BookSense.com has launched a program that allows its stores to sell
e-books to customers' computers or handheld devices. Ingram Digital
Ventures will fulfill e-book orders in three formats: Palm OS, Adobe
and Microsoft Reader.
In a Bookselling This Week story,
BookSense.com director Len Vlahos commented, "This is an important
first step for us, but by no means the last. We look forward to
continuing to build out the BookSense.com suite of tools to take full
advantage of new technologies."
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Jeff Napier, a former bookstore owner, has come up with an
answer to the closing of all public libraries in Jackson County,
Oregon, in April: he's created the Ashland Media Exchange, an informal
library that has 6,000 books as well as DVDs and CDs, the Mail Tribune reported. Patrons don't check out books, movies or music; they simply take what they'd like and bring them back if they like.
One volunteer called the venture "revolutionary, and I believe it's
going to change the world, seriously. It brings the community together
in a way that barter hasn't done."
To pay the $1,500 a month rent, Napier sells more valuable donations
online. He told the paper that if the libraries stay closed, he hopes
someday to hire librarians.
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Effective June 15, Barnes & Noble College will manage the bookstores of the three San Jacinto College campuses in and around Houston, Tex., according to the Houston Business Journal. B&N cafes will open on each campus, too, the paper said.
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It's time for the annual, if unofficial, beach read bookstore hunt. Like other newspapers nationwide, the Charlotte Observer reminded its readers, "Whether you're visiting the mountains or the beach, bookstores are open for business." The enviably titled "Reading Life Editor" polled fellow staffers for bookstore recommendations in the Carolinas.
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Where can you find a topographic map of Rozer Point Southwest, a "watery expanse in the middle of the Great Salt Lake?" At the Natural Resources Map and Bookstore, of course. The Salt Lake Tribune profiled the bookstore and its "impressive assortment of books aimed at . . . seemingly any subject related to studying and enjoying the 13th-biggest, second-driest and, perhaps, rockiest state in the country."
Store manager Pat Stokes said that customers tend to buy the Rozer Point Southwest map "as a joke. It doesn't have one thing on it. Not one thing." On the other hand, the store itself is described as "a feast for outdoor fans," most of whom, according to Stokes, are male. "It's just the sort of inventory that appeals to men. They say, 'Oh, I shouldn't come in.' It's like a woman in a shoe store."
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Marketing to British minorities.
The Guardian reported that seven bookstore groups will launch a "pilot marketing campaign to black and ethnic minority readerships. Starting on Saturday, 70 of their stores will give prominent displays to books by more than 200 authors in these categories."
Participating companies include Borders, Books Etc, WH Smith, WH Smith Travel, Waterstone's as well as independent bookstores Foyles in London and BondsBooks of Birmingham. The initiative was created in response to "research indicating that because of lack of marketing confidence and knowhow, only 18% of bookshops have special sections for such readerships, though the market is thought to be worth millions of pounds."