Huffington post link.
"http://www.freep.com/article/20110422/BUSINESS06/104220345/Borders-seeking-additional-money"
A little humor on the decline of Borders
Had thus FUD:
"But authors are panicking, because books will be carried in 200 fewer Borders stores, and there are fears that they might skip mid-list titles and only invest in names they know they can sell."
Authors panicking? Is that what the AAP14 are calling authors self-publishing? ;)
B&N is entering their cash drain
part of the year. Heck, we just exited their most profitable time of the year and nook investment took their cash flow negative. :( Not that I disagree with them investing in the Nook... I just do not see the turn around for a few years.
It doesn't make me happy that bookstores are hurting, but there seems to be no slowing of smartphones, tablets, and ereaders. Three coworkers were giving Kindles as Easter presents to older relatives who have read out their local library's large type section.
I liked the 'pull' stage to ereaders for that was discussing the fun aspects of reading. Now I suspect as many new ereaders are due to negatives or "push:"
1. Inability to find large type books.
2. Local bookstore closing
3. Fewer new authors being picked up in print
4. Publishers targeting 80% sell through (which means some stores run out).
We still have pull:
1. More reading due to the convenience of having the ebook there (in particular on smartphones).
2. More variety (you either wanted this or didn't care).
3. More books per year from favorite authors. (What was with the 1 book per year from the AAP14?!?)
The bookstore scene has changed faster than the bulk of predictions. It makes some predictions amusing.
Got Popcorn?
Neil
Showing posts with label borders. Show all posts
Showing posts with label borders. Show all posts
Monday, April 25, 2011
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Borders now closing 275 Bookstores
Borders will close further bookstores.
"It said its recent job cuts and debt restructuring couldn’t make up for lost market share against online competitors.
Read more: Report: Borders will close 75 more stores | Charlotte Business Journal "
Maybe the NYTimes should wake up and realize how fast the change is coming down the pipeline and rank Indie authors? Naaa... They'll wait until buyers only look at the ebook sellers lists...
BTW, I'm very sad to see bookstores closing. I wonder if one of these additional 75 will be the other local Borders. At some point their distribution becomes un-economical and they lose a huge part of the advantage that allowed Borders to keep open bookstores far larger than the competition.
Intense readers, those that buy 70% of the books tend to like variety. Without Borders, the B&N business case becomes far weaker. I think bookstores will survive... but then again, I thought that POD machines would be far more common by now...
Got Popcorn?
Neil
Late edit: There are only 686 Borders stores! Or more precisely 511 'superstores' and 175 Waldenbooks. This means that Borders is closing 40% of their stores. Note: It will be far less than a 40% reduction in sales as they are obviously closing poor performing stores as well as preferentially closing the small Waldenbooks stores.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borders_Books
B&N has 1637 stores (711+637 college)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnes_and_noble
The Borders closing represent ~3% of US book sales. With ebooks at 10% of the book market, I suspect another 400 bookstores nees to close for economic reasons in 2011. :(
"It said its recent job cuts and debt restructuring couldn’t make up for lost market share against online competitors.
Read more: Report: Borders will close 75 more stores | Charlotte Business Journal "
Maybe the NYTimes should wake up and realize how fast the change is coming down the pipeline and rank Indie authors? Naaa... They'll wait until buyers only look at the ebook sellers lists...
BTW, I'm very sad to see bookstores closing. I wonder if one of these additional 75 will be the other local Borders. At some point their distribution becomes un-economical and they lose a huge part of the advantage that allowed Borders to keep open bookstores far larger than the competition.
Intense readers, those that buy 70% of the books tend to like variety. Without Borders, the B&N business case becomes far weaker. I think bookstores will survive... but then again, I thought that POD machines would be far more common by now...
Got Popcorn?
Neil
Late edit: There are only 686 Borders stores! Or more precisely 511 'superstores' and 175 Waldenbooks. This means that Borders is closing 40% of their stores. Note: It will be far less than a 40% reduction in sales as they are obviously closing poor performing stores as well as preferentially closing the small Waldenbooks stores.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borders_Books
B&N has 1637 stores (711+637 college)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnes_and_noble
The Borders closing represent ~3% of US book sales. With ebooks at 10% of the book market, I suspect another 400 bookstores nees to close for economic reasons in 2011. :(
Monday, February 14, 2011
WSJ: Borders woes help ebooks
For those that have have a subscription to the WSJ they have up an interesting article on Borders and ebooks titled as my title (minus the WSJ:)
Quote from Smashwords CEO:"Once physical shelf space is gone, it's gone forever," says Mark Coker, chief executive of Smashwords Inc., an e-book publishing and distribution platform based in Los Gatos, Calif. "If you remove books from our towns and villages and malls, there will be less opportunity for the serendipitous discovery of books. And that will make it tougher to sell books."
Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703515504576142663906541514.html#ixzz1DzMvO0PZ
Also interesting is this tidbit:
"Borders plans to close about 200 stores, and possibly 50 or so more later.
"
But those who read my blog know I like to quantify the impact. This sums it up nicely: ""Overall, Borders is probably around 8% of sales for many publishers, but on certain titles, Borders could be 20%," said Laurence Kirshbaum, a New York literary agent. "That's a big number, especially when you are talking about smaller titles. How will those books get adequate distribution?"
"
20% of lesser selling titles. In other words, closing 250 of 650 borders knocks out 5% to 6% of the midlist pbook market. Combine this with the expanding toy sections and I really wonder why any new author isn't going Indie or small publisher.
Got Popcorn?
Neil
Quote from Smashwords CEO:"Once physical shelf space is gone, it's gone forever," says Mark Coker, chief executive of Smashwords Inc., an e-book publishing and distribution platform based in Los Gatos, Calif. "If you remove books from our towns and villages and malls, there will be less opportunity for the serendipitous discovery of books. And that will make it tougher to sell books."
Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703515504576142663906541514.html#ixzz1DzMvO0PZ
Also interesting is this tidbit:
"Borders plans to close about 200 stores, and possibly 50 or so more later.
"
But those who read my blog know I like to quantify the impact. This sums it up nicely: ""Overall, Borders is probably around 8% of sales for many publishers, but on certain titles, Borders could be 20%," said Laurence Kirshbaum, a New York literary agent. "That's a big number, especially when you are talking about smaller titles. How will those books get adequate distribution?"
"
20% of lesser selling titles. In other words, closing 250 of 650 borders knocks out 5% to 6% of the midlist pbook market. Combine this with the expanding toy sections and I really wonder why any new author isn't going Indie or small publisher.
Got Popcorn?
Neil
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