Bitchin' Blog Posts
: Borders
July 18, 2011 | Monday | 27 Comments
From Kim comes this Center for Media Research report on research into adult owners of eReaders and tablets. Key line that cracked me up: The report suggests that men’s affinity for Tablets may be a reflection of the way they view ownership of technological gadgets with respect to their peers. For instance, men are much more likely than women to report: “I want others to say ‘Wow!’ when they see my electronics.” No wonder people were doubtful as to the success of a smaller tablet when there’s already 10” out there. I put the funny stuff first to try to…
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March 02, 2011 | Wednesday | 61 Comments
On Twitter I recently asked the following question: “If you could buy digital books in a physical bookstore, would you shop there?” I asked because I saw a eReads article about digital book kiosks in physical bookstores, an idea I would LOVE to see. I’ve been thinking a great deal lately about how I shop for books, what I look for when I go buy a book, and I realized, I seek a specific title when I go make a purchase. I haven’t browsed a romance section in a bookstore in a very, very long time. Yet I have a…
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February 16, 2011 | Wednesday | 225 Comments
With the news that Borders filed for bankruptcy, I started thinking about the Borders that I went to when I was younger, back when a giant huge bookstore was a luxury I’d never experienced. There were fireplaces! And big huge chairs! And more books than I’d ever seen in my life, and the employees were friendly as opposed to condescending like the people in the local bookstore near my house who never had any good chapter books for kids. Colleen Lindsay was saying that if the local Borders near her brother’s home closes, there won’t be a bookstore for 35…
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August 24, 2010 | Tuesday | 24 Comments
First, a link to NPR’s article on Digital Overload: Your Brain on Gadgets. According to the article, The New York Times reports that the average computer user checks 40 websites a day and can switch programs 36 times an hour. “It’s an onslaught of information coming in today,” says New York Times technology journalist Matt Richtel. “At one time a screen meant maybe something in your living room. But now it’s something in your pocket so it goes everywhere — it can be behind the wheel, it can be at the dinner table, it can be in the bathroom. We…
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July 08, 2010 | Thursday | 35 Comments
So Borders opened an e-bookstore along with apps for Android and Blackberry to go with the existing apps for iPods and iPhones. On one hand, there is indication that Borders will also step up the in-store ebook offerings (without specific mention as to HOW they’re going to do that). And on the other hand, there’s Mike Cane’s take on the Border’s e-bookstore, which focuses on the Borders Inc President Mike Edwards’ comment that “We’ll take market share just by turning it on.” I agree with Cane: that comment is just flush with the 0_o and the ??! and WTFery spread…
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April 06, 2010 | Tuesday | 24 Comments
You know where you need to go to learn about the facts of life? To Borders.
No, really. Borders. Witness this photograph by Elizabeth of It’s a Wonderful Book:
See? As Elizabeth put it, “Looks like they’re trying to tell our heroines something…” Yes. Beware the salt!
