Earth Day Campaign - 41 Reasons to Plant a Tree for Your Book: Reason no. 40

We have one more day of our Earth Day campaign - 41 Reasons to Plant a Tree for Your Book, where we share with you 41 reasons provided by readers in celebration of the upcoming 41st anniversary of Earth Day!

With more than 190,000 trees planted so far on behalf of readers, authors and publishers working with Eco-Libris, it's no surprise that we think planting trees to green up books is a great idea.. But we also want to hear what readers think about it and why they believe planting trees for their books is a good idea.

So for 41 days until Earth Day, we publish here the 41 best replies we receive, one reply a day. All replies are gathered and presented on the Earth Day 2011 page.

Reason no. 40:
Planting trees for books makes sense to me as a human being, a mom and a book lover! - Ana

Thank you Ana for sharing with us your thoughts on planting trees for your books!

Ana, just like all the other readers whose replies we'll publish, is winning one of the great 41 prizes we give away on this campaign, courtesy of our partners. Winners can choose their prize from a great list of gifts including audiobooks from Simon & Schuster Audio (such as The Half Life by Jennifer Weiner, Left Neglected by Lisa Genova and Essence of Happiness by the Dalai Lama) and great books, like Spit That Out! by Paige Wolf and The Healthy Home by Dave Wentz and Dr. Myron Wentz. You can see the full list of the prizes on our earth day campaign's page.

Every day we'll give further details on one of the prizes. Today we present you with the audiobook Planet Home by Jeffrey Hollender and Alexandra Zissu.

Planet Home by Jeffrey Hollender and Alexandra Zissu - FROM THE COFOUNDER OF SEVENTH GENERATION, the most trusted brand in environmentally friendly household products, comes this indispensable guide to maintaining absolutely everything in the home in a natural, nontoxic way. Jeffrey Hollender leads you through each room of the house with straightforward advice, comprehensive checklists, quick tips, and unparalleled resources while revealing the hidden repercussions of daily routines that most of us take for granted.

From improving air quality in your bedroom to avoiding mildew in the bathroom, from sourcing local or organic food to safely laundering your clothes, Planet Home offers invaluable information for making conscious decisions for your family, your neighbors, and our shared planet home. With additional information on power, garbage and recycling, air quality, and community activism, this book goes a step further to describe how any household is part of a much larger system.

Planet Home offers a unique, comprehensive, educational, and easy approach to helping you and your family lead healthier lives as we collectively protect and maintain our shared resources for many years to come.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

Barnes & Noble Bankruptcy Index: B&N stock is rising, but no one really knows why

This week B&N's stock rose in 15%, but we're not sure if there's a good reason for it. In the meantime, competition on the digital front is getting fierce with new features and money going into competing e-readers. In all, this week our B&N bankruptcy index stays the same as last week.

Just a short reminder - As Borders filed for bankruptcy, we look at Barnes & Noble, the nation's largest book chain to see if they will follow Borders and also go into bankruptcy and if so, when exactly.

To do it more analytically we launched few weeks ago 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 too good and bankruptcy is becoming a more realistic 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 Thursday, updating each one of the parameters included in the index and will analyze the trend. You can follow the weekly changes in the index from the day it was launched on the Barnes and Noble Bankruptcy Index page on our website.

So here's our update for this week (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:

4/13: $9.23
4/20: $10.66
Change: +15.5%

As you can see, B&N's stock jumped 15.5% last week. Just for comparison, Amazon rose 0.87% last week and the S&P500 Index also gained 1.21%.

What happened? Cindy Johnson offered this explanation on The Motley Fool:
Office supply retailer Staples will start selling Barnes & Noble's Nook Color Android-based e-book reader on May 1 in its stores and online for $249. Staples is the world's largest office products company and the second largest e-commerce retailer, with annual sales of $25 billion and 90,000 associates in 26 countries.

But Johnson is a bit skeptic in the explanation that she's offering, mentioning that "the Nook is already available at Best Buy, Amazon, and of course, B&N."

