The Internet has been blamed for many bookstore closings. But an
instant connection with the wider world has made Sheri's Book Treasures
in Soldier, Iowa, pop. 207, an example of what the Des Moines Register
calls "an emerging rural Iowa phenomenon--unexpected storefront
businesses open for trade in sparsely populated areas because they sell
online."
The store has 20,000 titles and nearly 95% of book sales are online, owners Wayne and Sheri Joyner told the paper.
The couple started by selling books from their home on six used-book sites, including amazon.com and half.com, via sherisbooktreasures.com. When supply overwhelmed the house, they took one of many available empty downtown storefronts. (The paper commented: "Rural Iowa has long suffered decline and this town is no exception.")
Here's another eye-opener from this story. Because of the ever-increasing pressure on used book prices, the Joyners sell many of their books online for a cent and make money on postage costs.
Wayne Joyner explained: "Amazon.com charges $3.49 for postage. We get $2.26 of it, or $1.59 if it's a paperback. So after our supply and shipping costs, we make 50 cents."
Oh, and one Soldier resident said he appreciated having a store nearby so he didn't have to drive an hour to go to the Barnes & Noble in Sioux City.
---
Today's Boston Globe surveys how several independent booksellers in New England are faring in an increasingly competitive environment.
Janice Severance, owner of the Bookstore of Gloucester, Gloucester, Mass., told the paper: "The Internet is a big issue, but you can't replace coming into a bookstore and having the books displayed and hand-picked." But since many readers enjoy browsing the Internet, "I like to tell my customers, 'Go on the Internet all you like, but just copy down the number and call us up, leave a message--even if it's in the middle of the night--and we'll get the book, and if you don't want to come in, I'll send it to you.' "
Allan Schmid, president of the New England Booksellers Association and owner of Books, Etc., Portland, Maine, "spiffed my store up" when a chain store arrived in his area, he told the Globe. "I sort of went against what some people may be inclined to do with the threat of declining sales, but because you know that consumers are going to come back, and when they did, I wanted the store to look nice.
"You can't just be asleep at the switch and think that the old model will work," he continued. "You have to be creative, inventive, and on your toes, and I think people who are in tune with that can have a better chance for success."
---
In tones often used for late independent stores, Greg Stepanich in the Palm Beach Post eulogizes his favorite local store, Borders in Boynton, Fla., which closed last weekend.
"I know it's not politically correct to applaud the superstores; it's hard for independent booksellers to compete against companies such as Barnes & Noble and Borders, whose size gives them a real advantage," he wrote. "But customers like me patronize all kinds of bookstores, and we love them all."
He concluded, "For me, it's the loss of a place where I could feel like myself, frankly: A geeky man, obsessed with books and music, the kind of person who rather pursue those two interests almost above anything else. I'll miss the Boynton Borders, and the people who worked there, and especially miss the extra outpost of culture it brought to the place I call home."
---
In a move made in conjunction with Google's sponsorship of Shakespeare in the Park in New York City, the company has launched a site devoted entirely to the works of William Shakespeare, allowing users to browse through the full texts of his 37 plays, Reuters reported.
Many editions of the plays are available for sale via links to the Amazon.com, B&N.com, Booksense.com, Froogle and the publisher.
---
The local development agency in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., has applied for a $1.2 million loan from the county office of community development to open an 18,000-sq.-ft. store downtown, the Wilkes-Barre Citizen's Voice reported. The county commissioners are expected to vote on the application June 21.
The store will be managed by an unnamed college store company. In April, Barnes & Noble College and Follett were reportedly in the running. According to the loan application, a management lease is still being negotiated.
The store will include an 89-seat café and is intended to serve as a "portal" to the King's College and Wilkes University campuses, selling both books for a general audience as well as textbooks. The colleges and the college store company are putting up about $900,000.
---
Following the death last month of Dan Lundy, v-p and director of academic and library marketing at Penguin Group and head of that department for 16 years, the company has promoted Alan Walker, who worked closely with Lundy for most of that time, to senior director of academic marketing and sales. Walker was most recently director of academic marketing and sales.
In a statement, Susan Petersen Kennedy, president of Penguin Group, said of Walker, "In his new position, he will run the largest combined academic marketing and sales department at a major consumer book publishing company. His long-term relationships in the academic and library communities will help us to further strengthen this important aspect of our business."
Walker reports to John Fagan, v-p, director of marketing, Penguin Books, who adds the title of executive director, academic marketing and sales.
In a related note, a memorial service will be held for Lundy during ALA in New Orleans, at 7 a.m., Sunday, June 25, in Jackson Square. For more information, contact Charleen Davis at charleen.davis@us.penguingroup.com.
---
Advanced Marketing Services, the major book supplier to warehouse clubs and owner of PGW that has been dealing with an accounting scandal for several years, has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to deregister its stock. The company will no longer have to meet SEC reporting obligations; the company's stock will continue to trade through the Pink Sheets.
AMS said it "concluded that the increasing financial costs and commitment of management's time to addressing increasing regulatory requirements cannot be justified at this time." Few securities analysts are covering AMS, the stock is thinly traded and "the public market does not provide a realistic opportunity to raise additional capital," the company continued. Thus, "the elimination of the legal, accounting and administrative costs associated with being a publicly-traded SEC reporting company" will allow management "to devote more time and attention to the Company's business and operations" and save a bundle of money.
