Traditional Sales

Mike Shatzkin’s column of August 5 may be the one in which we someday remember hearing a new sermon, the beginning of the endgame. But Shatzkin is not delivering a benediction yet: This is not a death-knell for anybody. This is a changing world for everybody. His essay is The publishing world is changing, but there…

Paula Hawkins’s blockbuster debut, "The Girl on the Train," led overall e-book sales for the first quarter of the year, from January to March.

NEW YORK ( TheStreet) -- Barnes and Noble Education (BNED) rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange after officially spinning-off from its parent company, Barnes and Noble  (BKS - Get Report). Executive chairman, Michael Huseby spoke with TheStreet about what will change now that the education division is a publically traded company. Formerly the Barnes…

It's often that a venerable New York institution gets crushed under the thumb of Manhattan real estate development. But its far less frequent that they rise like a phoenix from the ashes of their last incarnation in grand style, in an even more desirable neighborhood, all while retaining the essentials elements of its original charm. Rizzoli Bookstore is about to do just that.

The 50-year-old New York bookseller specializes in art and illustrated titles, and shuttered its flagship location on 57th Street last April after its lease expired and building owners decided to tear down the building.

"Go Set a Watchman" is breaking records for booksellers across the nation.

That includes the country's second-largest book store, which shares a home state with the book's author.

Books-A-Million (NYSE: BAMM) isn't saying exactly how many copies it has on pre-sale "for strategic reasons," according to CEO Terrance Finley. But it's the most-preordered novel in the company's history. The book did not beat out Harry Potter, which Books-A-Million calls a "children's" book.

"From a business perspective, we took the position that we had to make this ours, because we're an Alabama company," Finley said.

It's good to learn that Canada's dominant bookstore chain, Indigo has announced it will re-focus on books and is redesigning its stores to emphasis the company's role as a bookseller - in part by expanding 40% discounts to the top selling 100 titles - a practice that echoes the strategy of Barnes & Nobel from the early 1990s when the company was in an aggressive expansion mode.

Last week, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, by a 2–1 margin, affirmed Judge Denise Cote’s 2013 finding that Apple orchestrated a 2010 conspiracy with five major publishers to fix e-book prices.

How are bookstores and video stores similar?

I am probably asked that question more than anyone else in the known universe, because I work in a bookstore, and I also recently published a novel set in a struggling video store.

I have pat answers prepared. But it's the subtext of the question I find most interesting. What people are really asking is, Isn't it sad how bookstores are going the way of video stores, that is, off this mortal coil?

"Yes, it's very sad," I want to say. "Except it isn't true."

No examination of the Bay Area publishing scene would be complete without highlighting the many digital publishing and distribution startups in the area.

It's not just that Tsutaya feels more upscale than other bookstores. It's that it celebrates words and books, and the people who read and write them, in a thoughtful, seductive, and ultra-contemporary way.

Don't get me wrong: This is a business, not a cultural institution. It sells books from 7:00 am till 2:00 am every day of the week, closing only to clean and restock. And it's always packed. This first location has proved such a hit that another site has already opened in the Kanagawa area outside Tokyo