B&N CEO on the future of Nook

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by Apache

I never did get an answer of why they did not have a series order in their software. I have lots of series and one thing I like is being able to pull up a series in the order of publication or in series order. B & N did never made the attempt to add series listings.
Apache

For some reason, all the major ebook stores seem to have designed the experience for the summertime, on the beach, customer, i.e. someone who is never going to have more than a handful of books at a given time. Kobo is probably the best of the lot, but even they aren't all that great when it comes to managing a library. That's why I do most of my reading on my iPad where I can use Calibre Companion to manage my library, and just transfer the books I'm actively reading (or is in my next up list) to Marvin. I use my Kobo when I'm out in the sun or in a situation where battery life and weight are important (such as backpacking). I've owned most of the major readers - Sony, Kindle, Nook and Kobo.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Thank goodness. I think B&N pulling back from ebooks would be a big mistake.

I hope B&N goes back to investing in the Nook.

Invest?
Great.
In what exactly?

They're behind the curve on everything: generic China Inc hardware, limited/buggy software, small ebook catalog, small active customer base, poor support apps on PC/Mac, tainted brand. Even Nook hardware owners are buying their ebooks from Kobo or Google.

What can he do to get Kobo buyers to switch?
Kindle users are likely to be Prime users and/or have deep ebook libraries by now. Apple users are also not in play.
Doesn't leave much market in play.

The market has moved on and Nook is an afterthought.
It's not 2010 when the market was wide open and the B&N name had value.
Today most ebook shoppers are committed to one walled-garden or another.

Sure, they can invest to make things better for their remaining Nook owners, get them to buy from them instead of Kobo. But that isn't going to do much for them.

They might advertise like crazy to remind non-enthusiasts they still exist and try to bring in some newcomers to eBooks but that isn't going to move the needle.

Daunt is giving ebooks lip service because he needs whatever money he can generate to keep the B&M stores open. The lockdowns haven't exactly filled the stores with bored shoppers. Things were bad before, they're much worse now.

What he can do is OEM a new ereader from China and hire an India code shop for better software. And then what?

Nook is hardly bigger than Google these days and Google isn't even trying.
You don't fix ten years of mismanagement by throwing money at the problem and instantly fix it. It might even be too late to fix, going by their last sales reports.

It's good he's not killing it outright but let's not kid ourselves, Nook has to go a long way to be even as relevant as Kobo. There's no magic bullet.

He doesn't have much to work with and much bigger problems to deal with, too.

The entire publishing industry too:

https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/...-in-april.html

Net publishing sales fell 3.5% in April compared to April 2019 for the 1,361 publishers who report revenue to AAP’s StatShot program. The small decline, however, is deceiving. Gross sales fell in the monthly comparison, dropping 16%, but were offset by a nearly 49% drop in returns. (AAP calculates net sales by deducting returns from gross sales.) Returns were down in every category and point to an issue that many publishers are keeping an eye on—the possibility of heavy returns when bookstores reopen after closing because of the pandemic.

Nearly all college stores were closed in April, leading to a 57.9% decline in returns to publishers of higher educational course materials in the month compared to 2019. And even though gross sales fell 30.8% in the month, the plunge in returns led to a 139.8% increase in net sales in the category. The AAP said it expects an increase in returns in the category in future months as stores, distributors, colleges, and universities reopen.

On a sale of 1-10, Nook is maybe an 8 on Daunt's priority scale. Keeping as many stores open as possible is 1.

[Sirtel]

And let's not forget Nook doesn't sell their ebooks outside the US. I've no idea if opening their ebook store to the international customer would help them even a tiny bit, but it would sure be better than continuing like they have.

[Tomk2]

Boy did I waste a bunch of money on Nook before switching. Once a loyal customer switches, it is no small thing to get them back. To my ear it just sounds like he is trying to repair damage from his last Nook statement while the remaining hardware is sold off. Without saying what and how he is committed to Nook, it is empty words. I can not imagine B&N winning me back.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Apache

I never did get an answer of why they did not have a series order in their software. I have lots of series and one thing I like is being able to pull up a series in the order of publication or in series order. B & N did never made the attempt to add series listings.
Apache

The Nook does have series. In fact, in the options you can stack books by series.

