Amazon grows even bigger

Amazon has been busy, busy lately. While other large booksellers like Borders and Barnes & Noble are struggling, Amazon is on buying spree.

Amazon is buying AbeBooks, which specializes in used and hard-to-find books. Amazon is planning on keeping AbeBooks as a stand-alone unit. Prior purchases include Fabric.com and Audible.

I hope they leave AbeBooks alone. I think competition in the marketplace is a good thing and think AbeBooks is a great resource for out-of-print books.

The ecommerce giant also bought social networking site, Shelfari. I’m not too familiar with this site but I think they’re behind the facebook application that lets you share a visible bookshelf. (For what its worth my favorite book social media/community site is Good Reads, www.goodreads.com)

The pressures on Barnes & Noble and Borders, which is just getting its Web site off the ground and for Amazon to successfully juggle all its various offerings/applications.

Amazon acquires book community Shelfari - http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=9794

Amazon.com to Buy Social Network for Book Lovers - http://www.nytimes.com/idg/IDG_852573C400693880002574B10059EF02.html?ref=technology

Amazon Buys Social Network For Book Lovers - http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/retail/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=210200911

Amazon plans to have AbeBooks continue as a standalone - http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/retail/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=209901708

Borders launches new ecommerce site

Borders has launched a new ecommerce site. Previously, the book chain had a partnership with Amazon.

According to the Detroit Free Press, one feature the retailer is touting is the Magic Shelf.

In a nutshell, the “magic shelf” is meant to mimic the experience of browsing in a bookstore. A graphic on the homepage shows illustrations of books on bookshelf. When you place the mouse over the book cover, a popup shows the author and other information.

"We wanted a real bookstore online," said Kevin Ertell, senior vice president for e-business at Borders, in an interview with the Free Press last week. "What we did to capture that bookstore feel was putting the Magic Shelf on the sign-in page."

Customers can also browse the site in the brick and mortar stores and rewards members can use coupons on the site.

It’s a little too early for me to render an opinion on the new format. I feel like I need to get under the covers a bit. Amazon has the edge right now in terms of usability, but I don’t know if some of that is because I have more a history with ordering and browsing. I do like that they’re trying to mimic the experience of browsing in a book store, which is one of my favorite things about going into a bookstore, poking around, picking up some titles just because they have a cool cover. A good browsing experience can be like a really fun scavenger hunt.

I will say that I’m not too crazy about the interface. Having little “pop up” blurbs about books seems a little cumbersome and they seemed slow to pop up. I do like that when you’re looking at a book, there are recommendations for further reading.

I think Borders is facing a tough, up hill battle to beat/ come in even with its former partner. Amazon seems like they can under price everyone else. For instance, while Borders is selling Twilight for $7.69, Amazon has it for $6.04. (Wal-Mart of course has the lowest price, selling it for $5.77.) The suggested retail price is $10.99 leaving me to wonder how small, independent stores can possibly compete. Sigh.

Reactions to the site were mixed on the Consumerist from:

A traditionalist:

buying books online is no fun. nothing can replace the smell of fresh ink and new paper. the coffee smell mixed in like they have at Barnes and Noble doesn't hurt either =)

A possible fan:

I actually might like this way of shopping online. (But I like the b&m Borders, too.) I'm a browser, and it's hard for many online merchants to simulate browsing, as much as they try to flag my interest with "readers who bought this book also bought..."

To mocking/ unimpressed:

um...yeah, the only thing magic about that magic shelf is its ability to make me disappear from the site.

Wow. Starting an online bookstore. In 2008. Way to innovate, guys.

Borders launches e-commerce site today

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080527/BUSINESS06/805270326

Borders' Web-Based Plan to Save the Book

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90880024&ft=1&f=1032

Borders Launches A Website With A "Magic Shelf"

http://consumerist.com/tag/retail/?i=5011073&t=borders-launches-a-website-with-a-magic-shelf

(Image from the Consumerist)

Barnes & Noble may seek to buy rival, Borders

With rising food and gas prices and the current housing woes, we’re definitely entering uncertain/ tough economic times. Even the big retailing giants are starting to feel the pinch.

There’s been a lot of speculation about whether Barnes & Noble is positioning itself to buy one of its main rivals, Borders.

Borders is floundering. According to Forbes, the company posted a $157.4 million loss, roughly $2.68 per share this February. That’s an increase over the previous year, in which the bookseller experienced a $151.3 million loss.

