Barnes & Noble's New Digital Strategy: Co-Branded Tablets with Samsung & Colbert Gives Amazon The Finger

Publishers Lunch

For months, Barnes & Noble has promised investors and the press that a new digital strategy was in the works as its Nook operations continued to decline in revenues and lose money. That strategy, announced Thursday, is a partnership with Samsung to create co-branded Galaxy 4 tablets powered by Nook software. The 7-inch tablet is expected to be available for sale in August and will be sold at BN's stores, where they will be "prominently displayed" alongside the e-Ink Nook Glowlight.

BN president and ceo Michael Huseby said in a statement that working with Samsung on the tablet "will allow [Barnes & Noble] to reduce its exposure to the substantial cost structure and other financial commitments that accompany ownership of the hardware production aspects of the Nook tablet business. Going forward, the company will be able to focus on its proven expertise in acquiring and delivering the best digital reading experience to grow Nook content sales." Huseby also declared: "We are very excited and proud to partner with Samsung, a world-class technology and tablet leader, to create customized co-branded devices featuring our valuable Nook reading experience and digital content catalog for Barnes & Noble customers nationwide." As usual, Barnes & Noble's stock actually perked up in recent days ahead of the news, and shares are up again in pre-market trading.

Samsung Electronics America president Tim Baxter said: "Samsung has had a strong relationship with Barnes & Noble, offering the company’s award-winning reading experience to users of Galaxy Tab products...we are excited to be taking this next step with Barnes & Noble to offer Galaxy Tab 4 devices that are tailored to the needs of their customers and enhance the Nook reading experience." Samsung has been pre-loading the Nook kids app on some of their tablets, and Barnes & Noble has been talking about moving away from producing their own color tablets since early 2013.
For more on Barnes & Noble, including their plan to move NOOK from Palo Alto to Santa Clara, visit PublishersMarketplace.com.

Colbert Gives Amazon The Finger, And Collects Pre-Orders for A Hachette Author

Hachette Book Group author Stephen Colbert used his Comedy Central television show to speak out on the battle between his publisher and Amazon on Wednesday night. "Now I'm not just mad at Amazon," Colbert said, "I'm mad Prime." After explaining the standoff to his viewers, Colbert concluded by offering Amazon a special "little package" that ships immediately: He opened the box to reveal his obscured middle finger, and then noted, "customers who enjoy this, also enjoy this" (adding his second middle finger).

In the second part of the segment, Colbert brought out another HBG author Sherman Alexie. "You root for the authors," Alexie said -- and to put that into action, he recommended pre-ordering Edan Lepucki's debut novel CALIFORNIA, which publishes July 8. Colbert paired with Powells.com to drive pre-orders "and we're going to prove that I can sell more books than Amazon." The Colbert site has a callout that links to the Powells order page.  The home page also features a printable sheet of "I Didn't Buy It On Amazon" stickers. "Peel it off and put it right on any book you're reading," Colbert recommended.

Among other punchlines, Colbert commiserated that due to Amazon's delays in availability on many Hachette titles, "If you order Hachette's 21-day Weight Loss Kickstart, by the time it arrives you're still fat." While Amazon recommends customers consider used versions of Hachette books, "publishers and authors get no cash from used book sales. Plus you don't want them. Used books are the sluts of the literary world -- passed around from person to person, spreading their pages for anyone, getting cheaper and cheaper until eventually, they end up in prison."

The segment was very much Colbert telling Amazon and "Lord Bezomore" this: "Watch out Bezos, this means war." He added, "Sure Amazon may have an army of drones. But Hachette has, whatever a hachette is.... I'm going to say a tiny french hatchet?"

In separate but related news, Bloomberg reports on the battle and says HBG author Douglas Preston has "been trying to draft a statement to help articulate Amazon's effect on authors, [but] only about half of the writers he's contacted have agreed to help -- a sign of Amazon's power, he said. 'Quite a few authors say, 'I totally agree with you, but I'm terrified going against Amazon.'"
Main Colbert video clip if you have not seen