My article today on Triple Pundit - this one is not for Cosmo Kramer..

Here's an update on a new article I published today on Triple Pundit on a new viral video about employee engagement, which refers to the banking sector and specifically to bank employees that unlike Kramer didn't think from early age they MUST become a banker..

The article is entitled "How to Engage Bank Employees that Lack Passion for the Job" Here's the first paragraph of the article:

"Kramer: I was never able to become a banker. Newman: Banker! So you’re killing yourself because your dreams of becoming a banker have gone unfulfilled. You-you-you-you can’t live without being a banker. Kramer: Yeah, yeah. If I can’t be banker, I don’t wanna live. Newman: You must be banker. Kramer: MUST be banker. "(Seinfeld, The Ticket – episode no. 4, season 4)

Not all the employees in the banking sector are like Cosmo Kramer. Many of them work in banks for various reasons other than a burning desire to become bankers, which might present a challenge when it comes to employee engagement. But does it actually matter what motivates people to work in a bank in the first place? Does it make a difference if it is a bank we’re talking about or Google, for example, where its founders claim that talented people are attracted to the company because it empowers them to change the world?

To read the full article go to http://www.triplepundit.com/2011/07/engage-employees-nine-five-job-trusted-company/

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Plant trees for your books!

Happy birthday - Eco-Libris is four years old!

On Monday, when the whole US celebrated Independence Day, Eco-Libris had its own birthday celebration - we have just turned 4 years old!

Yes, another year passed and just like the year before, it wasn't an easy one. The economic environment is still very challenging but we still did our best not only to keep our head above the water, but also to grow, meet new goals and move forward in our quest to make reading more sustainable.

And indeed it was a year of progress - we managed to create more partnerships, ran for the second time our green books campaign, enhanced our educational work, continued our involvement at the Book Industry Environmental Council (BIEC), contributed to the discussion on how green e-books are, assisted in the preparation of a shareholder resolution calling Amazon to disclose its environmental impacts, provided analysis of the trends in the book industry from a green point of view and of course planted more trees!

I am proud to report that Eco-Libris balanced out so far 177,759 books, which resulted in 198,063 new trees, of which 39,114 are the result of our operations on the 4th year.

* Photo above is courtesy of our planting partner AIR from the 2009 planting season - AIR volunteer and young helper planting Aliso trees to fertilize family crop, in El Tablon, Guatemala.

We would also like to take this opportunity and thank everyone involved in our efforts - from the dedicated eco-conscious readers that balance out their books with us, through our partners - publishers, authors, bookstores, businesses, organizations and others that take action to support sustainable reading and of course our wonderful planting partners, which are doing such a great job in planting the trees in developing countries.

Here's a reminder of some of things we did last year, month by month:

July 2010
A new collection of poetry and prose of author Janice Winokur is going green with Eco-Libris

Is going green really worthwhile for authors?

August 2010
Natanya by Dror Burstein is the first book in Hebrew to go green with Eco-Libris

A new book of Flux by the Danish Paulo Coelho is going green with Eco-Libris

September 2010
Will the iPad succeed to conquer the campus?

14-year old author Taylor Michie is going green with Eco-Libris

October 2010
Is it greener to borrow ebooks from your local library?

The Last Original Idea is joining the "100 Trees Project" of Infinity Publishing and Eco-Libris

November 2010
200 bloggers are taking part in the Green Books Campaign to support books printed on environmental paper

Can Going Green Help Publishers, or Just Planet Earth?

December 2010
How book companies performed on the Greenpeace Boreal Marketplace Review?

Annual assessments of Eco-Libris' planting partners are available now online

January 2011
How green is your (and my) Kindle?

The future of Independent bookstores (or: 5 comments on 'Small Bookstores Struggle for Niche in Shifting Times')

February 2011
Dr. Anne Hallum, founder and director of our planting partner AIR was named one of CNN’s 2011 Heroes!

Brighter Books is collaborating with Eco-Libris to plant a tree for every printed copy of their books!

March 2011
Launching our Earth Day campaign, 41 Reasons to Plant a Tree for Your Book

The Scandinavian publisher Whyte Tracks is partnering with Eco-Libris

April 2011
Global Sky's tree planting initiative celebrates the planting of more than 2,000 trees!

SHI & Eco-Libris: Launching Culantro Rojo Organics

May 2011
Raven Wings and 13 More Twisted Tales by Frank Poe Jr. has joined the "100 Trees Project"

5 ways to green your ebook reading

June 2011
Why Amazon rejected a shareholder decision to disclose how it deals with climate change?

10 best green ebooks for Father's Day!

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Plant a tree for every book you read!

