On Friday, Judge Martin Glenn of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan signed off on an amended executive bonus plan submitted by Borders Group (Shelf Awareness, April 15, 2011). The Wall Street Journal reported that Glenn said the revised packages, which "tie the $6.6 million in payments closer to the financial performance of Borders, were needed so Borders could 'maintain its experienced work force.' "
Andrew Glenn, a lawyer for Borders noted that "a layer of incentives was added to the bonuses, including tying the amounts to how much Borders is able to cut its rent costs. For instance, top managers will see higher bonuses if Borders is able to slash its rent by $10 million in both 2011 and 2012," the Journal wrote.
A Borders spokeswoman said the company was "pleased with the court's decision."
---
"Anthropologists eager to study the trappings of a dying culture should
head straight to the corner of Park Avenue and 57th Street in New York
City," wrote author Bill Morris in the Daily Beast.
"There, in the windows of a doomed Borders bookstore, egg-yolk yellow
signs shout EVERYTHING MUST GO! and 50-70% OFF!... Inside the store,
clerks move in a sort of underwater daze while shoppers paw through the
remaining merchandise--books that are hard to give away even at a 70% markdown, a sinking ship's bilge water, its bad bets, its
worst-sellers, a big part of the reason why the company is bankrupt and
the industry is in such disarray."
---
Barnes & Noble is "reintroducing" the Nook Color to consumers with a new ad campaign launching today. The New York Times reported the "hopeful message" on display is that "reading is changing, but it’s not going away." No Barnes & Noble stores appear in the ads, "a nod to the transformation that is under way in the publishing industry."
"We really wanted to reach out to all the readers and get the message out about how wonderful reading is," said Sasha Norkin, BN.com's v-p for digital and channel marketing. "The world changes, technology changes, but people love to read, and we’re giving them the best way to read."
---
South Carolina is "stuck lying in bed with Amazon," according to an editorial in the Florence Morning News that, while conceding "you have to do deals like this, or deals won’t get done," also noted Amazon’s tax break "is a different deal from cutting property taxes to some simple, lump sum (a process known in S.C. as fee-in-lieu), or twisting corporate arms into building a road or similar facility. Let a company get away with not collecting a tax? What’s next? Voluntary compliance with environmental regulation or contract law? In the end, the bed that’s been made is the one in which the state must lie. South Carolina has chosen to offer big incentives to big businesses contemplating a move to the state. It can’t stop now. It’s already on that slippery slope."
---
The Patriot Ledger profiled the new owners of Westwinds Bookshop, Duxbury, Mass. Doug and Lydia Hart "took ownership of the store in Duxbury Marketplace on April 1 and plan to move across the street to a new storefront that effectively doubles its size."
"We didn't want to live in a town that didn't have a bookstore," said Brooke McDonough, who will help run the business.
--- 
After 33 years in business, Through the Looking Glass bookstore, Glenwood Springs, Colo., will close at the end of what the Post Independent called the "and lived happily ever after" stage of life for co-owners Sharon and John Graves.
"This is the end and this is the beginning. We know that from books," said Sharon. "I love a new adventure. Just like a good book, it's time for a new beginning." She added that being a bookseller "wasn't about becoming a millionaire. I don't think anyone who owns a small business really thinks you're going to be a millionaire. It was about passion and about being part of something special. Something like being part of the community."
---
GigaOM took its shot at answering the question of our times--what is a book?--by looking at recent industry developments like Byliner.com, which made headlines recently with its publication Jon Krakauer's "long magazine-style article about the alleged irregularities involving a charitable effort by fellow mountain climber Greg Mortenson. The piece was available as a free download for the first 72 hours--and saw more than 50,000 copies downloaded--and then was expected to become a paid download."
"If you're an author," GigaOM suggested, "it's a time of incredible chaos, but also incredible opportunity."
---
Among the examples for its "Impossible Book Titles" weekend competition in the New York Times, Schott's Vocab offered The Life & Adventures of Eve's Mother and Havisham's Honeymoon. Reader suggestions quickly followed.
---
Transcripts from Jersey Shore (Delivered in the Style of Oscar Wilde). Flavorwire noted that Santino Fontana and David Furr, who star in a new Broadway production of Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest, "have also embarked on a side project called 'Jersey Shore Gone Wilde,' a five-part series in which the pair reenact actual transcripts of Jersey Shore episodes."
---
Book trailer of the day: What's Eating
Your Child: The Hidden Connection Between Food and Your Child's Well-Being by
Kelly Dorfman (Workman).
---
Effective May 16, Greg Britton is joining
the Johns Hopkins University Press as editorial director and will also be a senior
member of the press's executive committee. He has led the publishing program at
the Getty Museum since 2008. Before that, he was director of the Minnesota
Historical Society Press.