Wednesday

Will the Nook Survive?


sad-nook
I spent several hours on Friday setting up my old Nook for my mother to use. She’s always been a voracious reader and just recently decided she wanted to try an e-reader. She’s like me in that sometimes technology eludes her, so she didn’t want to buy a new one, only to find out she couldn’t remember how to operate it. I had the Nook, my first e-reader, in a drawer, so we started an account at Barnes and Noble and downloaded eight mysteries for ninety-nine cents each. She was thrilled, and as I left her house Saturday at noon, she was happily immersed in one of her new books.
Today as I was reading an online blog, this article jumped out at me. It states Barnes and Noble’s revenue for the third quarter decreased by 8.8 % over the same period last year. While their nearly 700 brick & mortar stores and 600 college book stores saw a decrease in sales, the biggest losses came from their Nook digital division. Nook revenue was down by around 26% from the same time last year because of low holiday season sales.
Even with the low device sales, their digital content sales increased 6.8%. The loss comes at a time when there is a boom in sales for other tablets and e-readers. The company says it has a plan to significantly reduce Nook’s expenses.
“In terms of the Nook Media business, we’ve taken significant actions to begin to right size our cost structure in the Nook segment, while also taking a large markdown on Nook devices in order to enhance our ability to achieve our estimated sales plans in subsequent quarters,” said William Lynch, Barnes & Noble CEO in a statement. Okay, I’ve read this quote several times and still don’t know what “right size” means.
The same article states that Barnes & Noble stock rose 12% on the news that the company’s chairman and largest shareholder Len Riggio was interested in buying the bookseller’s chain of nearly 700 U.S. retail stores and taking them private.
What does this all mean? You guess is as good as mine. As a Kindle owner, I was surprised at the limited number of free and cheap books on B&N.com as compared to Amazon. Personally, I hope Barnes & Noble and Nook get their act together and continue to be viable players in the e-book market. There’s nothing like entering a Barnes & Noble store and browsing books. And as much as I love Amazon, but I’d hate to see them become the only choice.
All I know is that at this point, if Mom decides to buy a new e-reader, I’ll steer her toward the Kindle. Barnes & Noble’s future is too shaky to bet her e-reader on.
How many of you use a Nook? What do you think of Barnes & Nobles’ chances of recovering from this setback?

7 comments:

  1. It's a pretty tough situation. Nook lovers love their Nooks, but I don't see how B&N can survive let alone Nooks.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes, I don't see a good outcome to this. Thanks for coming by.

    ReplyDelete
  3. This is from my son, Joe.
    Hmm, I tried to comment on your blog but it wouldn't post my comment no matter how much I tried. Anyways, this was my comment!

    "When it comes to buying a new nook, I wouldn't worry about B&Ns future. Even if BN goes out of business you will still be able to use the device just as before. In fact, you would be more capable of getting new books than if you buy a kindle because nook is capable of reading more ebook formats than the kindle, including the standard epub format, which is the international standard for ebooks. Amazon refuses to support epub because it wants to leverage its dominance in the ebook reader market in to an effective monopoly on ebook delivery, allowing it to manipulate writers and consumers in to accepting non-market prices for content. So I would avoid the kindle on principle. Also, there are other options besides the nook and kindle that I expect to gain more prominence. "

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I hadn't thought of it from that angle. It's nice having a B&N store where you can ask for help, especially for Grandma.

      Delete
  4. Thanks for posting this. I LOVE my nook and also Amazon. I too want more than one choice. The Nook hardware is better than any Kindle. B&N offers sales on Tuesdays, and other very cheep offerings. When I look at B&N marketing of the Nook, the rarely updated Nook Google+ page, and lack of advertisements, it is feeling like a dead product line. I'm glad your son wrote to you, as his comments are correct. I wrote an article on how to transfer library books and other ePub books onto the Nook hardware if you want to share this: http://www.ericrounds.com/2012/01/how-to-transfer-epub-books-onto-your-nook/

    Lets hope the Nook stays alive for a jolt of new buys to the ebook market!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for the link on how to share. I'm off to read it now. I hope B&N gets their act together and keeps a viable product. I loved my old Nook but changed to a Kindle as more of my indie writer friends had their books on kindle.

      Delete
  5. Great post. Lots of unknowns out there right now. This gives us a lot to think about. HAPPY EASTER by the way.

    ReplyDelete