X-POSED: The Painful Truth Behind Yoga & Pilates has joined the "100 Trees Project"!

Did you know many traditional yoga and Pilates movements do long-term harm to most people’s bodies? A new book, X-POSED: The Painful Truth Behind Yoga & Pilates by Kevin Khalili, D.C. will show you how to optimize the safety and effectiveness of your practice.

And not only that, but we're happy to update you that the book has just joined the "100 Trees Project"!

This joint program was launched by Infinity Publishing, a leading self-publishing company together with Eco-Libris to promote environmental sustainability among its authors. Through the program, authors that publish with Infinity are able to plant 100 trees for the title they publish. These authors also have the option to add a special "100 trees planted for this book" logo to their book's design, as a way to showcase their commitment to environmental sustainability.

What's this book is about?
X-POSED: The Painful Truth Behind Yoga & Pilates reveals how these two popular practices can cause bodily trauma and physical pain, and shows how these unfortunate side effects can be avoided. Did you know many traditional yoga and Pilates movements are harmful to most body types? How can you tell which movements best suit your unique posture, and which you should avoid? Wouldn’t you like to optimize the safety and effectiveness of your practice? Based in rigorous scientific research and presented in clear, accessible language, this important book is a must for anyone who teaches or practices yoga or Pilates.

About the author: Kevin Khalili, D.C. is currently the clinical director of the Laser Rehab Institute located in Santa Barbara, California. He has been practicing preventative sports medicine for over 18 years, and regularly prescribes specifically designed yoga and Pilates-based movements to aid in the rehabilitation process of his patients. He utilizes certain yoga and Pilates exercises in his personal workout routine. In addition to having a clientele that includes elite professional athletes, he also maintains close working relationships with team coaches, personal trainers, yoga teachers and Pilates instructors.

X-POSED: The Painful Truth Behind Yoga & Pilates is available for sale on Infinity's website.

Other books on the "100 Trees Project":

The Last Original Idea: A Cynic's View to Internet Marketing by Alan K'necht and Geri Rockstein

Buffalo on the Ridge by Deanna Meyer

What Love Is...A-Z by by Elle Febbo

Raven Wings and 13 More Twisted Tales

Ishift- Innovation Shift

Good Management is Not Firefighting

Play on Words

This is Your Brain on God

DRIVEN! Remembrance, Reflection, & Revelation

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Planting trees for your books!

Is the purchase of Borders by Direct Brands good news for the employees of the book retailer?

It depends who you're asking. According to the Economist (Goodbye to bricks and mortar) it doesn't look too good:

"Whatever happens at the auction will dictate the fate of the bookseller, which has already closed more than a third of its stores. Because Direct Brands is an online- and catalogue-based distributor of music, DVDs and books (such as the mail-order Book of the Month club), some speculate that a deal with Najafi will do little to keep the remaining bookstores open. Rather, the company will probably see value in the Borders distribution network and liquidate most everything else. Regardless, the story doesn’t look good for store employees and their dwindling patrons. (The company, which employs more than 11,000 people, has racked up more than $191m in losses since seeking bankruptcy protection in February, according to the Wall Street Journal.)"

What do you think? We'll be happy to read your comments.

For more news and updates on Borders post bankruptcy visit our website at http://www.ecolibris.net/borders.asp.

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

Yours,
Raz@Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Planting trees for your books

Finally there's a buyer for Borders - Direct Brands of Najafi will buy Borders for $215 million!

Update from Borders: IB Times reported today that Direct Brands, a portfolio company of Najafi, will purchase Borders' assets for $215.1 million (in addition to assuming roughly $220 worth of liabilities).

According to the article on IB Times Borders agreed to the deal, a "stalking horse bid," after considering two offers, and the Ann Arbor, Mich.-based company plans to seek approval from the bankruptcy court.

So who's the buyer? MarketWatch reported that Direct Brands includes Book-of-the-Month Club, Doubleday Book Clubs, Columbia House DVD and BMG Music Service. It was bought by Phoenix, Ariz.-based Najafi in 2008.

Chicago Tribune wrote that a bankruptcy court hearing on the deal is set for July 21. If the court does not approve an auction process, Borders filed a separate motion to liquidate.

What does this purchase mean for the future of Borders and the future of bookstores in general? We'll keep you posted once more information on the deal will be disclosed so stay tuned.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Planting trees for your books!

Comments on LinkedIn groups on the future of bookstores

I like to share interesting stories, both ones we write about here and others we read on the Internet, with relevant LinkedIn groups. Usually, when the story is interesting, the discussion continues in these groups and provides thoughtful and interesting comments.

