Save Our Libraries Day in the UK against coalition plans to close 450 libraries

Last Saturday was Save Our Libraries Day in the UK with more than 100 protest events where librarians, writers, and readers stormed local branches to protest the government’s possible plans to close 400 libraries.

The events, as The Bookseller reported, included read-ins, storytelling events, workshops and gigs.

The 400 libraries might be closed due to budget cuts, and these are bad news not only to book lovers, but for everyone who appreciate valuable public services and spaces such as libraries. As a son of a librarian I'm really sorry to hear these news and I hope this protests will be heard on Downing Street and help saving these libraries from closing down.

A crowd of around 100 gathered at Holyrood, Edinburgh to read sections of their favorite books. See the Guardian's video below:



Here's also a cartoon protest against spending cuts (Photograph: Ros Asquith):



We keep our fingers crossed, hoping this fight will succeed and will let you know once we'll have more updates about it.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

Great offer of Barnes and Noble on Groupon ($10 for $20), but why not limit it just to stores?

Groupon just sent an offer you can't refuse: $10 for $20 Worth of Toys and Games, Books and More at Barnes & Noble.

Sounds great, no? 50% savings is always a good offer and it's not limited to a specific area like most of Groupon's deals, but "is valid for purchases made online, at any of more than 700 Barnes & Noble retail locations, or on Barnes & Noble's e-reader, the Nook."

B&N are following here Amazon that offered last month on LivingSocial.com a similar nation-wide deal on a $20 Amazon gift card - 50% off for $10. That offer was a huge success and Amazon sold 1,301,296 gift cards in a single day.

But here's a little question for Barnes and Noble: If you already go with a nation-wide deal and offer such a great offer, why not to use it to make your stores stronger by limiting it just to purchasing in stores? Your problem is with brick and mortar sales, not your online sales. Wouldn't this deal be a great incentive to bring back customers to stores??

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

Where readers buy their ebooks? Amazon is still number one but getting weaker!

We're on week 9 of our 10-week ebook experiment. Like all experiments, it began with a (research) question: Where will readers look to buy their ebooks? Following the launch of Google eBookstore, its collaboration with independent bookstores, and when Amazon, B&N, Borders and other bookstores are fighting on their market share, competition on the dollars spent by ebook buyers is getting fierce.

Our assumption is that many readers will look for e-books using a search engine and will buy from one of the first results of their search. So we randomly chose 10 books of the New York Times’ 100 Notable Books of 2010 and googled each title with the word ebook and wrote down the first two results we got. We redo it every Thursday for 10 weeks and will see if there are any changes in the search results.

Here are the results for week 9. In brackets you'll see the last week's results. If they were the same we just wrote 'same'. And if you click on the titles, you will be forwarded to the first place on the title's search):

1. Girl by the Road at Night by David Rabe
1st place: Simon & Schuster (same)
2nd place: Simon & Schuster (same)

2. The Long Song by Andrea Levy
1st place: Amazon.com (same)
2nd place: Amazon.com (same)

3. The New Yorker Stories by Ann Beattie
1st place: Amazon.com (same)
2nd place: Amazon.com (same)

4. A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
1st place: Powell's Books (same)
2nd place: Amazon.com (same)

5. Big Girls Don't Cry by Rebecca Traister
1st place: Simon & Schuster (same)
2nd place: Simon & Schuster (same)

6. The Price of Altruism by Oren Harman
1st place: Kobo (Amazon)
2nd place: Kobo (same)

7. INSECTOPEDIA by Hugh Raffles
1st place: Amazon.com (same)
2nd place: eBookMall (Amazon)

8. Country Driving by Peter Hessler
1st place: Barnes & Noble (Goodreads)
2nd place: iFlow Reader (B&N)

9. The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
1st place: Amazon.com (eBooks.com)
2nd place: Random House (Amazon)

10. Hitch 22 by Christopher Hitchens
1st place: Atheist Movies (same)
2nd place: Amazon.com (same)

Here's the summary of the results:

	Amazon		B&N		Publishers		Others
	1st	2nd	1st	2nd	1st	2nd	1st	2nd
week 1	6	3	1	2	3	4	0	1
week2	6	4	1	3	3	3	0	0
week3	6	2	1	2	3	4	0	2
week4	6	3	2	1	2	4	0	2
week5	5	4	1	2	2	3	2	1
week6	5	3	0	2	3	3	2	2
week7	4	5	0	2	3	1	3	2
week8	4	6	0	1	2	2	4	1
week9	4	4	1	0	2	3	3	3

