Thursday News: Medically approved workout for librarians; Harlequin revenues decline; HarperCollins employees laid off; Rumors of suitors for B&N
Publishing NewsBarnes & Noble / Harlequin / HarperCollins / Library6 Comments
Wal-Mart passed on Barnes & Noble before, but maybe it should look again – Here are more B&N rumors. Walmart apparently looked at buying B&N in 2010 but the thinking at that time was that B&N’s web site could help Walmart’s online presence. I don’t really understand this thinking. Alexa says that walmart.com’s traffic rank is 32 in the US whereas barnesandnoble.com’s Alexa rank is 208. B&N who doesn’t like to discount and Walmart which is all about huge discounts doesn’t seem to mesh well together. Yahoo! Finance
Another suitor for B&N is said to be Microsoft who already owns 17.6%. If we are speculating, I wonder if Pearson has the money to buy Barnes & Noble. Or maybe the combined company of Random + Penguin. That would really shake things up.
Casey pushes for re-training for HarperCollins employees preparing for layoffs – Senator Bob Casey is writing to request job retraining for over 200 HarperCollins employees who will be laid off as a result of the shift from print to digital. HarperCollins is closing a warehouse and distribution center in Throop, PA. News – The Times-Tribune
Company spokeswoman Erin Crum told The Times-Tribune in November that the “industry is changing” and shifting to a more digital format.”
Declines in Print Revenue Outweigh Digital Growth, Driving Results Down at Harlequin – Harlequin continues to blame 50 Shades for some its losses but the more telling marker is that declining print revenue isn’t being offset by digital revenue growth, partially due to increased digital royalties. Digital Book World
However, Harlequin’s forecast seems a lot more positive so maybe the company is getting a handle on the digital change.
1987 – Betty Glover Library Workout Tape Ad – Sarah Wendell at Smart Bitches is doing a series on the romance reader workout guide. This can serve as a supplemental workout. It is the only medically approved workout for librarians. YouTube
I’m surprised that Harlequin partly blames the 50 Shades success for its decline in revenue. I would actually have expected the opposite, that they would have benefited from it.
That workout video was awesome! Like walking into the libraries of my youth or a time capsule or something. Thanks for sharing!
I would buy more ebooks directly from Harlequin but they only offer adobe epub. I hate that platform. I can do epub, but will no longer buy in adobe epub.
Edited to add: the soundtrack of the workout tap was super! Made we want to pull out all those old LPs I have in a closet…
With digital, Harlequin is competing with many more sources of content (many of them selling DRM free). Certainly that has to come into play when talking about digital growth or the lack there of.
It’s interesting to me that Harlequin uses DRM, but their imprint Carina Press doesn’t. I buy a lot of ebooks from Carina. A Lot. Not so much from Harlequin. Partly because of my taste and partly because of DRM.
Unfortunately I suspect that the B&N/Walmart rumors are coming on the heels of reports of B&N struggling. It is possible that Walmart might see B&N on the verge of death throes and buy it for a pittance. I’m not entirely sure if the situation is that dire yet, and I suspect that a large amount of B&N’s employees don’t know either – I’ve heard wildly differing reports about the ultimate fate of the company from people who worked at different stores.