This list documents extraordinary activity in the wider Book Trade in a few short weeks;
- UK book sales fell 3% in 2010, selling £56m less than in 2009
- NIV Bible eBook tops the USA bestseller list over the New Year
- 2011 marks the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible
- Barnes & Noble USA do well over Christmas – thanks to their Nook eReader
- Physical book sales continue to decline around the world
- British Bookshops and Stationers go into administration
- eBook debate intensifies – but with little clarity emerging
- Digital Book World Conference is held in New York
- Kindle; the most popular eBook reader – with sales overtaking paperbacks
- Amazon record their first £10bn sales quarter
- Waterstones owner HMV; shuts 11 UK stores, cuts HO jobs
- WH Smith buy 22 British Bookshops and Stationers stores
- UK Libraries under massive pressure due to imminent spending cuts
- Borders USA enters Chapter 11 – and is effectively bankrupt
- REDgroup Australia goes bust – leaving big UK debts
- Borders Singapore shuts its doors
- Zondervan loses its President and CEO, Moe Girkins
- Gardners launches the HIVE website in the UK
- STL Distribution UK rebrands as Trust Media Distribution
- Living Oasis has its ups and downs, causing some uncertainty
Only another 10 months left for this year – don’t hold your breath!
To which we can add the profits warning and 22% fall in share price of HMV on Tuesday 1/3/2011… according the the Wall Street Journal, Waterstones could be sold to a Russian financier to repay some debt.