NakedValue also suspects it's something else, although he (or she) is not sure what is it exactly, noting that it might be something bigger:

There is enough reason to believe that Barnes & Noble's big stock move could be the result of something bigger. If so, investors should be prepared for the possibility of follow-up headlines. If the Staples headline is really the sole reason for Barnes & Noble's big move, investors should avoid the stock because the price strength will not last. Not only was the Staples story old, the company is not likely to meaningfully change the prospects at the leading bookstore chain in the country.

Today NakedValue offers another option to be considered:
Barnes & Noble (BKS) may be the stock market's cheapest technology stock with a price/sales of 0.08 and a PEG ratio of 0.59. Sure, the company has a dominant presence as a brick and mortar bookstore chain but the company's surprisingly successful Nook e-reader/tablet gives it tremendous upside potential. JP Morgan estimates that there will be 47.9 million tablets sold in 2011 and 79.6 million sold in 2012. As the market's lowest cost tablet, the color Nook could be worth billions to the right acquirer.

So the bottom line is that no one really knows for sure what happened and why the stock jumped so high in just a couple of days. Therefore we stay cautious and wait until next week to see if this trend is continuing or not. In the meantime, our week's grade for this parameter is going up by half a point: 5 (4.5)

2. What analysts say on B&N

No updates this week. There's no change in the market's sentiment and therefore our grade stays the same: 5.5 (5.5)

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

This week's grade stays the same: 4 (4)

4. What B&N is saying about itself
No updates this week and our grade for this parameter stays the same: 6 (6)

5. Steps B&N is taking
Nothing happened this week. This week's grade stays the same: 6 (6)

6. Competitors
This parameter will mainly look into Borders and how its problems affect B&N. This week Borders, according to Bloomberg, "is seeking at least $50 million in additional financing as sales trail expectations and publishers demand cash in advance, said two people who have seen the chain’s plans to reorganize. The retailer may risk liquidation without further investment, easier terms from vendors or a buyer, said the people, who declined to be identified because the process isn’t public. Borders already has a $505 million debtor-in-possession loan from lenders led by GE Capital. Those creditors are helping to fund operations in bankruptcy and have priority over others. "

According to Bloomberg "Annual sales may drop to $1.5 billion, according to court papers, less than half what the chain generated two years ago."

Is it good news for B&N? I'm not sure. It implies of course that B&N can benefit from having a bigger market share, but it also shows the depth of the troubles the brick and mortar bookstores are in and this is still, to remind you, B&N main source of revenues.

Our grade stays the same: 5 (5)

7. Financial strength
Couple of weeks ago Barnes & Noble published the results for the third quarter. We don't have any updates for this week and our grade stays the same: 7 (7)

8. Strength of the digital business
It looks like the competitors are wasting no time in adding new features and raising money.

Amazon's Kindle Will Offer E-Books From Libraries - As the Wall Street Journal reported "Amazon said Wednesday that it will launch the public-library feature—which gives the Kindle the same library-borrowing abilities as competing e-reading devices such as Barnes & Noble Inc.'s Nook and Sony Corp.'s Reader—later this year. "We think customers are going to love this new library feature," said a spokeswoman for the Seattle-based retailer."

The Wall Street Journal also reported on Tuesday that Kobo closed a $50 million funding round:

“It’s about international expansion,” said Todd Humphrey, Kobo’s executive vice president of business development. He said the company will also use the funding to grow its base in the U.S. and Canada and to improve its product. Overall, Kobo said it has 3.2 million users.

The company said the $50 million investment was led by an institutional investor that it declined to name, and that existing investors–which include Indigo Books and Music and Cheung Kong Holdings–also participated in the funding round.

These steps, following the release of the $114 Kindle are adding to the major threats on the estimated 25% market share of the Nook and hence on B&N digital business. Our grade this week goes down in half a point: 7 (7.5)

9. Sense of urgency
It looks like B&N still think they have time and are not worried at all, or at least not worried enough to begin doing something with their brick and mortar stores (again, we don't believe more toys in the stores and extra room for the Nook is a winning strategy). 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). This week's grade stays the same: 5.5 (5.5)

10. General feeling
This parameter will be an indication of our impression of all the materials read and analyzed for this index. Our feeling that things are still not looking too good for B&N hasn't changed this week and this parameter's grade stays the same: 5.5 (5.5)

This week's Barnes & Noble Bankruptcy Index: 56.5 points (56.5)

As you can see, this week's index is set at 56.5 points, which means B&N is getting deeper into the 50-59 zone: Bankruptcy is a clear and present danger. It's still not the red zone but it means that bankruptcy is getting closer and is becoming a real threat to B&N. See you next Thursday.