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March 17, 2010 | Wednesday | 37 Comments
In mid-February, I asked for your responses in a very low-key, utterly not-scientific survey about Where you like to buy your books, and in what format. Behold, the results! First, this is hands down my favorite comment in response to “Tell me what store or buying option I forgot:” Mostly, I buy at the drugstore/grocery store these days. But I’ve bought everywhere I checked above. Yes, I’ve even swiped books from the library, but never on purpose. More in the “oh, dear, so that’s where that book went” sort of way. But the most interesting place I’ve ever acquired a…
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November 22, 2009 | Sunday | 9 Comments
On Friday a press release went out announcing that Borders is now the official bookseller of RomCon 2010, which takes place in Denver on July July 9-11: Borders is the official on-site bookseller and will manage author signings as well as provide support for “The Readers’ Crown” published author contest being held in conjunction with the conference. Registration for RomCon is available at romconinc.com. Slated for Friday through Sunday, July 9-11, 2010 in Denver, Colo., the conference will bring readers and aspiring authors from all over to celebrate their number one passion—Romance fiction. While at the convention, attendees will enjoy…
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September 10, 2009 | Thursday | 9 Comments
I was waiting for the bus, reading The Virgin Secretary’s Impossible Boss on my Sony 700—finally HPs and I could once again indulge in our secret love!—when the guy next to me leaned over. “Hey, is that a Kindle?” Sadly this was not the first time I’ve been asked this question during the test drive, and it wouldn’t be the last. Oh, Sony marketing fail. “Nope,” I explained, “it’s a Sony PRS-700 ebook reader.” I showed him the touch screen with its iPod like icons, and I showed him the catalogue function. I even did a little demo to illustrate…
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September 01, 2009 | Tuesday | 16 Comments
It’s Unleash Your Story time to benefit Cystic Fibrosis. The Madison chapter of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation does an annual benefit that raises money to fight cystic fibrosis and encourages you to read and write as much as possible. There’s prizes, too! The grand prize for the person who raises the most money will win a quilt handmade by Michelle Baker. (Y’ALL. Check out the turtle quilt Michelle made.) The grand prize quilt? Cowboys, baby: shirtless cowboys with incredible quilt stitching details like boots and hats. There are pacesetters, too: author Lori Wilde is challenging writers with a 3000 words-a-day…
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August 23, 2009 | Sunday | 1 Comments
Sunday is the day that Jane and I are featured at the Borders True Romance Blog, so that means today is our first column. Woo hoo!
Today we’re talking about romances we recommend, books we love, and authors we’re looking forward to reading. We step outside romance, too, when we talk about the books we give as gifts.
We hope you’ll stop by and talk with us, this and every Sunday.
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August 17, 2009 | Monday | 28 Comments
This weekend, I’ve been shopping for some tuxedos with ruffled shirts and practicing both the dance where you rock back and forth on your toes and the part where Jane and I go “WOO HOO.” Why? Because today we’re debuting as the Romance Experts at the Borders:True Romance Blog with Sue Grimshaw. She’s the Gladys Knight of romance, so we’re the Pips, and we’re on the Midnight Train to Romance. WOO HOO! Sue is one of the most recognizable faces in the industry. You might have met her at a conference or at an RWA chapter meeting, or read an…
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July 24, 2009 | Friday | 26 Comments
When I presented at Digital Book, one of my fellow panelists was Michael Santangelo, the Electronic Resources Specialist at the Brooklyn Public Library. In his slides, he featured a picture of their digital kiosks, which allow library patrons to check requests, reserve books, and manage most of the features of their library account. I think similar kiosks should be installed in bookstores so that people who want to buy ebooks can do so - in the store. This would be where the million dollars come in! Any sexy venture capitalists out there want to take me to lunch? I’m a…
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March 26, 2009 | Thursday | 7 Comments
We love the contemporary like Damn and Whoa (tm SmartBitch Sarah) so we’ve created a special little online place for them at http://savethecontemporary.com and we’ve run a kind of monthly campaign highlighting a different book. This month’s book was Lisa Kleypas’ Smooth Talking Stranger which Jane described as a Snoopy book (Happiness is a warm puppy) and I described as the book as having suds that stay with you. Which, in real person terms means we both loved the book and wanted an effective way of telling others we loved it to. From now until April 6, 2009, Borders is…
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March 24, 2009 | Tuesday | 4 Comments
Showing off one of the smartest, savviest people in romance bookbuying today, Borders has announced a new online feature: True Romance with Sue Grimshaw. The first guest in the multimedia interview is author Lisa Jackson who talks about her latest book, Malice. I’m curious why Jackson, who is no doubt a very skilled writer, is the featured guest for a romance column, since the book seems to be about a man caught up in the unfamiliar history of his first wife’s life and death. Is it a romance? No idea. But if Sue Grimshaw is recommending it, I’ll definitely pay…
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