Chains like Barnes& Noble face similar pressures to independent bookstores – competing with ecommerce giant Amazon and Wal-Mart, which is drastically lowering the prices of the books it sells.

When the last Harry Potter came out, many smaller book stores substantially decreased how many they had on hand because they just couldn’t compete. The suggested retail price was $34.99 and Overstock.com sold it for $17.95, Wal-Mart for $17.87 and Target for $17.99. Stores like Wal-Mart can afford to substantially mark down a book because they know that once they draw shoppers in, they’ll fill up their shopping carts with a myriad of other items.

I’d prefer the two chains stay separate. I think having competition in the marketplace is a healthy and good thing. I also worry the effect this would have on smaller independent book stores. I tend to lean in favor of Borders versus Barnes & Noble. I like that you don’t have to pay $25 per year to have a Borders rewards membership card. (Although they did make some changes to the rewards program that I wasn’t too crazy about.)

Borders is taking steps to stem the tide. The company is currently opening concept stores, which will feature wireless Internet service, a digital station at which customers can do a range of cool things such as create their own CDs, download books, publish their own books or create photo books.

The verdict is out whether this will help turn around sales.

Additional reading:

Borders CEO expects investments in stores, Web to bear fruit, http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2008/05/22/ap5041066.html

Barnes & Noble loss widens, weighing Borders bid, http://ca.us.biz.yahoo.com/ap/080522/earns_barnes_noble.html

No substantial talks on sale, Borders' CEO says, http://blog.mlive.com/annarbornews/2008/05/no_substantial_talks_on_sale_b.html

Would A Bigger Barnes & Noble Kill Independent Bookstores? http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2008/05/22/would-a-bigger-barnes-noble-kill-independent-bookstores/

Borders' Popular Rewards Program Proves Both Too Popular And Too Rewarding,

http://consumerist.com/consumer/sad/borders-popular-rewards-program-proves-both-too-popular-and-too-rewarding-305595.php

Who says Harry Potter is just for kids?!

I came across this via Amazon: Read Roger, written by a book editor, takes adults who read children’s books to task. It reminded me a little bit of Gawker’s relentless mocking of adults who read/ were crazy about Harry Potter.

From Read Roger:

“Whatever whoever chooses to read is their business, of course, but adults whose taste in recreational reading ends with the YA novel need to grow up.”

Okay, I’ll try to give Read Roger the benefit of the doubt by focusing on the “reading ends with.” That said, oh boy, here we go again! I wish people were a little less judgmental about other’s reading choices. Also, let’s not get obsessed with labels – young adult, fantasy, etc.

A few examples: I thought Golden Compass was a complex work with a very imaginative world. Every person has a dæmon that is physical representation of their soul. When they’re children, their daemons can change shape from cats to mice. Philip Pullman’s books also came under fire for being anti-Christian or preaching atheistic values.

In my ‘to read’ pile is The Book Thief, a tale about a girl living in Nazi Germany who steals books.

Yes, both books are technically considered Young Adult Fiction. That shouldn’t put adults off from reading them. I’ve enjoyed lots of young adult/ children's books. I loved the Harry Potter series. I thought it was a fun read. One again, it featured a richly imagined world, the battle of good versus evil, and compelling characters. It was also incredibly suspenseful.

I say read what makes you happy.

http://www.hbook.com/blog/2008/03/yet-another-g-word.html

http://www.omnivoracious.com/2008/03/who-needs-to-gr.html

Literary Links

There are a lot of great book-related blogs out there. I decided to break my favorites into two categories -- traditional and reader/writer generated.

Part I: Traditional

Amazon’s Omnivoracious

http://www.omnivoracious.com/

Written by Amazon’s book editors, the blog features Q&As, news, and reviews. I think it’s a fair assessment to say Amazon has completely altered the way books are sold and helped revolutionize ecommerce. What I like about this blog is that they discuss so many different types of literature – scifi, graphic novels, childrens lit and more. They also have a regular round up on book reviews every Monday.

New York Times Paper Cuts

http://papercuts.blogs.nytimes.com/

This is written by the book review editors. I enjoy their playlist feature where authors discuss some of their favorite songs. I hate to admit it but most times there are a lot of artists I’ve never heard of.

Washington Post Short Stack

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/shortstack/

Every week, the Book World picks five favorite books and discusses them. The latest post discusses five fictional novels based on real-life historical mysteries or puzzles. It was a good reminder to me – I’ve been meaning to read The Daughter of Time for years. Library time!