This was exactly the case with the stories on Nick Sherry's comment on the death of bookstores and the article on Toronto Star on how Indigo Books & Music is remaking itself in the age of the digital book. I wanted to share with you some of the comments these stories received on LinkedIn.

The first story is the one I wrote here on the comments Nick Sherry made about the death of bookstores in Australia (Is Nick Sherry right about the death of bookstores within five years?)

Just a reminder - Nick Sherry, the Australian minister for small businesses started an uproar after predicting that "in five years, other than a few speciality bookshops in capital cities, you will not see a bookstore. They will cease to exist because of what's happening with internet-based, web-based distribution." Our post focused on the counter-arguments to his comment, trying to figure out if they could indicate if Sherry has a point in his comment or not.

The discussion continued on the ABA LinkedIn group. Here are some of the comments:

"Hate to say it but yes. Once publisher don't need to print / wholesale books to Bookstores they won't. Borders? Barnes and Noble?. When was the last time you went to a record store?" - Michael Ridgway

"Our small independent has already gone the way of Tower Records." - Sue Barnett

" I concur with the fact that bookstores are becoming extinct; in my mind, this is the paradox that comes with technology. Will people miss the experience of physically flipping through pages of potential book purchases? Probably not, particularly since we seem to have become more and more dependent on our computers as extensions of product availability. We're not simply couch potatoes anymore, we're techno potatoe patches!" - Leamon Scott

"Well I can tell you this much, our retail and wholesale numbers are up. We do not sell ebooks. While there is definately a big change in the book business I don't believe they will become extinct. People still love the feel of a real book. " - BooksCloseOut.com

The second story came from the Toronto Sun. The story was on Indigo, the largest book retailer in Canada (Indigo also supported our 2010 Green Books Campaign) and how it is remaking itself in the digital age. The article itself is mainly an interview with Indigo CEO Heather Reisman.

Here are the comments on the LinkedIn group Digital Book World following this story, which I linked there. I have to admit that in this case the comments are more interesting than the article..

"If the US booksellers' margins are anything like Indigo's margins, traditional book retailers are doomed. $1 billion in income and only $11.3 million in profit -- that is just a little over a 1% profit margin -- zero room for error and no room for a market decline due to eBooks." - Kent Winward

"Book retail has been living on a fragile 2% or less margin since the 80s but had to weather nothing so seismic as the ebook shift, poor economy and shrinking outlets as we are today. Five years from now it will definitely be a different landscape. What worries me is in the transition we may see be some non fiction categories really suffer to the point of extinction." - Jim Fallone

"It appears Indigo is on a pair of well-financed fool's errands...

Betting the business on the Kobo reader is crazy enough - near-zero market share, and nothing compelling to recommend Kobo over the Nook, Kindle, or iPad. But aiming to become a bricks & mortar version of Amazon by selling home decor and kitchen products seems insane. " - Paul Gardner

Thanks again for all the people who contribute to these interesting discussions!

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Planting trees for your books!

Greenpeace wants you to think how many trees it takes to make chopsticks next time you order Chinese food!

Greenpeace launched last year a campaign in China to call attention to the urgent need for forest conservation in China. One of the main issues they focused on was chopsticks.

According to statistics from the Forestry Administration, China produced 57 billion pairs of disposable wooden chopsticks in 2009 alone. How many trees were cut down for these chopsticks? According to Greenpeace , the production of disposable chopsticks required wood from 3.8 million trees!

Last year Greenpeace and Ogilvy Beijing have teamed up to plant an eye-catching “chopstick forest” that was displayed outside The Place, a popular shopping center in the heart of Beijing.

Ogilvy explained how it worked:

Over the last several months, Ogilvy worked with Greenpeace, local artist Yinhai Xu and more than 200 volunteers from 20 Chinese universities to collect more than 80,000 pairs of used (and sanitized) disposable wooden chopsticks from restaurants and repurposed them into a forest of chopstick trees that stand approximately 5 meters tall.

Aihong Li, director of Greenpeace's Forest Protection Program, said: “These trees should have been abundantly green and vibrant, but now they are pieced together with wasteful disposable chopsticks. Our hope is that everyone in China will join us in saying "no" to disposable chopsticks to protect our forests.”

Now, 6 months later, Greenpeace is coming out with a video entitled "Disposable Project" that is showing the campaign and calling for greater awareness among chopstick users for the materials the chopsticks are made from. In other words: Trees. Their suggestion? Very simple - replacing wooden chopsticks with a plastic or metal version, a reusable and environmentally-friendly alternative. Think about it next time you order Chinese take-out.



Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Plant trees for your books!