Any one else worried about Barnes and Noble . . . ?

[Sarah Woodbury]

It's stock is the lowest ever . . . it's trying to sell itself and all the bidders are dropping out . . . and it hasn't paid Smashwords since October 31.

I sell buckets of books over there  It looks like from their present schedule that if they update sales for the end of last year on March 31, they won't disperse the money for this quarter's sales until . . . July.  --Is anyone else worried about them paying Smashwords for our books sold?

[Jennybeanses]

I haven't sold well on B&N yet, even when I had my book through them on Smashwords I think I only sold a meager handful. I will worry for my husband though. He sells like hotcakes on there.

[Michelle Muto]

I'd be concerned. I'm selling better on B&N than Amazon.

I'm not going through Smashwords, though. So, I wonder what that means? Will those who went directly to Pubit get paid? And when?

[Jack Wallen]

Maybe now would be a good time for B&N to become an ebook-only store? That would be a horrible shame for the NOOK to just die.

[foreverjuly]

[Asher MacDonald]

Maybe now would be a good time for B&N to become an ebook-only store? That would be a horrible shame for the NOOK to just die.

I read somewhere that for their most recent fiscal year they still made more money in the stores than they did from ebooks.

I wouldn't worry too much. They have a good foothold in the ebook market. That part of their business will become increasingly valuable and should survive even if the stores end up closing.

[Selena_Kitt]

I'd be concerned. I'm selling better on B&N than Amazon.

I'm not going through Smashwords, though. So, I wonder what that means? Will those who went directly to Pubit get paid? And when?

Yeah, I am. I'm selling gangbusters over there. And that whole "we're paying you March 1 for two months, surprise!" thing worried me. Why did they do that? You'd think it would be a good thing, but any deviation from the norm is concerning. Now they don't have to pay again until May. What are they up to?

I was in a B&N last week, the Nook Color was on display, things looked good, lots of people. But if they go the way of Borders... that would be bad.

[EllenFisher]

I'm selling gangbusters over there. And that whole "we're paying you March 1 for two months, surprise!" thing worried me. Why did they do that? You'd think it would be a good thing, but any deviation from the norm is concerning. Now they don't have to pay again until May. What are they up to?

I agree, this worried me.  It was weird.  There is no way they did it just to be nice.  There's a purpose there somewhere.

I was selling gangbusters, but I've slowed down a bunch.  Still, they owe me a great deal and I would like to get it all...

[Selena_Kitt]

I was selling gangbusters, but I've slowed down a bunch.  Still, they owe me a great deal and I would like to get it all...

Ditto. On both counts. 

[T.L. Haddix]

I was selling on SW, switched to Pubit and nothing.  Absolutely nothing.  I wasn't getting great sales but I was at least doing a little bit.  

Worried - yes, somewhat.  I am concerned that BN won't weather the storm well.  It would be a loss of sorts.  However, I can't remember the last time I bought something over there, and glory heck, their search is horrible!  So count me in the 'worried but not going to be surprised when they fail' category.

[foreverjuly]

Yeah, I am. I'm selling gangbusters over there. And that whole "we're paying you March 1 for two months, surprise!" thing worried me. Why did they do that? You'd think it would be a good thing, but any deviation from the norm is concerning. Now they don't have to pay again until May. What are they up to?

Really? That didn't worry me at all. Companies in financial trouble don't typically start shelling out $$$ before they have to. I thought it was an impressive sign of health.

[Terrence OBrien]

A B&N downtrend warning was issued around Feb 20. Price fell $18.61 to $9.08.

[Asher MacDonald]

A B&N downtrend warning was issued around Feb 20. Price fell $18.61 to $9.08.

What's behind it? I realize that stock price is based on future earnings. Is the market predicting declining revenues for B&N?

I would think that their ebook business would be valuable enough that someone would buy it and maintain it, even if the company goes under. Of course if Apple really gets ramped up and starts selling a lot of ebooks and takes away business from Amazon and B&N, who knows what will happen?

[Jennifer Talty]

Our B&N sales have never been what they are at Amazon, but we have seen an upkick in sales. While Smashwords is a great distributor, we go through Pubit. I don't see why you'd go through a distributor when you can do it yourself just as easily as you can with Kindle.

As far as being worried? It's a physical bookstore... the future is uncertain for them at best. I do hope they can continue the transition to digital and continue to compete with Amazon.

[K. A. Jordan]

My guess is that since the site was 'down' for the better part of January - they wanted to keep their authors. So paying was a gesture of apeasement.

I heard they did 1.1 Billion dollars in business over Christmas. And they are selling more e-books than paper books off their website.

I keep selling e-books over there - and I keep buying e-books. I think I'm breaking even between books bought and books sold. I'm doing my part in keeping them solvent. LOL

[Al Schneider]

Now they're being sued by Microsoft over patent infringements involving the Nook.

http://bit.ly/g5wjUr

[destill]

I am reading on other forums that print books are being returned to many indie publishers this week. Nobody seems to know if they're coming from Border's or Barnes & Noble or both. Today I received 9 returns from Lightning Source. I don't believe Borders ever had this title, so I suspect these were returned from Barnes & Noble. It's not unusual for store returns to occur this time of year. However, many of the authors reporting returns are saying they haven't sold books to the bookstores in over a year. That's true for me too. So it's kind of aggravating to have to refund sales that were made in 2009.

