store and will expand the existing markets for the Sony Reader. Borders online store used to be managed under the Amazon flag and in leaving Amazon, Borders plans to fight for its online market share. Currently the Sony Reader is offered in 270 Borders stores. Beginning in October, that number will increase to 500 stores nationwide.
Also in October, Borders will launch an ebook store that will be supported by Sony. There is no word whether Borders will offer any other formats such as Mobipocket (Amazon’s company); Microsoft Reader (LIT); eReader; or any other popular formats. EBook promotion will be included in the Borders “Shortlist” customer email.
Via Press Release
Borders and Gather.Com in conjunction with Simon & Schuster held a contest for unpublished authors which began with 2600 contestants and was whittled down to 10 finalists. The winner was Terry Shaw with his entry, The Way Life Should Be. The first runner up, Geoffrey Edwards, was compelling enough to the panel that his book, Fire Bell in the Night, was published too. Both books were released today, September 18.
The contest started in January of 2007 so the road to publication for these authors was somewhat swift (discounting, of course, the years preceding this year when they labored over their craft).
The romance writing contest is taking place now and if we can take anything from the first contest, the group is looking for good writers and are willing to award contracts to those that they perceive are saleable.
Borders has lauched a beta of its new online store. The romance page has a top section of featured books and then book covers of upcoming and currently on sale romances (and some that may be loosely described as romances).
I like it and find it more attractive than Amazon. How easy it will to buy books and whether it will be a viable alternative to Amazon remains to be seen.
Borders, Barnes and Noble, and Books a Million (BAMM) all experienced profitable quarters due to the scads of people buying Harry Potter books.
Borders
Sales in the quarter ending in August 2007 rose 10.4%.
Excluding the sales of Harry Potter, the same store sales for Borders showed only a 0.4% increase compared to the previous year sales. With the Harry Potter sales, Borders sales were up 9.7%.
Via ShelfAwareness.
Barnes and Noble
Earnings for Barnes and Noble rose 9% on the spine of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Excluding the sales of Harry Potter, Barnes and Noble had a same store sales increase of 1 percent.
Barnes and Noble expects to have a loss of 6 cents to 10 cents per share in the upcoming quarter given that same store sales growth is flat (or nearly so).
Via MSNBC.
Bamm
Books a Million experienced a 9.6% rise in net sales with a 6.6% gain in same store sales. I could not find an article that parsed out what the gain would have been without Harry Potter but given the Borders and Barnes and Noble results, I would suspect that most of the growth was due to Harry Potter.
Via Stockhouse.
*the same …
 Borders is offering its 30,000+ employees the opportunity to be published. Starting now and ending in January of 2008, Borders is running a fiction writing contest for its employees. The winner will be awarded a book deal with marketing from Borders including “being featured in the Borders “Shortlist,” an e-mail promotion for Borders Rewards(R) members, which now number more than 19.5 million.”
Two male authors were chosen as the winners of the Gather.com’s First Chapters Writing Contest. Simon & Schuster’s Touchstone imprint will publish Terry Shaw’s, The Way Life Should Be, featuring a reporter who investigates his friend’s death, and a historical thriller by Geoffrey Edwards titled, Fire Bell in the Night.
Yes, I pulled the sex card and I did so intentionally. There were very few female authors in the finalists.
Via Publishers Weekly.
This is a special post by Bookseller Jolie after talking with some other booksellers and readers.
Readers want to buy your books; booksellers want to sell your books. Even though this article is all about the peeves, it’s really about how to help authors get connected to readers. The only way to do that is have a fabulous website where readers and booksellers can find the answers for which they can use in order to buy more books!
***
#1 - Series links are not easily identifiable. This should be its own special link on the home page!
When readers find a book they like, they want everything they can get their hands on!!! Whether it’s more in that series or another series you may have!
Booksellers want to stock your series, have all the books on hand. 9 times out of 10 a reader will buy all the books in the series, if a bookstore has them. While booksellers are a smart bunch, we can’t know ALL the books that are interconnected! Like the reader, we’ll go to the author’s website for the information.
# 2 Printable booklist - This makes it so …
 Publishers’ Weekly calls the contest that Borders is holding at Gather.com, the “Literary Idol” and today, Borders announced its top 20 semi-finalists. 12 men and 6 women and 2 initials. The winning contestant supposedly determined in part by the readers’ votes and comments, will win a contract with Simon & Schuster’s Touchstone Imprint and $5,000.00.
Yesterday, Borders Rewards members received an email announcing changes to the Rewards program. Last year, when you made purchases, a percentage of those purchases were rebated back to you to spend during the Holidays. This year, you’ll receive a $5 Borders Buck coupon for every $150 spent. This is akin to other shopping programs such as the Banana Republic rewards card. The goal is to increase traffic year around by enticing customers to spend more money to reach the $150 level and then bring them in once they’ve received the $5 Borders Buck.
It works pretty well for me with the BR card. As soon as I receive my reward, I’m at the store trying to pick out what item I don’t need so I can waste my $25 reward card. Of course, it also serves to remind me that I spend way too much money at BR. I blame this on Ned. He’s a BR freak.
Borders severing times with Amazon is getting alot of play in the business world. One analyst from Citigroup believes that Borders accounts for 2-3% of Amazon sales. I have real questions about the profitability of the digital download centers.
Borders currently buys direct from the publisher at a 40% discount as do most bookstores. It’s markup is then 40% minus any coupons or sales. Borders currently sells the Sony Reader. Sony has its own retail distribution of ebooks. Sony purchases its ebooks from the publisher (likely at the same 40% discount) and then resells them for 20% off. Borders will have to sell the Sony books for the same cost thus earning them no money or at a higher cost which makes me question why I would even buy an ebook at Borders digital download center. Unless Borders comes up with its own device, not tied to Sony, I can’t see ebooks being a big profit center unless the money is being made on the sale of the electronic reading devices. And if Borders sells its own branded ereader, then will that mean yet another …
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