Five Years In at Barnes and Noble, James Daunt Says He's Not Done Yet - Publishers Weekly

He's got big plans for 2025.

Today's trip into the Catosphere took Panzer to the Publishers Weekly site. There our intrepid traveling kitty found a post about Barnes and Noble (B&N) bookstores.

 

According to Jim Milliot's post, 2024 was a good year for Barnes and Noble bookstores. The post covers book sales, bookstores, authors, new bookstores, physical books, and CEO James Daunt's plans for 2025. Several links are included to other information about B&N.

 

Panzer says, "It's an interesting interview."

 

Note: This is a long medium length post. You'll need to decide what to bring to snack on while you read.

 

To read the post tootle over to Barnes and Noble

The U.K.'s Booker Prize for Fiction Names It's 2024 Shortlist - Publishing Perspective

There are a lot of contest shortlists  now.

Today Panzer decided to spend some time collecting news around the Catosphere about 2024 book awards shortlists. His first stop was at the Publishing Perspectives site.

 

Porter Anderson's post has the nominees shortlist for the Booker Prize for Fiction. There are 6 novels on the list. The winner will be announced on November 12. The post includes information on how the books are chosen for the longlist, shortlist and the winner. There's also information about how winning the prize effects book sales. There are also links to more information about the Booker Prize included in the post.

 

Panzer says, "The judges do a lot of work to pick the winner."

 

Note: This is an extremely long post. You'll need to decide what to bring to snack on while you read.

To read the list tootle over to Booker Prize for Fiction Shortlist

Barnes & Noble Pushes Ahead in 2023 - Publishers Weekly

Today, Panzer made a trip to the Publishers Weekly site. There our traveling kitty pilot found a post about Barnes and Noble bookstores.

 

It was a snowy Christmas here too.

Jim Milliot's post contains quotes from an interview with Barnes and Noble CEO James Daunt. The interview covers bookstore renovations and inventory changes and their impact on the company's increased book sales. Even with the winter storms which necessitated the closing of some stores during the Christmas buying season, book sales were still up for the year. The company does plan to open more stores in the coming year.

Panzer says, "Hmm ... It wasn't that long ago people were expecting Barnes and Noble to go out of business."

Note: This is a long post. Bring a large cup of cocoa and a large muffin for today's reading selection.

 

To read the post tootle over to Barnes and Noble

Bookstore Sales Post Another Decline in October - Publishers Weekly

8 days

Today Panzer made a quick trip into the Catosphere. Our busy kitty boy stopped in at the Publishers Weekly site.  There he found a post about October's book sales.

 

According to the post by Jim Milliot, bricks and mortar bookstore sales were down by 28.8 percent in October when compared to October 2019 book sales. Included in the post is a link to a post about September's book sales, which also declined.

Panzer says, "Umm ... The decline in bricks and mortar bookstore sales doesn't surprise this little kitty. The stores are either closed or are limited by the number of people they're allowed to let in."

Note: This is a very short post. Bring half a cup of tea for today's reading selection.

To read the post tootle over to bookstore sales

Bookstore Sales Fell 24.6% in July - Publishers Weekly

Today Panzer decided to make a trip to the Publishers Weekly site. With a little digging in the posts, he found one about how book sales did in July.

 

According to the post by Jim Milliot, bookstore book sales were understandably down. July bookstore sales were down 24.6 percent compared to last year. This was, however, actually an increase over June's sales which were down 35 percent compared to last year. August book sales figures aren't out yet.

 

Maybe things will get better now.

Panzer says, "Some bookstores are open for fewer customers inside at a time, some are letting customers order by phone and online with store curbside pickup and some are selling online now too."

 

Note: This is a short post. Bring a cup of tea for today's reading selection.

 

To read the post tootle over to bookstore sales

Portland's Powell's Books says it 'must take a stand' and will stop selling books through Amazon - GeekWire

It's not easy owning an indie bookstore.

Today's trip into the Catosphere took Panzer to the GeekWire site. With a little digging in the posts he found one about Powell's Books a well-known independent bookstore in Portland Oregon.

According to the post by Kurt Schlosser, Powell's Books has announced they will no longer sell books online through Amazon. Owner and CEO Emily Powell announced her decision in an August 26 letter/email sent to the store's customers. During the COVID-19 pandemic the stores have been closed.  Customers have been able to order books through the store's online sales portal Powells.com and through Amazon. Two of Powell's "satellite stores" have now re-opened part time for customers in-store shopping. There's a link included in the post to Emily Powell's customer letters/emails dating from March 17 to the present.

