Traditional Sales

What does Half Price Books, No. 3 U.S. bookstore chain, think about Amazon.com opening bookstores? Amazon is probably finding out with the one store it opened in Seattle last year that “it’s not as easy and running a warehouse,” said Half Price Books executive vice president Kathy Doyle Thomas. But more importantly, she said, Half…

SEATTLE — Amazon signs may be headed to more physical storefronts. The Internet retailer plans to open more brick-and-mortar bookstores following the unveiling last year of one such location here in its hometown, according to a person briefed on the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss confidential plans. But the company’s…

If Amazon’s business practices continue unchecked the result could be a “nuclear winter” for book publishing, said Smashwords founder Mark Coker during a Jan. 27 event called Amazon’s Book Monopoly—A Threat to Freedom of Expression?

The real reason that independent bookstore owners and fans are throwing so much shadow at the Amazon Bookstore in Seattle becomes clear, thanks to this article from the Guardian: they’re scared. The Guardian piece interviews owners and staff at bookshops both near and a few miles away from the Amazon bookstore, and said interviewees are…

It only takes up a couple square feet, a small fraction of the size of Amazon’s first real bookstore in Seattle, but the company has been quietly making another foray into physical retail — offering individual ebook gift cards for sale under a pilot program at Bartell Drugs in Washington state. The pilot was launched…

Barnes & Noble (NYSE:BKS) has posted its results from the holiday period, which it defines as the nine-week stretch ending this past Jan. 2. For the period, total retail sales amounted to $1.1 billion, 0.8% lower on a year-over-year basis.

With sales of e-books slipping and print books enjoying a mild rebound, e-books’ share of consumer spending on books has declined over the past two years.

What is going on with e-books? As 2016 dawns, what’s driving a decline in trade e-book sales is one of the big questions hanging over the publishing industry.

In an opposition brief filed on December 23, the U.S. Department of Justice urged the Supreme Court not to hear Apple’s appeal in the long-running e-book price-fixing case.

When it comes to the business of books – a staple of under-the-tree gifting – there are actually two Christmas stories. The first – for physical books – ramps up throughout December and ends by Dec. 25. In Canada, a typical week sees about 700,000 books sold. But, in the weeks before Christmas, that number…