We give 2 points for 1st place and 1 point for 2nd place:

		Amazon		B&N		Google		Publishers		Others
week 1		15		4		0		10		1
week 2		16		5		0		9		0
week 3		14		4		0		10		2
week 4		15		5		0		8		2
week 5		14		4		0		7		5
week 6		13		2		0		9		6
week 7		13		2		0		7		8
week 8		14		1		0		6		9
week 9		12		2		0		7		9

So what do have here? Amazon is still number one, but this is their worst performance so far with only 12 points and just 3 points atop of 'others'. On the other hand, the 'Others' segment is continuing to show strength, as it's the second week they reach 9 points. B&N? Almost gone. Google eBookstore? Still nowhere to be seen.

Conclusions? We're still one more week to go, so we'll wait with the conclusions until then. Still, we can definitely say that we see growing presence of smaller players that might even shake a little the dominance of Amazon. Anyway, it's certainly getting more interesting! See you next Thursday.

You can find all the survey results so far at www.ecolibris.net/buying_ebooks.asp

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

Barnes & Noble Bankruptcy Index: Is B&N also going out of business?

While Borders, the nation’s second-largest book chain, is on the verge of bankruptcy, we continue to look at Barnes & Noble, the nation's largest book chain to see if they follow will Borders and go into bankruptcy and if so, when exactly.

Last week we launched a new B&N Bankruptcy Index, which is based on 10 parameters, which receive a grade between 1-10 (1 - worst grade, 10 - best grade). Hence we receive a 0-100 point index scale, which we divide into several ranges as follows:

90-100: B&N is in an excellent shape. Couldn't be better!
80-89: B&N is doing great. Bankruptcy is no longer a real threat.
70-79: B&N could do better and has to be cautious of bankruptcy.
60-69: B&N doesn't look good and bankruptcy is becoming a real threat.
50-59: Bankruptcy is a clear and present danger.
49 and less: Red alert! Bankruptcy is just around the corner and is likely to happen within a short time frame.

We will check the B&N Bankruptcy Index every Wednesday, updating each one of the parameters included in the index and will analyze the trend. So here we go (in brackets is last week's grade):

1. Confidence of the stock market in B&N
This parameter will look at the performance of the B&N stock (symbol: BKS) in the last week. The performance of B&N's stock is an indication of the confidence the market has in the ability of B&N to maintain a viable business.

So let's look at last week's figures:

1/26: $16.50
2/1: $16.92
Change: +2.5%

As you can see, B&N's stock did pretty well the past week. Actually, when you compare it to the performance of Amazon in the past week (-1.87%) or the Dow Jones Index (+o.46%), it looks even more impressive. We wouldn't though get too excited as today the price went down to $16.41 and it looks like the jump in the price to $16.92 was mainly influenced by the report of Bloomberg that Borders will file for bankruptcy as soon as next week.This week's grade for this parameter is: 8.5 (8)

2. What analysts say on B&N
According to Benzinga.com, Stifel Nicolaus reviewed Borders and Barnes & Noble in a research report, stating that a Barnes & Noble buy [of Borders] may be a good tactical choice in the short term, but that it does not upgrade Barnes & Noble on account of "bankruptcy fishing" not being a sound investment thesis. Stifel Nicolaus stated that the sector pressures on Borders may give "breathing room" to Barnes & Noble strategic and operational decisions. Well, it's not very encouraging, but still more optimistic than what we heard from analysts last week. This week's grade for this parameter is: 7 (6)

3. New strategy to regain sales in the brick and mortar stores
Just like Borders, B&N still doesn't have a a clear and comprehensive strategy that will transform their brick and mortar stores from a liability back to an asset.

Nothing changed from last week - when it comes to the brick and mortar stores B&N still haven't come out with anything that looks like a winning strategy. Therefore this week's grade stays the same: 4.5 (4.5)

4. What B&N is saying about itself
This parameter will examine quotes and statements from B&N on its financial state, strategy and other related issues. There are no news this week and therefore this week's grade stays the same: 6 (6)

5. Steps B&N is taking
No steps were taken this week. In B&N's case no news is not good news as we believe steps should be taken and soon. This week's grade is: 6 (6)

6. Competitors
This parameter will mainly look into Borders and how its problems affect B&N. This week it looks like Borders' bankruptcy is closer than ever.

