B&N Prepares For the Bleak Midwinter
This morning’s Wall Street Journal alerts us to
the holiday gloom descending upon Barnes & Noble, as an internal memo from Leonard-Riggio warns:
“Never in all of the years I’ve been in business have I seen a worse outlook for the economy… And never in all my years as a bookseller have I seen a retail climate as poor as the one we are in. Nothing even close.”
(He’s been in the business since 1965, in case you were wondering.)
Jeffrey Trachtenberg finds a bit of silver lining, noting that B&N “expects to finish comfortably in the black for the year and doesn’t have any bank debt.” But maintaining profitability surely requires some changes; on that note, ICV2.com reports a severe drop in graphic novel orders from both B&N and Borders, with an unnamed publisher suggesting that orders from the two major chains may be down as much as 60 percent for the last two months of the year.

These days, writers aren’t just writers: They’re social-media mavens, seasoned public speakers, and one-person publicity machines. And they still have to find time to write their books! 




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