Hearst Newspapers Acquires Puzzle Games Platform Puzzmo

Auto-renewal subscription programs are a great way for e-commerce businesses to build a constant revenue stream. And they benefit both the company and the consumer. Companies can sell their product or service consistently over a period of time, while the customer doesn’t have to be hassled with repurchasing the product or service every month or year. My daughter has a guinea pig, and we have set our Amazon account to send us her preferred guinea pig food each month, for which we get automatically charged the same amount each month. Little Trevor will never starve! Similarly, we subscribe to Netflix, and we pay a fee that is automatically charged to our credit card each month. Many subscription programs offer new customers the ability to try a service for free for a trial period. To take advantage of the free trial offer, customers have to provide a credit card that will be automatically charged at the end of the trial if the customer does not cancel in time. Click Read More below for additional information.

Forty-five-year-old Boulder Book Store in Boulder, Colo., was named the 2018 PW Bookstore of the Year by a panel of industry judges. The bookstore has been a pioneer in a number of industry initiatives. It was, for example, the first store to buy on Edelweiss and one of the pioneers in setting up consignment sections dedicated to specific publishers. Bookstore owner David Bolduc, who founded the bookstore in 1973, was also the co-founder of the country's first local first organization, the Boulder Independent Business Alliance. He co-founded the Boulder County Farmers' Market as well. "David has been a leader in many facets of our community," said Sean Maher, CEO of the Downtown Boulder Partnership, adding that the bookstore is "an absolute landmark. And we are thrilled that they are part of our community."

The lack of a breakout print hit did not prevent unit sales in the first half of 2017 from being 3% higher than in the first six months of last year, at outlets that report to NPD BookScan (which captures 80%–85% of print unit sales). Units for the January–June period in 2017 were 310.7 million, up from 302.8 million a year ago. Just as it was in the first six months of 2016, the backlist favorite Oh, the Places You’ll Go! by Dr. Seuss was the most popular title in the first half of this year, selling more than 482,000 copies (up from 458,000 copies in January–June 2016). All four of the major segments did better this year than in the first six months of 2016. Juvenile fiction had the best performance, with unit sales up 5%. In addition to higher sales of Oh, the Places You’ll Go!, the segment benefitted from strong sales of two editions of Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher, which together sold approximately 500,000 print copies. The animal category had the biggest gain among juvenile fiction segments, with sales up 21%. Click Read More below for additional detail.