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!

Earth Day Campaign - 41 Reasons to Plant a Tree for Your Book: Reason no. 39

We have 2 more days of our Earth Day campaign - 41 Reasons to Plant a Tree for Your Book, where we share with you 41 reasons provided by readers in celebration of the upcoming 41st anniversary of Earth Day!

With more than 190,000 trees planted so far on behalf of readers, authors and publishers working with Eco-Libris, it's no surprise that we think planting trees to green up books is a great idea.. But we also want to hear what readers think about it and why they believe planting trees for their books is a good idea.

So for 41 days until Earth Day, we publish here the 41 best replies we receive, one reply a day. All replies are gathered and presented on the Earth Day 2011 page.

Reason no. 39:
This is a great interim solution on our way to implement cradle to cradle solutions, which makes so much sense. William McDonough and Michael Braungart wrote about it in their book, Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things: The tree, among the finest of nature's creations, plays a crucial and multifaceted role in our interdependent ecosystem. As such, it has been an important model and metaphor for our thinking, as you will discover. But also as such, it is not a fitting resource to use in producing so humble and transient a substance as paper. The use of an alternative material expresses our intention to evolve away from the use of wood fibers for paper as we seek more effective solutions." - Richard

Thank you Richard for sharing with us your thoughts on planting trees for your books!

Richard, just like all the other readers whose replies we'll publish, is winning one of the great 41 prizes we give away on this campaign, courtesy of our partners. Winners can choose their prize from a great list of gifts including audiobooks from Simon & Schuster Audio (such as The Half Life by Jennifer Weiner, Left Neglected by Lisa Genova and Essence of Happiness by the Dalai Lama) and great books, like Spit That Out! by Paige Wolf and The Healthy Home by Dave Wentz and Dr. Myron Wentz. You can see the full list of the prizes on our earth day campaign's page.

Every day we'll give further details on one of the prizes. Today we present you with the book Knitting Green: Conversations and Planet Friendly Projects by Ann Budd.

Knitting Green: Conversations and Planet Friendly Projects by Ann Budd - Detailing a wide range of perspectives and approaches to environmental issues, this unique crafting manual offers ideas for knitting conscientiously. Leading figures of the industry, from designers to yarn company executives, share their methods for integrating green principles into their work and lives—selecting organic products, facilitating an alternative to chemical detergent, recycling old projects, reducing disposable plastic bags, and creating pieces that provide warmth and save on energy.

Inventive and timely, this practical guidebook explains answers to important questions such as What makes a yarn organic? and Are natural dyes safer than chemical dyes? Providing 22 clever designs for earth-friendly garments, accessories, gifts, and home furnishings, craft enthusiasts of all skill levels will enjoy projects that balance the altruism of saving the planet with the joyful benefits of their favorite hobby.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

Our weekly list of 10 recommended green ebooks - Plastic: A Toxic Love Story and 9 other great green ebooks!

We're back again with our weekly update of 10 recommendations on green ebooks!

Just a reminder - Each week we present you here with list of 10 recommended e-books on a variety of green issues - from climate change and conservation to sustainable living and green marketing. Most of these green ebooks are new and were either released in the last month or two or about to be released (but already available as ebooks).

The links of these ebooks are to Amazon.com and I apologize in advance to all the Nook, iPad, Kobo and Sony Reader owners. I hope you can easily find an ebook you'll like on other ebookstores. This is also the place to disclose that we're taking part in Amazon's affiliate program and therefore will receive a small percentage of every purchase made using these links. We hope you don't mind! You can find all the lists published so far on our recommended green ebooks webpage.

