The Future Of Publishing Blog by Thad McIlroy
May 30th, 2018
Only a wealthy man could lament, as Len Riggio did yesterday that “the average paperback costs two and a half times the minimum wage. When I started,” he said “it was one half the minimum wage.” Speaking at the opening of Book Expo in New York Riggio said that the high prices of books is impeding a new…
April 27th, 2016
Leonard Riggio, chairman of Barnes & Noble, is 75-years-old: no one can accuse him of leaving his job early. Barnes & Noble is today at a crossroads, its digital business a shambles. But no one can accuse him of giving it less than 100%, and not just once.
December 8th, 2014
The December 4th announcement of Microsoft’s retreat from Barnes & Noble is well documented. Barnes & Noble demonstrated how to turn $300 million into $125 million (OK, less than half). The company’s shares had a brief dip but then recovered.
March 25th, 2012
Destroying paperbacks instead of recirculating them is a curious and wasteful vestige of the days when most pocket books were sold on newsstands alongside magazines. Magazines are topical – they have little resale value. Books do. But freight and logistics costs mean that pulping paperbacks is not necessarily as wasteful as it first appears.
March 25th, 2012
I assume that on October 2, 2005 Anthony Federico really did die “peacefully at home” of a heart attack before the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) could lay charges against him. He was only 46 years old.