[CraigInTwinCities]

GILLI-GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!

[jessicamorse]

I think I'm breaking even between books bought and books sold. I'm doing my part in keeping them solvent. LOL

Me too. I was so happy to get a Nook as a gift, but I'm spending way too much money on ebooks now. Just trying to help out the industry.

[Gerald]

I don't see why you'd go through a distributor when you can do it yourself just as easily as you can with Kindle.

B&N and PubIt are not available to us over here in the UK. There's a US Bank account restriction which precludes us form publishing direct. So we have to go through Smashwords.

[Bards and Sages (Julie)]

I work in corporate America.  Most corporations work on a 90  to 120 day billing, not 30 days.  In accounting jargon, it is called "conserving cash flow."  You and I would call it being delinquent, of course, but it is a common practice for corporations.  

So if they have not paid Smashwords since October, that tells me Smashwords is a low priority vendor, not neccessarily that there is something wrong at BN.  Unfortunately, even at my company, we do this stuff too.  I've seen our accounting people put off paying invoices of only a couple of hundred dollars because "they can wait."  The vendor just wasn't considered important enough.    So the delay is more likely that they consider Smashwords a low priority, and Mark either doesn't have muscle to force the issue or hasn't tried to yet.  In sociology, it is called the Principle of Least Interest, the person with the least interest in the relationship has the most power.  If BN is more important to Smashwords than Smashwords is to BN, you can bet BN will abuse the relationship.

None of this is good, nor do I condone it.  But it is, unfortunately, common in the corporate world.  

[CraigInTwinCities]

Am as I worried for BN.com as I am for Borders? No. Borders is actively sinking.

BN was close to it, before doubling down on eBooks with the Nook Color.

The Nook Color is selling great... unfortunately, it's because a lot of tech-heads are snapping it up as a low-cost, very hackable, Android tablet. The biggest risk of that kind of popularity on the device is that people aren't using it to buy books, which is want BN wants people to do with it.

Still, that'll settle down in time.

I expect if one is married to BN's brick-and-mortar biz, there could be dark days ahead. We could see a downsizing similar to what Borders is undergoing.

But BN has the Nook and is positioned to come out of this OK on the other side.

Borders was too slow, in that respect. Kobo was never really something they had in-house, and still don't, and they didn't have a DTP/PubIt sort of solution either. If Borders goes away completely, that'll be why.

As troubled as BN's brick-and-mortar future is, one can credit them for taking risks of betting against the future by adopting Nook, launching PubIt, and embracing an Amazon/Kindle type business model as a hedge against a brick-and-mortar downturn.

[CraigInTwinCities]

I work in corporate America.  Most corporations work on a 90  to 120 day billing, not 30 days.  In accounting jargon, it is called "conserving cash flow."  You and I would call it being delinquent, of course, but it is a common practice for corporations.  

So if they have not paid Smashwords since October, that tells me Smashwords is a low priority vendor, not neccessarily that there is something wrong at BN.  Unfortunately, even at my company, we do this stuff too.  I've seen our accounting people put off paying invoices of only a couple of hundred dollars because "they can wait."  The vendor just wasn't considered important enough.    So the delay is more likely that they consider Smashwords a low priority, and Mark either doesn't have muscle to force the issue or hasn't tried to yet.  In sociology, it is called the Principle of Least Interest, the person with the least interest in the relationship has the most power.  If BN is more important to Smashwords than Smashwords is to BN, you can bet BN will abuse the relationship.

None of this is good, nor do I condone it.  But it is, unfortunately, common in the corporate world.  

Hmm. When I was with Meadowbrook they used 60-day terms. Their distributor, S&S, used 90-day, though.

[A.R. Williams]

My guess is that since the site was 'down' for the better part of January...

That's what my thinking was too.

[daringnovelist]

Just remember that the stock market prices aren't really a good measure of a company's long term viability. If you follow the market on ANY stock, you'll see weird panics and rushes.

One thing that happens all the time, is that the market flows in sectors.  If one company in a sector has big news problems, all companies in that sector are hit in the market for anywhere from 3 months to a year.  Same with one company doing well.  (For instance, after the BP disaster, all oil stocks too the hit.  And off and on solar stocks either took a hit too because they are part of the 'energy' sector, or they boomed because they weren't oil.)  It often has nothing to do with the company's fundamentals.

Consider one other thing (to enlarge on what Julie said) -- on of the factors "fundamentals investors" go by to judge a company is how late they pay their debts.  That's considered a sign of power and good management - that they can make their creditors wait.  (But it's supposed to be matched by having the power to get money from those who owe them quickly -- that's the other half of power.  Basically, you can throw your weight around both ways.)

Camille