Without further ado, here's this week's list of 10 recommended green e-books:

1.Plastic: A Toxic Love Story by Susan Freinkel - Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (April 18, 2011)

2. The Green to Gold Business Playbook: How to Implement Sustainability Practices for Bottom-Line Results in Every Business Function by Daniel Esty and P.J. Simmons - Wiley (April 8, 2011)

3. Triumph of the City: How Our Greatest Invention Makes Us Richer, Smarter, Greener, Healthier, and Happier by Edward Glaeser - The Penguin Press (February 10, 2011)

4. Moby-Duck: The True Story of 28,800 Bath Toys Lost at Sea and of the Beachcombers, Oceanographers, Environmentalists, and Fools, Including the Author, Who Went in Search of Them by Donovan Hohn - VIKING ADULT (March 3, 2011)

5. Beyond the Cold: An American's Warm Portrait of Norway by Michael Kleiner - Infinity Publishing (September 30, 2010)

6. Turn Your House Green by Diane Hamel - Diane Hamel (April 7, 2011)

7. Garden Composting: How Garden Recycling Works by Bill Butterworth - MX Publishing (April 19, 2011)

8. Be a Greentrepreneur by Scott Cardinal - Amazon Digital Services (March 17, 2011)

9. Crop Chemophobia: Will Precaution Kill the Green Revolution? by Jon Entine - AEI Press (April 16, 2011)

10. Urban Agriculture: Ideas and Designs for the New Food Revolution by David Tracey - New Society Publishers (April 1, 2011)

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

Earth Day Campaign - 41 Reasons to Plant a Tree for Your Book: Reason no. 38

We have 4 more days of our Earth Day campaign - 41 Reasons to Plant a Tree for Your Book, where we share with you 41 reasons provided by readers in celebration of the upcoming 41st anniversary of Earth Day!

With more than 190,000 trees planted so far on behalf of readers, authors and publishers working with Eco-Libris, it's no surprise that we think planting trees to green up books is a great idea.. But we also want to hear what readers think about it and why they believe planting trees for their books is a good idea.

So for 41 days until Earth Day, we publish here the 41 best replies we receive, one reply a day. All replies are gathered and presented on the Earth Day 2011 page.

Reason no. 38:
Trees are the soul of the earth and books are the soul of humanity - Ben

Thank you Ben for sharing with us your thoughts on planting trees for your books!

Ben, just like all the other readers whose replies we'll publish, is winning one of the great 41 prizes we give away on this campaign, courtesy of our partners. Winners can choose their prize from a great list of gifts including audiobooks from Simon & Schuster Audio (such as The Half Life by Jennifer Weiner, Left Neglected by Lisa Genova and Essence of Happiness by the Dalai Lama) and great books, like Spit That Out! by Paige Wolf and The Healthy Home by Dave Wentz and Dr. Myron Wentz. You can see the full list of the prizes on our earth day campaign's page.

Every day we'll give further details on one of the prizes. Today we present you with the book Four Fish: The Future of the Last Wild Food by Paul Greenberg.

Four Fish: The Future of the Last Wild Food by Paul Greenberg - Our relationship with the ocean is undergoing a profound transformation. Whereas just three decades ago nearly everything we ate from the sea was wild, rampant overfishing combined with an unprecedented bio-tech revolution has brought us to a point where wild and farmed fish occupy equal parts of a complex and confusing marketplace. We stand at the edge of a cataclysm; there is a distinct possibility that our children's children will never eat a wild fish that has swum freely in the sea.

In Four Fish, award-winning writer and lifelong fisherman Paul Greenberg takes us on a culinary journey, exploring the history of the fish that dominate our menus---salmon, sea bass, cod and tuna-and examining where each stands at this critical moment in time. He visits Norwegian mega farms that use genetic techniques once pioneered on sheep to grow millions of pounds of salmon a year. He travels to the ancestral river of the Yupik Eskimos to see the only Fair Trade certified fishing company in the world. He investigates the way PCBs and mercury find their way into seafood; discovers how Mediterranean sea bass went global; Challenges the author of Cod to taste the difference between a farmed and a wild cod; and almost sinks to the bottom of the South Pacific while searching for an alternative to endangered bluefin tuna.