GalleyCat reported earlier today that:

On the heels of news that Borders delayed payments to a number of vendors, landlords and other groups last month, two major outlets predicted that the bookseller will file for bankruptcy this month..

As we mentioned last week, there are positive and negative effects to the upcoming bankruptcy on B&N. On the positive side, for example, Stifel Nicolaus stated that the sector pressures on Borders may give "breathing room" to Barnes & Noble strategic and operational decisions. On the negative side, Borders' struggling actually show that bankruptcy, which once was unthinkable when you talked about the big book chains, is now a possibility and even more than that also for B&N. Therefore our weekly grade for this parameter is: 6.5 (6)

7. Financial strength
B&N's latest financial report was published on November 2010 for its second quarter, which ended Oct. 30. Yesterday B&N announced the company will report fiscal 2011 third quarter earnings results on Tuesday, February 22nd.

So no change from last week and it still looks like B&N still has the financial strength to survive. This parameter's grade is: 7.5 (7.5)

8. Strength of the ebook business
No news on this front (maybe we should call it e-front?). This week's grade is: 7.5 (7.5)

9. Sense of urgency
Maybe B&N think they still have time, especially now after they had successful holidays sales,but this is not the case of course and if we can learn something from the Borders' case, it's how fast things go bad when your reach a certain tipping point of financial distress or distrust of your stakeholders (consumers or publishers for example). Therefore this parameter will try to look into B&N's sense of urgency.

No news on this front as well The week's grade is: 6 (6)

10. General feeling
This parameter will be an indication of our impression of all the materials read and analyzed for this index. Our feeling this week is still not too good given how B&N is handling the situation so far. Therefore this week's grade is: 7 (7)

This week's Barnes & Noble Bankruptcy Index: 66.5 points (63.5)

As you can see, this week's index is set at 66.5 points, which translates into the scale of 60-69: B&N doesn't look good and bankruptcy is becoming a real threat. Definitely not a good place to be at, but at least we see a small (3 points) change in the right direction from last week. We'll have to see in the next couple of weeks if this is a trend or just a one-week rise. See you next Wednesday.

To view the weekly changes in the index visit Barnes and Noble Bankruptcy Index on our website.

You can find more resources on the future of bookstores on our website at www.ecolibris.net/bookstores_future.asp

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Working to green the book industry!

The State of Green Business 2011 - good news when it comes to paper intensity and recycling

Today, GreenBiz.com are publishing the State of Green Business report for 2011, which is defined as "their annual effort to take the pulse of what and how the world of sustainable business is doing." We simply call it the best report available on green business.

This report is looking into couple of issues that are related to our areas of interest, and this week we'll be looking into all of them, starting today with paper.

The report, as Joel Makower chairman and executive editor of GreenBiz Group is writing today, includes mixed news, both good and bad developments in the green markets. Paper fortunately is one on the good side, presenting positive progress on two major fronts - paper intensity and recycling.

When it comes to paper intensity, we see a continuing trend of improvement. Paper intensity represents the amount of paper used per every unit of GDP (Gross Domestic Product). In other words, it shows how efficiently paper is used in the U.S. economy. In terms of tons of paper per billion of dollars of GDP, paper intensity went down from 6.79 in 2008 to 6.13 in 2009. As you can see in the graph below (taken from the report, data provided by the American Forest & Paper Association), only couple of years ago we were in the range of 7-10, so this is definitely a significant improvement.

I guess it's not a big surprise to see this trend, especially when saving on paper is such a win-win strategy that help saving not just trees, but also a lot of money. Only last week the Environmental Leader reported that the "Bank of China’s London operations have reduced paper consumption by 95 percent with help from IBM", saving £12,000 a year on paper costs alone. I believe we'll hear more on companies that adopt similar practices (electronic routing and monitoring system in this case) to move one step further towards a more efficient and paperless office.

The big question of course is not what will happen in the US and Europe, where demand for paper will probably continue to decrease, but what will be with the demand in growing economies such as China and India. Will they use growing volumes of paper or use paperless leapfrog technologies to promote their economic development.

When it comes to recycling we also see good results - The American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) reported that 63.4% of U.S. paper consumed was recovered in 2009. As you can see from the data they provide in the graph below, it continues a trend of growing recovery rate, and it is the first time this rate passed the 60%.