The problem is that series info can't be added for sideloaded books because the database is not accessible by Calibre (that's what I was told when I asked about it in the Nook forum).

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

The Nook does have series. In fact, in the options you can stack books by series.

The problem is that series info can't be added for sideloaded books because the database is not accessible by Calibre (that's what I was told when I asked about it in the Nook forum).

The nook is as inaccessible as the Kindle.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

And let's not forget Nook doesn't sell their ebooks outside the US. I've no idea if opening their ebook store to the international customer would help them even a tiny bit, but it would sure be better than continuing like they have.

if they do it right it should.
There's places where commercial, interoperable ePub matters more than in the US.
The UK isn't one of those places, though.
Of course, Kobo is already there.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Tomk2

Boy did I waste a bunch of money on Nook before switching. Once a loyal customer switches, it is no small thing to get them back. To my ear it just sounds like he is trying to repair damage from his last Nook statement while the remaining hardware is sold off. Without saying what and how he is committed to Nook, it is empty words. I can not imagine B&N winning me back.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

He might make some money selling the remaining active accounts to Kobo.
The big question near term isn't Nook but rather how many storefronts they can retain post lockdowns.

https://bookriot.com/2020/03/30/barn...es-400-stores/

Not all will reopen.

Along with cost reductions at the company’s headquarters, Daunt hopes layoffs and reduced store hours can keep the company afloat through massive store closures. “We intend to rehire. We hope that as few as possible will be mandated to close and that any closures are temporary. I am confident that we can carry the company through this catastrophe by taking such resolute actions. It is extraordinarily painful and, once again, I express my sincere appreciation for the dedication [employees] are demonstrating.”

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

They're behind the curve on everything: generic China Inc hardware

Already I'm not sure how much attention you've really paid. Say what you want about Nook software, their catalog, etc. If Nook has a high point, it is their hardware. Your 'generic China Inc. hardware' comment is bull.

As to what to invest in:

Improve the firmware, make it easier for folks to download their purchases. Sell Nooks at his other bookstores.

Your argument about Nook being in a hole that is impossible to get out of reminds me of Wired's Pray cover for Apple. They were seen as ready to go down the tubes in 1997.

I'm not saying that I expect B&N, much less Nook, to do a similar turn around. But I do think your assumptions about Nook's doomed future don't add up to a whole lot.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Already I'm not sure how much attention you've really paid. Say what you want about Nook software, their catalog, etc. If Nook has a high point, it is their hardware..

You misread the "generic China, Inc" hardware term.
What it means the reader is an off the shelf design they add Nook software from India and silkscreen the brand on.
It isn't a matter of quality but of involvement.

Earlier, Nook used to design the feature set and software themselves so they controlled what made a Nook "Nook". Now they just write checks. Incrrasingly smaller ones, at that.

As for the Apple comparison, Microsoft isn't going to come in throwing $200M cash infusions togive life support to a competitor. First, becase they're not competitors and second because they already tried and B&N failed to live up to their end of the deal.

Again: how about listing who is going to throw money at a fading book retailer?
Who *has* the money and will?
Nobody offered much for B&N pre-crisis. Indigo isn't rushing in (did tbey even finish the one store in New Jersey?)

I'm not playing taps; just pointing out they are facing a bad situation at a bad time in a bad business.

I do think taps will come soon enough because the price the current owners paid was less than market value for the warehouses. Nook, B&N.com, and the storefronts actually reduced the purchase price.

Back in 98, when B&N was riding high, the offered to buy the Ingram warehouses for more than what all of B&N cost now.

https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/...-for-600m.html


https://www.cbsnews.com/news/barnes-...tt-management/

$600M vs $476M.

The Ingram deal was blocked because it would've given B&N an effective monopoly on pbook distribution. And Baker and Taylor sas still around. They've since gotten out of the business.

So the bottom line is nobody wants B&N and thd big publishers are ready to see it fold. They've taken steps to limit their losses if it happens. Plus tgey have their own problems.

There is no magic bullet, no Microsoft willing to prop up the investment of a bunch of money guys. If B&N survives it will be on their own.