The store has 20,000 titles and nearly 95% of book sales are online, owners Wayne and Sheri Joyner told the paper.
The couple started by selling books from their home on six used-book sites, including amazon.com and half.com, via sherisbooktreasures.com. When supply overwhelmed the house, they took one of many available empty downtown storefronts. (The paper commented: "Rural Iowa has long suffered decline and this town is no exception.")
Here's another eye-opener from this story. Because of the ever-increasing pressure on used book prices, the Joyners sell many of their books online for a cent and make money on postage costs.
Wayne Joyner explained: "Amazon.com charges $3.49 for postage. We get $2.26 of it, or $1.59 if it's a paperback. So after our supply and shipping costs, we make 50 cents."
Oh, and one Soldier resident said he appreciated having a store nearby so he didn't have to drive an hour to go to the Barnes & Noble in Sioux City.
---
Today's Boston Globe surveys how several independent booksellers in New England are faring in an increasingly competitive environment.
Janice Severance, owner of the Bookstore of Gloucester, Gloucester, Mass., told the paper: "The Internet is a big issue, but you can't replace coming into a bookstore and having the books displayed and hand-picked." But since many readers enjoy browsing the Internet, "I like to tell my customers, 'Go on the Internet all you like, but just copy down the number and call us up, leave a message--even if it's in the middle of the night--and we'll get the book, and if you don't want to come in, I'll send it to you.' "
Allan Schmid, president of the New England Booksellers Association and owner of Books, Etc., Portland, Maine, "spiffed my store up" when a chain store arrived in his area, he told the Globe. "I sort of went against what some people may be inclined to do with the threat of declining sales, but because you know that consumers are going to come back, and when they did, I wanted the store to look nice.
"You can't just be asleep at the switch and think that the old model will work," he continued. "You have to be creative, inventive, and on your toes, and I think people who are in tune with that can have a better chance for success."
---
In tones often used for late independent stores, Greg Stepanich in the Palm Beach Post eulogizes his favorite local store, Borders in Boynton, Fla., which closed last weekend.
"I know it's not politically correct to applaud the superstores; it's hard for independent booksellers to compete against companies such as Barnes & Noble and Borders, whose size gives them a real advantage," he wrote. "But customers like me patronize all kinds of bookstores, and we love them all."
He concluded, "For me, it's the loss of a place where I could feel like myself, frankly: A geeky man, obsessed with books and music, the kind of person who rather pursue those two interests almost above anything else. I'll miss the Boynton Borders, and the people who worked there, and especially miss the extra outpost of culture it brought to the place I call home."
---
In a move made in conjunction with Google's sponsorship of Shakespeare in the Park in New York City, the company has launched a site devoted entirely to the works of William Shakespeare, allowing users to browse through the full texts of his 37 plays, Reuters reported.
Many editions of the plays are available for sale via links to the Amazon.com, B&N.com, Booksense.com, Froogle and the publisher.
---
The local development agency in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., has applied for a $1.2 million loan from the county office of community development to open an 18,000-sq.-ft. store downtown, the Wilkes-Barre Citizen's Voice reported. The county commissioners are expected to vote on the application June 21.
The store will be managed by an unnamed college store company. In April, Barnes & Noble College and Follett were reportedly in the running. According to the loan application, a management lease is still being negotiated.
The store will include an 89-seat café and is intended to serve as a "portal" to the King's College and Wilkes University campuses, selling both books for a general audience as well as textbooks. The colleges and the college store company are putting up about $900,000.
---
Following the death last month of Dan Lundy, v-p and director of academic and library marketing at Penguin Group and head of that department for 16 years, the company has promoted Alan Walker, who worked closely with Lundy for most of that time, to senior director of academic marketing and sales. Walker was most recently director of academic marketing and sales.
In a statement, Susan Petersen Kennedy, president of Penguin Group, said of Walker, "In his new position, he will run the largest combined academic marketing and sales department at a major consumer book publishing company. His long-term relationships in the academic and library communities will help us to further strengthen this important aspect of our business."
Walker reports to John Fagan, v-p, director of marketing, Penguin Books, who adds the title of executive director, academic marketing and sales.
In a related note, a memorial service will be held for Lundy during ALA in New Orleans, at 7 a.m., Sunday, June 25, in Jackson Square. For more information, contact Charleen Davis at charleen.davis@us.penguingroup.com.
---
Advanced Marketing Services, the major book supplier to warehouse clubs and owner of PGW that has been dealing with an accounting scandal for several years, has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to deregister its stock. The company will no longer have to meet SEC reporting obligations; the company's stock will continue to trade through the Pink Sheets.
AMS said it "concluded that the increasing financial costs and commitment of management's time to addressing increasing regulatory requirements cannot be justified at this time." Few securities analysts are covering AMS, the stock is thinly traded and "the public market does not provide a realistic opportunity to raise additional capital," the company continued. Thus, "the elimination of the legal, accounting and administrative costs associated with being a publicly-traded SEC reporting company" will allow management "to devote more time and attention to the Company's business and operations" and save a bundle of money.