Fish, Greenberg reveals, are the last truly wild food - for now. By examining the forces that get fish to our dinner tables, he shows how we can start to heal the oceans and fight for a world where healthy and sustainable seafood is the rule rather than the exception.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

Buffalo on the Ridge by Deanna Meyer is joining the "100 Trees Project" of Infinity Publishing and Eco-Libris

Last June we announced our new collaboration with Infinity Publishing, a leading self-publishing company. Infinity launched with Eco-Libris the "100 Trees Project,"a new program 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.

Today we're happy to update you on a new book joining the program - Buffalo on the Ridge by Deanna Meyer, a fun and educational adventure book for young readers, which will help parents teach their children about animals and the environment. 100 trees will be planted for this full color book with Eco-Libris!

What's this book about? Here's a description from Infinity Publishing's website:

Buffalo on the Ridge, a fun and educational adventure book for young readers, will help parents teach their children about animals and the environment. Elementary age students will love the trials and tribulations of Bo, a young buffalo, and his prairie dog friend, Pete, who venture outside of their home in Custer State Park, South Dakota. Parents will appreciate the glossary field guide and accurate historical details.

About the author: The artist and author of this story is Deanna R. Meyer. She resides in Shillington, Pennsylvania. She and her husband visited Custer State Park, South Dakota while driving across the United States on their honeymoon. Ms. Meyer is of European and Cherokee tribe ancestry. She has done much to overcome her battle with Multiple Sclerosis. Her formal art training is from the Pennsylvania College of Art & Design.

Buffalo on the Ridge is available for sale on Infinity's website.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

Earth Day Campaign - 41 Reasons to Plant a Tree for Your Book: Reason no. 37

We continue with our Earth Day campaign - 41 Reasons to Plant a Tree for Your Book, where we share with you 41 reasons provided by readers in celebration of the upcoming 41st anniversary of Earth Day!

With more than 190,000 trees planted so far on behalf of readers, authors and publishers working with Eco-Libris, it's no surprise that we think planting trees to green up books is a great idea.. But we also want to hear what readers think about it and why they believe planting trees for their books is a good idea.

So for 41 days until Earth Day, we publish here the 41 best replies we receive, one reply a day. All replies are gathered and presented on the Earth Day 2011 page.

Reason no. 37:
Unlike many other situations in life where there are no right or wrong decisions, just actions and their consequences, it's clear here that planting trees is the right thing to do! - Miranda

Thank you Miranda for sharing with us your thoughts on planting trees for your books!

Miranda, just like all the other readers whose replies we'll publish, is winning one of the great 41 prizes we give away on this campaign, courtesy of our partners. Winners can choose their prize from a great list of gifts including audiobooks from Simon & Schuster Audio (such as The Half Life by Jennifer Weiner, Left Neglected by Lisa Genova and Essence of Happiness by the Dalai Lama) and great books, like Spit That Out! by Paige Wolf and The Healthy Home by Dave Wentz and Dr. Myron Wentz. You can see the full list of the prizes on our earth day campaign's page.

Every day we'll give further details on one of the prizes. Today we present you with the book Knitting Green: Conversations and Planet Friendly Projects by Ann Budd.

Knitting Green: Conversations and Planet Friendly Projects by Ann Budd - Detailing a wide range of perspectives and approaches to environmental issues, this unique crafting manual offers ideas for knitting conscientiously. Leading figures of the industry, from designers to yarn company executives, share their methods for integrating green principles into their work and lives—selecting organic products, facilitating an alternative to chemical detergent, recycling old projects, reducing disposable plastic bags, and creating pieces that provide warmth and save on energy.

Inventive and timely, this practical guidebook explains answers to important questions such as What makes a yarn organic? and Are natural dyes safer than chemical dyes? Providing 22 clever designs for earth-friendly garments, accessories, gifts, and home furnishings, craft enthusiasts of all skill levels will enjoy projects that balance the altruism of saving the planet with the joyful benefits of their favorite hobby.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!