Panzer says, "Powell's is even known in Washington state where we live."

Note: This is a medium length post. Bring a cup of tea and a muffin for today's reading selection. If you follow the links in the email, bring an extra muffin.

To read the post tootle over to Portlands Powell's Books and Amazon

Coronavirus Update: AAP StatShot Shows US Book Market in May - Publishing Perspectives

Today's trip into the Catosphere took Panzer to the Publishing Perspectives site. With a little digging in the posts, our traveling kitty boy found one about book sales in May.

The post by Porter Anderson quotes extensively from the Association of American Publisher's (AAP) StatShot report. According to the StatShot report a comparison of May 2020 to May 2019 shows a 12.1 percent decline in retail bookstore sales. Not surprisingly, both audio and ebook increased in sales of 20 percent for audio books and 39.2 percent for ebooks. The post includes several charts and graphs showing hardback, paperback, ebook and audio book sales and comparisons for different time periods. Of note, is the fact book returns are down by 45.2 percent over the same time period last year. Bookstores can return the unsold books to the publishers. It's also not surprising, the returns are down as bookstores are closed and there's no one to package and return the books to the publishers. Once bookstores re-open the returns will begin.

It's not a surprise, human. They're closed.

Panzer says, "It doesn't surprise this little kitty that, if the bookstores are in lockdown, book sales are down."

Note: Because of all the charts and graphs, this is a huge post. Bring a thermos of tea and six muffins for today's reading selection.

To read the post tootle over to AAP StatShot

B&N's James Daunt Isn't Daunted At All - Publishers Weekly

Today as Panzer was tootling around in the Catosphere he decided to stop in at the Publishers Weekly site. Digging in the posts, our adventuresome kitty found one about the new Barnes and Noble after Waterstone's takeover.

Makes sense to me.

According to Jim Milliot, Barnes and Noble's CEO James Daunt has plans for turning around the bookstore's sales and profits. The plans include making each store manager responsible for determining the store's stock. The company feels the store manager knows their community and customers better than the company's New York headquarters. This does, however, mean the manager will be responsible to the New York headquarters for the store's sales or lack thereof. The plans also include investing in making improvements to the stores.

Panzer says, "Hmm ... CEO Daunt says he does not plan to do away with the Nook or BN.com."

Note: This is a long-medium length post. Bring a cup of tea and two muffins for today's reading selection.

To read the post tootle over to Barnes and Noble

China's Book Market in the First Half of 2019: Up 10.82 Percent - Publishing Perspectives

Now ... Back to my lunch.

Today as Panzer was eating his lunch he heard clapping and cheering coming from the Catosphere. Throwing some kitty treats into a bag, our famished kitty hopped into the Panermobile. Following all the noise took him to the Publishing Perspectives site. There with no digging at all he found a post about China's book market.

In his post Porter Anderson does an in depth analysis of China's book market in the first six months of this year. The analysis is based on information taken from Beijing's OpenBook report. The post includes graphics depicting online and offline (bookstore) sales comparisons, online sales and book category sales breakdowns. According to the report information the book market is up 10.82 percent over last year's first six month's.

Panzer says, "Hmm ... China's bricks and mortar bookstores appear to have the same declining sales problem as bookstores in some other countries." 

Note: This is a h-u-m-o-n-g-o-u-s post. Bring a thermos of tea and half a dozen muffins for today's reading selection.

To read the post tootle over to China book market

Color It Dead: Coloring Book Bubble Has Burst - Dead Tree Edition

Panzer made a quick trip into the Catosphere today. Our inquisitive kitty was tootling around when he found the Dead Tree Edition site. With a little digging he discovered a post about adult coloring book sales.
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According to the Dead Tree Edition post, publishers and bookstores are reporting a decline in adult coloring books sales. In 2016 the only hot topic for discussion in bookstores was adult coloring books high sales. Now, with sales in a steep decline bookstores are refusing to even order adult coloring books. During the adult coloring books' high profile sales days, even magazines entered the adult coloring books craze. Now, magazine publishers are also experiencing the same decline as book publishers and bookstores.

Maybe a kitten's coloring book, instead?

Panzer says, "Hmm ... I guess all this means it's a waste of time for this little kitty to do an adult kitty coloring book."

Note: This is long post. Bring a thermos of tea, a half dozen muffins and three chocolate chip cookies (biscuits) for today's reading selection.

To read the post tootle over to coloring book bubble