Borders Cuts Kobo, Aluratek eReaders to $129 and $99

ANN ARBOR, MICH/AUTHORLINK NEWS/August 31, 2010—Borders® today announced that its leading eReader devices, the Kobo™ eReader and Aluratek “Libre” eBook Pro, will be available beginning tomorrow, Sept. 1, at the new low price of $129.99 and $99.99, respectively. The price reduction of Borders’ best-selling eReaders further emphasizes the company’s commitment to delivering even more choice and value to customers.

The Aluratek device is available for purchase on Borders.com and will be available in Borders stores this week; the Kobo eReader is currently available both online and in-store.

“We’re committed to making it as easy as possible for all Borders customers to enjoy eReading,” said Mike Edwards, CEO of Borders. “As the demand for eReaders grows, we believe it is important to provide accessibility to a variety of devices. By reducing the price of our best-selling digital devices, we’re enabling even more Borders customers to purchase eReaders at a great value.”

Borders’ eReader devices represent key components of the company’s overall digital strategy, which includes a device agnostic philosophy and commitment to offer numerous brands of devices by the end of 2010.

“This is a significant inflection point in terms of market penetration of the Kobo and Aluratek eReaders,” Edwards continued. “We envision this price reduction, enabling the purchase of these devices as a second eReader in a household, as a more affordable option — the list goes on. We’re thrilled to bring even more value to Borders customers who are excited about great books — digital or otherwise.”

In addition, Borders announced it will carry Velocity Micro's Android-based Cruz Reader™ R101 and Cruz Tablet™ T103, which are now available for preorder on Borders.com for $199.99 and $299.99, respectively.

With 7” displays, the Cruz touch-screen devices provide an enjoyable and engaging reading experience, play video and music, and browse the Web in full color.

The purchase of the Cruz Reader includes a docking station that turns the eReader into an interactive media hub and picture frame. The docking station is optional for the Tablet. An SD memory slot allows for nearly unlimited storage and hours of entertainment. Both Cruz devices come with the Borders eBookstore reader application powered by Kobo™ and give consumers access to more than 1.5 million titles, including thousands of free titles. The devices come preloaded with 100+ books and access to the Cruz Market with downloadable apps.

This offer follows the successful launch of the Borders branded eBook store, powered by global eReading service Kobo™, as well as the release of Borders’ Blackberry® and Android™ eReading applications. Compatible devices include the iPad and iPhone, the BlackBerry® Curve™, the new BlackBerry® Tour™ 9630 and the Blackberry® Bold™, and all Android devices.

“Powered by Kobo” is an eBook partner program from Kobo, a global eBook service backed by Indigo Books & Music, Borders Group, REDgroup Retail, and Cheung Kong Holdings. The 'Powered by Kobo' program provides a flexible solution for hardware manufacturers and retailers worldwide to launch an eReader or eBook store.

Michigan-based Borders Group, Inc., through its subsidiaries, is a leading specialty retailer of books as well as other educational and entertainment items. The company employs approximately 19,500 throughout the U.S., primarily in its Borders® and Waldenbooks® stores.

June Book Sales Crawl Up; E-Books Soar

AAP Reports 10.6% Increase in June Book Sales
E-book Sales up 204.2% for the Year to Date

New York, NY, August 19, 2010— Publishers’ book sales tracked by the Association of American Publishers (AAP) for the month of June increased by 10.6 percent on the prior year to $1.1 billion and were up by 11.4 percent for the year-to-date.

The children’s book category showed increases over June of last year, with Hardcover Children’s/YA sales up 19.6 percent for the month with sales of $60.6 million in June, although year-to-date sales are down by 16.7 percent. Children’s/YA Paperback sales increased 1.5 percent in June with sales totaling $51.5 million; sales fell 5.0 percent for the year-to-date.

The Adult Hardcover category was down 13.9 percent in June with sales of $113.8 million, although sales for the year-to-date are up by 13.1 percent. Adult Paperback sales increased 0.9 percent for the month ($133.7 million) but increased by 12.1 percent for the year so far. Adult Mass Market sales decreased 35.4 percent for June with sales totaling $60.8 million; sales were down by 14.9 percent year-to-date.

E-book sales continue to grow, with a 118.9 percent increase over June 2009 ($29.8 million); year-to-date E-book sales are up 204.2 percent. Downloaded Audio Books also saw an increase of 32.8 percent over last year, with sales of $6.0 million this June; the category was also up 34.3 percent year-to-date. Physical Audio Book sales decreased 36.9 percent in June with sales totaling $12.1 million; sales for the year-to-date are down 3.6 percent.

Religious Books were down 8.0 percent for the month with sales totaling $39.2 million, although sales were up by 1.4 percent for the year to date.

Sales of University Press Hardcover books increased 7.7 percent in June to $3.4 million; sales increased by 1.9 percent year-to-date. University Press Paperback posted a gain of 8.6 percent for the month with sales totaling $3.4 million; sales were up 1.3 percent for the year. Sales of Professional books rose 2.2 percent to $59.5 million and were up by 11.4 percent for the year to date.

Higher Education publishing sales increased 35.2 percent for the month ($514.9 million) and increased 27.4 percent for the year. Finally, the K-12 elementary/high school category posted total net sales of $766 million, up 39 percent over the prior year, and year-to-date sales of $1.5 billion, a 19.8 percent increase over 2009.

About AAP
The Association of American Publishers is the national trade association of the U.S. book publishing industry. AAP’s more than 300 members include most of the major commercial publishers in the United States, as well as smaller and non-profit publishers, university presses and scholarly societies. AAP members publish hardcover and paperback books in every field, educational materials for the elementary, secondary, postsecondary, and professional markets, scholarly journals, computer software, and electronic products and services. The protection of intellectual property rights in all media, the defense of the freedom to read and the freedom to publish at home and abroad, and the promotion of reading and literacy are among the Association’s highest priorities.

Los Angeles Book Festival Call for Entries

LOS ANGELES, CA/AUTHORLINK NEWS/August 18, 2010--The 2010 Los Angeles Book Festival has issued the call for entries to its annual celebration of books deserving more attention from the world publishing community.

The Los Angeles Book Festival will consider entries in general non-fiction, fiction, biography/autobiography, children’s books, cookbooks, science fiction, business, spiritual, genre-based, how-to, photography/art, spiritual, poetry, foreign language, romance and mysteries, teenage/young adult, how-to and the wild card (anything goes!) categories published on or after Jan. 1, 2007.

Entries can be in English, French, Spanish, German or Portuguese and can be from major publishers, self-published or issued by an independent publishing house.
Our grand prize for the Los Angeles Book Festival is $1500 cash and a flight to Los Angeles for our gala awards ceremony in February, 2011.

Submitted works will be judged by a panel of publishing industry experts using the following criteria:
1) General excellence and the author's passion for telling a good story.
2) The potential of the work to gain a wider audience in the worldwide market.

TO ENTER: Entry forms are available online at LosAngelesBookFestival.com or may be faxed/e-mailed to you. The Los Angeles Book Festival is part of the JM Northern Media family of festivals, which includes the DIY Convention: Do It Yourself in Film, Music & Books, the New York Book Festival and the Hollywood Book Festival. The Los Angeles Book Festival is sponsored by eDivvy, the Larimar St. Croix Writers Colony, Westside Websites and the DIY Reporter.com.