Book News, In Brief

Waterstone's sales continue to slide. Starf**ked store reps blame a decreased interest in celebrity biographies.
Related: The New Statesman's 'How celebrities saved, then killed, the book trade.'


The sales lost during Amazon's recent anti-gay glitch has prompted The Globe & Mail to ask, If you don't exist on Amazon, do you exist at all?
Related: Publishing Talk's 'amazonfail - 10 unanswered questions'.


Bad news for Google may mean increased sales for Facebook-savvy indies. New research shows that while people are spending less of their time online shopping, 'they are clicking-through to online retailers from social networks at an increasing rate.'
Related: The WP's 'Who Killed the Bookstore? The Reader, at Home, With the Computer.'


Sometimes, getting laid off isn't such a bad thing. The Ann Arbor Business reports that "ousted Borders Group Inc. CEO George Jones made a total of $4.6 million in salary, stock awards and severance pay during his last year," and that his "payout was heavily boosted by a severance payment that could top $2.3 million and consulting payments of $170,000 a month in January, February and March of this year." Borders, I beg you: Fire me!
Related: Reuters' 'Borders' net income dives, expects weak 2009.'