Barnes & Noble opens online book forum with best-selling writers
In the continuing trend to make online book stores more interactive with customers, BarnesandNoble.com this week launched a book club forum that features online discussions with best-selling authors. The Center Stage Book Club will feature a different author each week. First up this month is Luanne Rice, author of "Blue Moon" and the soon-to-be-released "Light of the Moon", whose personal replies to book forum participants are already featured on BN.com/bookclubs.
“The Barnes & Noble online Book Clubs have become one of the premiere gathering places where readers and writers can interact with and among each other about their favorite books and other topics,” says Marie Toulantis, CEO of BarnesandNoble.com, the online subsidiary of Barnes & Noble Inc. “With the addition of the Center Stage series, we welcome even more writers to our community of avid readers.”
The online discussions are free and open to all BN.com visitors, who can read all forum postings whether or not they register. Those who register with a name and e-mail address can post new messages and reply to other participants.
Other authors the book club will feature this month are Dennis Lehane, author of Mystic River and other thrillers; Jim Cramer, the host of CNBC’s “Mad Money” TV program and author of “Jim Cramer’s Stay Mad for Life: Get Rich, Stay Rich (Make Your Kids Even Richer)”; and Deanna Raybourn, a mystery writer whose latest book is “Silent in the Sanctuary.”
BarnesandNoble.com, No. 33 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide, is also featuring the First Look Book Club, which is currently engaged in a discussion about author Kate Morton’s forthcoming suspense novel, “The House at Riverton,” due for a U.S. release in April.
BarnesandNoble.com’s expansion of interactive features comes at a time when its online sales performance is outpacing growth in store sales. For the third quarter ended Nov. 3, the retailer posted a 14.5% year-over-year increase in online sales to $108.2 million, compared to store sales growth of 4.5% and comp store sales of 2.6%. Comp store sales are for stores open at least a year.
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