Barnes and Noble has quietly fired the Chief of Digital Fred Argir a couple of months ago. The bookseller did not publish a press release or mention it during their latest quarterly financial report. He was initially hired by former CEO Ron Boire to gut the Nook division and to cut costs. Under his watch the Nook App … [Read more...]
Demos Parneros sues Barnes and Noble for wrongful dismissal
Barnes and Noble CEO Demos Parneros was fired last month for breaking company policies and he did not receive any severance pay. The bookseller did not disclose on why he was fired, but the answer came spilling out in a public exchange of accusations between Mr. Parneros and the company — including that Mr. Parneros … [Read more...]
Ikea has created reading rooms and are giving away free books
The Ikea location at Wembley in London has created a reading room and the bookshelves are stacked with multiple copies of the Man Booker Longlist. Customers can read on a chair or a couch for hours at a time and then take a book home with them, for free. Ikea announced in a statement “With hour-long slots available … [Read more...]
Book publishers generated $26 billion in 2017
The Association of American Publishers has proclaimed that the U.S. book publishing industry generated an estimated $26.23 billion in net revenue for 2017, representing 2.72 billion units. All figures represent publishers’ net revenue from tracked categories (trade, higher education course materials, preK-12 … [Read more...]
Comic and Graphic Novel sales tumbled 6.5% in 2017
Comic book and graphic novels had a dismal year in Canada and the United States. Sales decreased by 6.5% in 2017 and most of the declines were attributed to fewer people buying comics from the store or newsstand. Total comics and graphic novel sales to consumers in the U.S. and Canada generated $1.015 billion, a $70 … [Read more...]
What is next for Barnes and Noble?
Barnes and Noble recently fired CEO Demos Parneros for violating its policies. The bookseller refused to go into detail about what the violations were. It does note that the termination wasn’t due to differences of opinion or any potential fraud. He did not receive any severance pay and many industry insiders are … [Read more...]
Barnes and Noble just fired their CEO
Barnes and Noble has had a tumultuous time in retaining a CEO for more than a few years. The nation's largest bookseller has just announced that they have fired Demos Parneros for violating company policies. They did not disclose exactly which policies were violated. His termination was not due to any disagreement in … [Read more...]
Quartz has been sold to Japanese company Uzabase
Atlantic Media has sold the popular website Quartz to Japanese financial publisher Uzabase in a deal valuing Quartz at between $75 million to $110 million. Launched in Japan in 2013 the Uzabase service NewsPicks has 3.3 million registered users and 64,000 paying subscribers. Quartz says its average audience is about 20 … [Read more...]
Amazon is starting to use Bookerly on their main website
Amazon Bookerly was unveiled in 2015 and it was designed to replace Caecilia as the default font on the Kindle. It was designed to solve the Kindle’s typesetting problems with an all-new layout engine that introduces better text justification, kerning, drop caps, image positioning, and more. According to Amazon’s … [Read more...]
NOOK turned its first ever full-year profit
Barnes and Noble released their 4th quarter and full year results on the same day and they proclaimed that NOOK turned its first ever full-year profit, generating $3.5 million dollars. In the 4th quarter Nook had an operating loss of $1.5 million, compared to an operating loss of $7.9 million during the previous-year … [Read more...]
Alibaba launches new ebook app called Tmall Reader
Alibaba is leveraging their Literature unit and has just released a new e-reader app called Tmall Reader. It is now available for download from both iOS and Android app stores, offers access to titles, ranging from business and children’s stories to Chinese translations of popular foreign authors. There are thousands … [Read more...]
Rogers slashes 75 jobs in their print and digital publishing division
Rogers has just slashed 75 full-time employees, reducing the size of publishing team to about 150 people in Toronto. The job cuts are primarily due to the dwindling subscriber base of Maclean's, Today's Parent, Hello! Canada, Flare, MoneySense, Canadian Business and Chatelaine. Rogers says it has reorganized its … [Read more...]