According to the report, "The American Forest and Paper Association, an industry group, estimates that once we reach about 80 percent over-all recovery, the remainder will be unfit for the reuse stream: Bath tissues and building papers alike pose challenges to recycling for both obvious and less obvious reasons." Even if it's true, I believe it makes more sense to find ways and technologies that will enable us to recycle (and even upcycle) more paper then to throw 20% of the paper volume to the trash. In any event, we're still far from reaching this ceiling and as the report explains there's still much to be done about recycling:

But there is still room for improvement, and while businesses have led the charge in making the corrugated fibers that go into shipping products the most-recycled type of paper around, other areas of business use are lagging. For example, despite the seeming ubiquity of the blue recycling bin in offices nationwide, office and writing papers remain the least-recycled.

So good news about paper and we hope these trends will continue in the upcoming years, with or without the support of carbon regulation (hopefully with, as it will make it much simpler..). More updates from the State of Green Business report in the upcoming days. In the meantime, you can download the free report from GreenBiz.com.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

The funniest bookstore in America!

Where? In Portlandia of course. See for yourself:



And here's another proof (if you still need one..):



Portlandia is a 6-part IFC Original short-based comedy series, created, written by and starring Fred Armisen (SNL) and Carrie Brownstein (vocalist/guitarist, WILD FLAG, Sleater-Kinney). Portlandia is the creators' dreamy and absurd rendering of Portland, Oregon.

You can watch it on IFC channel on Fridays at 10:30 PM ET/PT. Two episodes were already broadcast, so don't miss the rest of this great series!

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

Where consumers REALLY buy ebooks?

"Nearly 81% of eReader Owners Would ‘Likely’ Buy eBooks Online from Indie Bookstores" - this was the headline of an article I read last week on GalleyCat, quoting a Digital Book World and Verso survey. Really? Does it sounds realistic? I'm afraid not.

Just to give you the full quote, it says "nearly 81 percent of eReader owners would “likely” buy eBooks online from independent booksellers–as long as the prices were competitive.". It reminded me of similar headlines I have read in the past, such as these ones:

• Three-quarters (77%) of consumers describe themselves as green — that is, actively living their lives consciously of their health and environment, according to a survey by Yahoo!
  

• According to a BCG’s report, 34% of the public systematically look for and often purchase green products. (2008 figures)

• A new Pike Research survey finds that 44 percent of consumers are “extremely” or “very” interested in purchasing a plug-in electric vehicle (PEV)
  

• Fifteen percent of U.S. consumers are very or extremely likely to purchase a vehicle that has plug-in hybrid technology, not taking into account estimated market prices, according to Harris Interactive’s AutoTECHCAST U.S. study

One thing that is common to all of these findings is that although they're very optimistic, they're not real. People say one thing on these surveys and do something else in real life. Otherwise, we would already have a very large green market.

Independent bookstores account for about 10% of the industry’s retail market overall, so it doesn't make too much sense that the same readers who generally choose to ignore independent bookstores and but their paper books somewhere else, will suddenly show affection towards these stores and buy there their e-books.

The right question I believe is not where readers are likely to buy their ebooks but where they already do it. If you ask this question, you will probably receive different results.

For example, a survey conducted by the Codex Group in early November of 6,250 frequent book buyers found according to Publishers Weekly that "more book buyers acquiring their e-books for the iPad from Amazon's Kindle store rather than through Apple's iBookstore, with the Kindle store accounting for 40% of e-book sales for the iPad and the iBookstore 29% (one factor limiting sales through the iBookstore is that Random House e-books are not directly available there because RH is not using the agency model). "

As you can see from the graph with the Codex Group's survey results, among iPad owners the market share of independent bookstores is somewhere between 0%-19%. It doesn't necessarily indicate that this is this would be the same with the general population of e-book readers, but it definitely looks more realistic than 81%.

In all, my guestimation is that when it comes to ebooks, the market share of independent bookstores will be between 5%-10%, as the competition online is more fierce than the competition offline. But, that's only my guestimation - to get a real sense of what's going on we'll have to wait to a survey that will look at the places readers actually buy their e-books.

Until then don't confuse attitudes with behavior.

You can find more resources on the future of bookstores on our website at www.ecolibris.net/bookstores_future.asp

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!