Small Stones Health Resource Center in Milwaukee, Wis., will move this
fall to a 3,800-sq.-ft. space next to the Harry W. Schwartz
Bookshops store in Brookfield. Schwartz will manage the retail part of
Small Stones, which is operated by Froedtert & the Medical College
of Wisconsin. Founded in 2002, Small Stones offers "the expertise of
nurse educators," a health resource library, healthy screenings and
classes and a store.
Carol Grossmeyer, president of Schwartz, commented: "Teaming up with
Small Stones will bring a richness to all of our shops. Customers are
thrilled that nurses will be on site to answer questions, and our
employees are looking forward to tapping into their knowledge of health
books and other resources."
The two stores will maintain the same hours, and customers will be able
to walk from one store to the other inside. This is the first such
collaboration by Schwartz.
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The judging panel for the 2006 Man Booker Prize for Fiction has chosen
the longlist of 19 books. The shortlist will be announced September 14, and the winner will be honored on October 10.
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Borders will open a 22,000-sq.-ft. store on August 24 in Century City,
Calif., on the upper level of the Westfield Shoppingtown Century City.
On July 16, Borders closed the 9,250-sq.-ft. Brentano's store it
operated in the mall. The new store will carry close to 200,000 book,
music and movie titles.
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Total revenues at Varsity Group in the second quarter ended June 30
were $2 million, up 17.6% from $1.7 million in the same period a year.
The net loss jumped to $2.5 million from $800,000 in the second quarter
of 2005.
Varsity has embarked on a five-year, $500 million plan that Mark
Thimmig, CEO and president, said would build a "four-quarter,
four-divisions solutions company." The company has expanded offerings
in its Varsity Books, Varsity Outfitters and Varsity Solutions
divisions and created the Varsity Finance division.
Among the company's recent initiatives involving Varsity Books:
partnerships with Office Depot, Campus Tech and Baker & Taylor, the
last of which will allow Varsity "to begin offering a full line of
consumer and entertainment products beginning in the fourth quarter
2006."
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Franklin Electronic Publishers, which boasts of having sold 37 million
e-books since 1986, had a difficult quarter: revenue in the
quarter ended June 30 declined 33% to $11.8 million from $17.6 million
in the same period a year ago and the company had a net loss of just over $1
million compared to a net gain of $898,000.
President and CEO Barry Lipsky blamed the revenue loss on "two of our
largest retail customers exiting categories and back to school product
lines" and "changes in the terms of sale" to a third large
customer that will "defer revenue to future periods."
He continued: "We have taken and are continuing to take steps to
attempt to offset this decline with new products and new channels of
distribution such as our continued expansion into the bookstore channel
and the Asian markets."
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The
Eugene Register-Guard
discusses the efforts taken in the past year by more than 30 customers
of Tsunami Books, Eugene, Ore., to help keep the store in business. The
group invested in Tsunami and became shareholders. "In all," the
paper reported, "23 shareholders--or 33, including spouses--were
admitted into the club. Their investments, totaling about $70,000,
bought 32% of the company, while [founders David] Rhodes kept 28% and
[Scott] Landfield 40%."
Among key elements of the group's effort: hiring a professional
facilitator for at least the initial meetings and hiring a lawyer.
The
Register-Guard wrote that Tsunami Books "has served since
1995 as a hub for book signings, folk music performances, writing
workshops, and meetings of community and political activists. It has
become especially well known as a local Mecca for poets, its shelves a
welcoming outlet for writers and its book-framed stage a favorite spot
for readings."
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The
New York Times
focused on Holt's efforts on behalf of The Interpretation of Murder by
Jed Rubenfeld, "a law professor and first-time novelist," which will
appear September 5.
Among elements of the $500,000 marketing campaign for the book: the
sending of 3,000 galleys to booksellers and media in April; the
distribution of 5,000 more galleys at BEA; and lunches with booksellers
in New York, Boston and San Francisco. The lunches went down well
apparently: Elaine Petrocelli, owner of Book Passage in Corte Madera,
Calif., was so enthusiastic that she ordered 275 copies of the book.
Sessalee Hensley, Barnes & Noble's fiction buyer, told the paper
that the campaign has gotten her interest. "If a publisher is fully
committed to a title, that's what we need to see," she said. "When it
comes to looking at if the book did better or worse, a lot of times it
comes down to marketing."