Barnes & Noble Inc.

Barnes & Noble's new commitment to same-day delivery speaks to a broader, strategic view of e-commerce, one that CIOs need to play an increasingly active role in. Merged-channel strategies -- combinations of e-commerce, in-store and mobile tactics -- need to align not only with the goals of the company, but also its specific strengths and weaknesses. Merged channel must also factor in a candid analysis of the competition so that it can be shaped to deflect rivals' strengths while accentuating your own. That is where B&N has dropped its stack of books.

Google and Barnes & Noble are joining forces to tackle their mutual rival Amazon, zeroing in on a service that Amazon has long dominated: the fast, cheap delivery of books.

Starting on Thursday, book buyers in Manhattan, West Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area will be able to get same-day deliveries from local Barnes & Noble stores through Google Shopping Express, Google's fledgling online shopping and delivery service.

Brick-and-mortar book stores have clearly been on the decline for a while -- just look at Barnes & Noble's rocky finances. However, there's now some tangible evidence that the pendulum has swung in favor of internet-based sales. BookStats estimates that US publishers made more money from online orders and e-books in 2013 ($7.54 billion) than they did from old-fashioned physical retail ($7.12 billion). While the difference isn't huge, it suggests that a large chunk of the American population is content with buying books that it hasn't seen in person.

Just when you think that Nook can't perform any worse, it does. Now Barnes & Noble is taking steps to remedy the problem: The company wants to split its retail and Nook businesses up as two separate, publicly traded companies by the first quarter of 2015, the company announced in its fiscal year-end earnings report Wednesday morning. The bookseller also reported another quarter of weak earnings, with Nook revenues down 35.2 percent for the full year ended May 3, 2014.

Barnes & Noble shares were up around 9 percent Wednesday morning.

By now we're all aware of the battle raging between Amazon.com (AMZN) and Hachette over the pricing of eBooks. While the consumer is certainly the loser as the two big corporations go head to head, there's likely a winner from the battle royale as well-Barnes & Noble (BKS).

Associated Press

Maxim's John Tinker and Kevin Rippey explain why Amazon.com's standoff with Hachette Books is good news for Barnes & Noble:

Barnes & Noble, the bookseller that has struggled to establish itself in the tablet market, is calling on Samsung for some help.

The companies announced Thursday that they will launch co-branded tablets with a mouthful of a name:Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 Nook. The devices will feature Samsung's hardware and customized Nook software from Barnes & Noble. The first Galaxy Tab 4 Nook, sporting a 7-inch display, will hit US store shelves in August.

Barnes & Noble sent an email to their customers yesterday, announcing that they will be shutting down their downloadable audiobook section at the end of the month. No explanation has been given, but customers are advised to download their audiobooks one last time and back them up. B&N's audiobook section was supplied by OverDrive, and thanks to the DRM you'll need OD's Media Console app in order to download the files. You can find more information in the email below or in the FAQ on the B&N website.

Very few publishing brands, in fact, mean much to consumers because publishers traditionally promote their authors, not themselves, as brands. But that approach and perspective needs to change. When a publisher's brand is indistinct, it diminishes the value that publisher brings to the books it publishes.

In response to a recent opinion piece posted on Rocklin & Roseville Today titled "Barnes & Noble: Gone By New Year's?", Barnes & Noble Chief Executive Officer, Michael P. Huseby, contacted our office to respond. Here is his complete, unedited response.

Liberty Media's sell-off of its stake in Barnes & Noble last month might have seemed like one more nail in the bookseller's coffin.  The company has been struggling for years and most recently reporting a year-over-year revenue decrease of 10% in Q3 of 2013. B&N's Nook division had been considered its one bright spot and led to Liberty's interest in the company in the first place.  But when competing with Amazon proved to be too difficult, Liberty bailed and the news of its divestiture sent B&N's share price down by 10%.