And it won't be Nook that saves then.

Look at the last numbers, from before the crisis:

https://www.bloomberg.com/press-rele...ancial-results

$92M hardware and content sales for the full year. (eBook sales are probably less than Fictionwise was doing when they bought them.)

Out of $3.6B in sales for all of B&N.

In a business generating around a couple billion in ebooks alone, in a world where KU *paid* authors nearly $400M.

I just don't think Nook can be made relevant again. The hole is too deep.

[John F]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

What you say is true. Outside of the reading experience, the software of the Nook doesn't compare with the Kobo or the Kindle.

...

For me, the Nook reading experience doesn't compare to the Kobo. For me, "reading experience" is being able to set font, font size, line spacing, margins, ... to something that I like. The eink Nooks is too limiting.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

You misread the "generic China, Inc" hardware term.
What it means the reader is an off the shelf design they add Nook software from India and silkscreen the brand on.
It isn't a matter of quality but of involvement.

That was exactly what I took "generic China, Inc" to mean. Can you show me where the 2015 Glowlight Plus, the Glowlight 3 or the current Glowlight Plus is an off the shelf hardware design?

As for the software, it's behind the times, I won't argue that. I really don't know that it has to do with farming it out. It has more to do with not making any manner of software update at all.

Again: how about listing who is going to throw money at a fading book retailer?

That came from the article shared in the first post: "One of the things where I differ from my immediate predecessor at B&N is that I consider the ability to sell e-books to be a great strength, and the company had stopped investing in Nook. That will change."

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by John F

For me, the Nook reading experience doesn't compare to the Kobo. For me, "reading experience" is being able to set font, font size, line spacing, margins, ... to something that I like. The eink Nooks is too limiting.

I guess I'm easy to please. My Nook with the smallest margins and line spacing works for me. Though Kobo has much more fine-tuning I rarely use it. My ereaders tend to be 'set it and forget it' deals and both Nook and Kobo do a good job. I just think Nook does a better job at layout than Kobo does. The big gaps and awkward hyphenation I find on kepub doesn't exist on the Nook.

Nook software still needs a lot of work, but to me they don't need to tinker with the reading experience too much.

[tdonline]

I started off with a Nook and then switched to a Paperwhite. As an Overdrive borrower and only very occasional buyer, I would never switch to a system that forces me to tether to a cord to get my library books. The affordable 8in Nook was tempting but the thought of dealing with ADE and tethering to my laptop killed any interest I had. Kobo and Amazon are so far ahead on the process of downloading an OD book--Nook will never compete.

[MGlitch]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

And let's not forget Nook doesn't sell their ebooks outside the US. I've no idea if opening their ebook store to the international customer would help them even a tiny bit, but it would sure be better than continuing like they have.

They did for a minute. The few customers they had aren’t likely to jump back on the Nook ship should Nook return. They treated those customers fairly poorly. The U.K. support lingered on before they dropped it and sold to a group who eventually sold their ebook clients to Kobo.



I remain of the same general opinion I’ve had on this for some time. Sell the user base to Kobo with some kind of deal that provides benefits to BN. Have Kobos in the BN stores.

It gives Kobo a better foothold than Walmart. Sure BN could go under but even if it does Kobo still reaps the benefit of any device sold at a BN store. BN doesn’t carry the weight of developing or paying for the development of hardware and software but still gets to sell ebooks and get a sliver of the pie. Yes it could be less than they’re getting now but they’d be spending less since R&D would be on Kobo as would support. BN should train store employees on Kobo (better than they did on Nook which wouldn’t be hard) and actually try and leverage the in store support.


I think Nook is too tainted and twisted up with the bad PR from the older tablets specifically the nook color which had shoddy power cables. The experience might be as Zod says it is, but BN needs a better than good product if they expect to get anywhere with Nook. They’re going to need another frontlight level feature and they’re going to need to beat Kindle and Kobo to the punch by a not small amount of time. Or they can leverage their footprint in the US, the fact that their customers are much more likely to be readers than the average Walmart customers, and team up with a company who has the deeper pockets of Rakuten behind them.