Ah, books, those paper-paged dinosaurs! Lovers of the non-electronic form of literature are already bemoaning the end of an era, as Kindles and other e-readers seem poised to replace physical books forever. But should we be blaming technology or publishers for the possibly imminent extinction of books? [More]
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Author Pirates Copies Of Own Books To Put Them In E-book Format
By 5.16.11
Most publishers and some authors believe online piracy robs them of potential income, but at least one writer has managed to turn the digital pilfering of his wares into a potential gain. He says he’s downloaded copies of out-of-print work with the idea of converting the files into legit e-books he can sell. [More]
An Open Letter To You From An Employee At A Liquidating Bookstore
By 5.6.11
Have you ever wondered what goes through the mind of a clerk behind the register at your favorite bookstore which is being liquidated in a bankruptcy sale? What do they make of all of it? What are their hopes and dreams? Are they just mentally picturing making everyone’s head explode? Well nows your chance to plumb those depths, as McSweeny’s has published a humorous open letter written by an employee at one of these stores *cough* Borders *cough*. [More]
Pop-Up Bookstore To Temporarily Take Over Empty Borders Store
By 5.2.11
Like a hermit crab taking up residence in the shell of a deceased snail, a former Borders store in Pittsburgh will soon see its shelves lined with books — if only temporarily — when it briefly becomes the home of an independent bookseller. [More]
Author Opens Book Store To Sell His Book And Only His Book
By 4.28.11
At a small book store in NYC’s West Village, there are shelves labeled “Best Sellers” and “Sale,” but even a quick scan of the spines will reveal something: They’re all the same book. In fact, all 3,000 or so volumes stacked and shelved in Ed’s Martian Book store are the same. [More]
Judge Rejects Google's Digital Books Settlement
By 3.23.11
A district court judge told Google its $125 million settlement with authors and publishers is invalid because it’s too favorable to the company. The ruling stalls Google’s plans to complete a massive digital library and bookstore. [More]
Walmart Employee Claims Returning Books To Store Is Illegal
By 2.17.11
Have you ever purchased a book and then returned it, unread, to the store that it came from? If so, you’re a criminal. According to an employee at Myra’s local Walmart store, it’s illegal to return books to a store. It just can’t be done. Except that when the employee tried putting the return though, it worked just fine. [More]
Borders Delays Payments To Vendors For 2nd Month
By 1.31.11
Stumbling book store chain Borders has said that it would delay payments to landlords and vendors for the 2nd month in a row. In a terse press release, the company said the move was meant to “help the company maintain liquidity while it seeks to complete a refinancing or restructuring of its existing credit facilities and other obligations.” In other words, they’re trying cling to cash and stave off bankruptcy. Borders also announced receiving a $550 million loan from GE Capital. Better keep pushing those loyalty cards to customers that could become worthless pieces of plastic if the company goes belly up, Borders clerks, you’re our only hope! Customers, if you got a Borders gift card for Christmas, now might be a good time to cash it in. [More]
Borders Meets With Publishers Instead Of Paying Them
By 1.4.11
Though they swear everything is hunky-dory, Borders is delaying payments to big publishers and setting up some coffee klatches to talk it over. Is Borders reaching its final chapter? [More]
American Psycho: The Musical, Coming To Broadway!
By 12.6.10
American Psycho, the dark murder-satire flick starring Christian Bale where he assumes the identity of a rival Wall Street banker and commits a series of decadent killings, is coming to Broadway! [More]
Borders Cancels My Order, Makes My Coupon And Borders Bucks Disappear
By 12.6.10
Equipped with a coupon and store credit, Scott thought he was in a great position when he placed an order on Borders.com. But a snafu left Scott empty handed, with his order canceled, his balance drained and his coupon vanished. [More]
What Fictional Products Do You Wish Were Real?
By 11.16.10
Re-watching the Back to the Future movies recently, I remembered how deeply the tween me once longed for a hover board like the one Michael J. Fox races around the Hill Valley of 2015. While it’s unlikely that we’ll see a real hover board on the market in the next five years, the 30-something me still wants one. [More]
Nook Deletes All Your Files, Barnes & Nobles Shrugs
By 10.26.10
If you own a Nook, you better make sure you regularly update its software, otherwise you might lose all your files that are not B&N books. That’s what happened to Michael, and customer service told him that it can happen if the device hasn’t been updated recently. The updates are too much for it to handle so it has to spontaneously jettison all foreign objects! Or something like that. [More]
Confessions of a Used-Book Salesman
By 10.25.10
Michael can make around $1,000 a week trawling through used book and thrift stores and library sales with his trusty Dell PDA. He scans the barcode, looks up the price on Amazon, and if he sees that he can sell it online for more than he can buy it in the store, he purchases it. It’s an intense, lonely grind, and it makes him feel a little bit sleazy. [More]
Barnes & Noble Canceled My Order, Doubled Price
By 10.15.10
Beth ordered two copies of a gift set from Barnes & Noble, only to see the order canceled and the price hiked from $11.14 to $22.50 on a different listing of the same item. [More]
Does Walmart Segregate Its Books By Race?
By 9.2.10
Say you’re shopping at Walmart and decide you want to pick up Barack Obama’s book The Audacity of Hope or maybe you’re an Indianapolis Colts fan and want to hear what Super Bowl winning coach Tony Dungy has to say in his book The Mentor Leader. But you can’t find either book in the Biography section… Oh, maybe you should look in those unmarked shelves that make up the “black” section of Walmart’s book selection. [More]
Amazon Locks You Out Of Kindle Account, Ignores You For A Month
By 9.1.10
E-readers have a definite advantage over traditional dead-tree books when you’re going on vacation: you can bring a wealth of reading material in one small device. One difference, though: your analog bookshelf can’t lock you out. Your Amazon account can. That’s what Natalia writes happened to her. No one at Amazon has been able to fix the problem for more than a month now. [More]
Kaplan Giving Away 90 Study Guides To iDevice Users
By 8.24.10
If you’re in the market for high school or college study guides and you have access to an iDevice from Apple, Kaplan is giving away 90 different titles between now and August 30th through the Apple iBookstore. Sadly, you can’t access the iBookstore on iTunes, so you’ll have to get to it through an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. [More]
