The French parliament "has adopted a law to ban virtually free home deliveries of books in a clear attempt to boost indies and clip the wings of Amazon and other online booksellers," the Bookseller reported, noting that the private member's bill, "presented by senator Laure Darcos and passed unanimously by both the Senate and National Assembly, provides for a minimum delivery fee that will be fixed by decree, and also covers mixed parcels of books and other goods, and loyalty cards." The fees, which have not been negotiated yet, are expected to be between €3 (about $3.40) and €5 (about $5.65) and will be paid by customers.
Guillaume Husson, director of the French Booksellers Association (Syndicat de la Librairie Française), said the SLF welcomes the law if the fees are reasonable: "If they were less than €3, the law would be meaningless. But since deliveries cost booksellers an average of €7 [about $7.90], retail margins will inevitably be squeezed to a point."
Guillaume Hainaut, an independent bookseller in Toulouse, told FranceInfo (via the Connexion): "This is already progress because something has been voted. But the problem is that for the moment there is a fairly wide range of prices on offer, between €2 and €7, whereas we believe there should be a fixed price."
Another Toulouse bookseller, Marianne Vérité, said: "On average for a classic book, there are between €5-€6 in costs for an independent bookseller. If [the government] really wants to go through with the law, to promote and help independents, they will have to define a single price for postage, and ensure it is paid as much by Amazon as by us."
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Booksellers Aotearoa New Zealand reported that the "much-anticipated return to the Outlander series from bestselling author Diana Gabaldon, Go Tell the Bees that I Am Gone, is the official New Zealand BookScan Christmas Number One," besting second-place Lee Child and Andrew Child's latest Jack Reacher novel, Better Off Dead, and achieving sales that are "the biggest for a Christmas number one since 2019."
Nevena Nikolic, Nielsen Book NZ territory manager, said: "In a year when Adult Fiction has performed particularly well, up 21% by value year on year, it is fitting that a fiction title also be the number one." See the complete Nielsen BookScan NZ top 10 Christmas bestseller list here.
Christmas "is such a vital time for the New Zealand book industry, and this year is no exception, proving book sales have been resilient in the face of Covid-19 challenges," Booksellers Aotearoa NZ noted. In total, NZ$5.2 million (about US$3.5 million) was spent on printed books in the country in the seven-day period ending December 11 across 37,415 different book titles (usually 31,000 on an average week), "showing the support New Zealanders have for buying a wider range of books locally this Christmas."
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SoraNews24 reporter Mariko Ohanabatake "decided to indulge her passion for reading by spending a whole night" at a branch of "accommodation bookshop" Book and Bed Shinjuku in Tokyo, Japan Today reported. She chose the "Comfort Single Room Breakfast Plan" for 4,200 yen (about $37), which includes a morning meal and a stay in a semi-double sized "room."
"When she arrived for her night of bookish indulgence, she was pleased to find that the interior was extremely stylish," Japan Today wrote, adding that Ohanabatake "was like a kid in a candy store, picking out all sorts of books that tickled her fancy, piling them into her arms before climbing the ladder into her 'room' in the bookshelf to enjoy them.... Mariko had a great night at Book and Bed in Shinjuku, and now she knows how close it is to work, she'll definitely be returning every now and then when she wants a mini getaway in the heart of Tokyo. And she might even venture further out in future, to try their Kyoto location too."
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Congratulations to Canadian bookseller the Gold Rush Bookstore in Rossland, B.C., which is celebrating its fifth anniversary. On Facebook, the Gold Rush posted: "Thank You! A busy & fun celebration day @goldrushbookstore. We ate cake, shared memories with customers and sold a lot of great books, games, puzzles, and more!! Our customer appreciation draw lasts all week so be sure to stop by and fill out a ballot. Our new manager Christine is rockin' it after 3 months of learning the ropes of running the business. I'll have more time to do the 'behind-the-scenes' with some surprises in store for the spring hint... backyard outdoor seating." --Robert Gray