The current issue of Costco's in-house magazine The Costco Connection features a look at their highly successful book department.The Costco book buyers call it "The Table" - the two rows of real estate within Costco where the 200 or so hand-picked titles reside. And it is from the success of "The Table" that Costco has become one of the top five booksellers in the country.Jeff Rogart, HarperCollins vice-president of sales, says of the Costco book team:“This team knows what they are doing...Despite the limited selection of books [compared to industrial-size bookstores], Costco is consistently one of our top retailers for...
On the State of the Independent Bookseller
The folks at Marquand Books, one of the country's leading book design firms, recently interviewed me for their blog. They were interested in my thoughts on "how to thrive as an independent bookseller in a shrinking economy moving heavily towards on-line sales."The interview appears here.
Barnes and Noble Gets Social
Barnes & Noble has launched "My B&N". It is the latest feature in their every expanding arsenal of online offerings.With "My B&N" users can now "create their literary identity, connect and share insights with other readers, discover and rate new products, and keep up to date on events in their local Barnes & Noble store on BN.com" says Tom Burke, executive vice president of e-commerce for Barnes & Noble.com.This pure social networking play solidifies the rise and importance of book social networking in the book world and will likely have an impact on the other players in the space.Publisher's Weekly...
Kindle vs. Sony Reader : The E-Reader War has begun
Earlier this month Sony announced it was coming to America to take on the Kindle.Last Friday, Oprah Winfrey endorsed the Kindle.The folks at Sony are calling it the Reader Revolution. In a bold move they are essentially throwing in the towel in Japan, their home market, to focus their efforts here in America where they have been a bit surprised at how well their Reader is doing. Most of the Sony Reader brain trust will be relocating to America and they have unleashed thousands of Reader Revolutionaries throughout the country. These "revolutionaries" will appear at various retail outlets (think Target)...
The Tower of David Covered in Books
click to enlargeIt's billed as "The Night Spectacular." Using the Tower of David as a backdrop "The story of Jerusalem unfolds in a blaze of images, characters and sound as giant breathtaking images and lights are projected onto the walls, archeological ruins, bridges, water cisterns and the hidden pathways of the citadel."click to enlargeThe installation is the work of Skertzo, the French duo of Hélène Richard and Jean-Michel Quesne.Interview with Skertzo at e-light magazine.via Lisa Chellman