Target will become the first bricks-and-mortar outlet for Amazon's Kindle when it begins selling the e-reader at its flagship Minneapolis store and 102 south Florida stores April 25 before "rolling out to more Target stores later this year," the Wall Street Journal's Market Watch reported. Amazon reports its quarterly sales and earnings late this afternoon.
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North Carolina's Department of Revenue called the lawsuit filed Monday by Amazon (Shelf Awareness, April 21, 2010) "misleading," and countered that it wasn't violating the First Amendment rights of shoppers by asking for data to aid in tax collection, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The state said that to collect sales taxes it routinely requires "general information" about transactions with out-of-state retailers, but did not ask Amazon to disclose "detailed information revealing personal consumer preferences" such as book titles.
"We have requested the same information from other businesses who have complied with their obligation to provide information to the department," said Kenneth R. Lay, Department of Revenue Secretary, who "described the skirmish as 'an issue of fairness' for small businesses in the state," the Journal wrote.
"These businesses are at a competitive disadvantage when they have to collect sales taxes that other businesses do not," he added. "The department is committed to supporting North Carolina small business and facilitating the equitable collection of taxes from both individual and corporate taxpayers."
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Mark Suchomel,
president of Independent Publishers Group, wrote from London yesterday,
Volcanic Ash Wednesday:
"The London Book Fair concluded today much
the same way it started--quietly. Tear-down of the booths was quick and
efficient, probably because many exhibitors had plenty of time
throughout the day to pack up. Thank you, Simon McArt (Little, Brown UK)
for being there for the last appointment of the day.
In a letter to exhibitors, the book fair indicated it would look into what it could do to help publishers offset some of the cost of the show.
Despite everything, it was a productive show for IPG/Trafalgar and we look forward to BookExpo America."
In a letter to exhibitors, the book fair indicated it would look into what it could do to help publishers offset some of the cost of the show.
Despite everything, it was a productive show for IPG/Trafalgar and we look forward to BookExpo America."
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Barnes & Noble has agreed to a content partnership between the Barnes & Noble Review--the company's online books and arts magazine--and Salon.com. Under the agreement, selected articles from the B&N Review will be shared on a daily basis with Salon.com, which will in turn provide selected elements for B&N's publication. In addition, Salon.com will include affiliate links to BN.com, allowing readers to make purchases from the bookseller's website.
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Barnes & Noble will return to national broadcast television for the first time in 14 years today with its launch of an advertising campaign for the Nook. The Wall Street Journal called the initiative "one of the boldest moves yet in what is likely to be an expensive marketing war this year as a glut of e-readers and tablets, including Apple's iPad, vie for readers."
"Companies will have to create demand, which will take a lot of advertising," said Sarah Rotman Epps, an analyst at Forrester Research. She also cautioned that challenging the hype surrounding the iPad won't be easy. "It's like David going after Goliath. No one is as good at advertising as Apple."
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Amazon has held preliminary talks with publisher Kodansha about providing digital editions of Japanese-language books for the Kindle, Business Week reported.
"They haven’t decided yet if they are doing the same business in Japan, but they’re considering it," Yoshinobu Noma, Kodansha's COO.
Jun Hasebe, an analyst at Daiwa Securities Group, expressed skepticism: "As of now, I don’t think Amazon will succeed in Japan. Japanese publishers are wary because they are afraid of making less money from e-books."
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Micawber's Books, St. Paul, Minn., was named the Twin Cities' best bookstore (new) for 2010 by City Pages, which noted that "this cozy institution packs substantial selling power into a deceptively small frame.... Staff enthusiasm extends well beyond local authors and publishers, too--especially in the well-stocked fiction and poetry sections, where books often come with handwritten endorsements." Taking the best bookstore (used) award was Magers & Quinn Booksellers, Minneapolis, which "has it all: an attractive space, roomy layout, friendly staff and convenient hours. Its stock of used books is not only massive, it's diverse and well chosen."
Wild Rumpus Books, Minneapolis, got the nod as best children's bookstore. City Pages advised that "if you're up for a surprise or two, give the youngsters a gentle shove through the little purple door to Wild Rumpus Books in Linden Hills, and plan on staying a while."
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Round Lake Book Store, Charlevoix, Mich., has moved from Mason Street to Bridge Street, the former site of Bridge Street Books "on the main drag," the Courier reported.
"Location, location, location," said owner Diane DuPont. "Back where we were there was an issue with signage and a lack of parking and all that wonderful walk-by foot traffic I now get on Bridge Street."
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It's hip to read in Malysia; or at least "not un-hip." When the New Straits Times asked Donald Kee, COO of Malaysian bookseller MPH, "about his views on kids who spend time in bookstores being called 'nerds' he replied, with great conviction, that reading is no longer 'un-hip.' It's the new 'cool' thing to do."
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Gabriel Levinson began riding his custom-built Book Bike in public parks across Chicago in 2008, distributing books donated by publishers to anyone interested, Shareable reported. Levinson said "the mission is to build and cherish a private library regardless of class or economic state, which is why the Book Bike is only at public parks. It's a place where every single person, whether you have a roof over your head or don't, has the right and privilege to be. I believe that one of the greatest gifts of being alive, of being human, is that of literacy. If you can read, your world suddenly becomes wide open, all knowledge is at your fingertips and there is no telling where that can lead someone in life. 'Teach a man to fish' is such a tired maxim. Why can't the common phrase be 'teach a person to read'?"
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New York Public Library's new "mighty sorting machine" was showcased by the New York Times, which reported, "It’s sort of like a baggage carousel that knows which bag is yours and deposits it at your feet."
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NPR's What We're Reading list this week includes American Subversive by David Goodwillie, The Secret Life of the Grown-Up Brain: The Surprising Talents of the Middle-Aged Mind by Barbara Strauch and The Eastern Stars: How Baseball Changed the Dominican Town of San Pedro de Macoris by Mark Kurlansky.
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"I seem to have emerged from the womb believing that the human condition is essentially absurd and this belief has been reinforced both by literary and philosophical expressions of the idea and many developments in the contemporary world," observed Michael Foley, author of The Age of Absurdity: Why Modern Life Makes it Hard to be Happy. He chose his top 10 absurd classics for the Guardian.
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Correctional Services Program intern Jamie Niehof chronicled "a day working the Rikers Island book cart" on the New York Public Library's blog, observing: "One thing that was very evident as we walked down the hallway was that the library service was well-liked, well-used, and in-demand. Most of the prisoners who walked by us (in between a red line painted on the floor and the wall) asked if they could have a book, or if we were coming to their house or not. Sometimes the decision to provide book service to a house is dependent on whether or not they have the desire to return books, but more often it is because there are tens of thousands of prisoners on Rikers Island and one single Correctional Services Librarian. That's a pretty large patron base."
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Book trailer of the day: Once Upon a Baby Brother by Sarah Sullivan (Farrar, Straus & Giroux Books for Young Readers).
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"The iBookstore ichthyology section includes almost nothing on lampreys" was one of the "Least Common Complaints About the New Ipad" in the New Yorker's Shouts & Murmurs humor column.
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Writing a rejection letter was never easier. To promote Other People's Rejection Letters, edited by Bill Shapiro, Crown created the Reject-o-Matic.