As expected, yesterday Amazon.com introduced a larger-screen Kindle. Called the Kindle DX, the e-reader will retail for $489 and make its e-debut this summer. Its screen is about a third larger than the Kindle 2's.

Also as expected, the new Kindle is designed to appeal to newspaper and text publishers, although some observers are questioning--considering its price tag--whether it can be a big screen on campus.

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"Our view increasingly is that in certain discretionary categories the total market has shifted down--depending on the category, by between 15 and 25 percent," Borders CEO Ron Marshall told the World Retail Congress, as reported by Reuters. "It may be many, many years before we regain the spending levels we enjoyed just last year."

He added that Borders has "worked very, very hard to reduce our permanent cost structure and improve our financial structure so that we could be profitable at that lower level (of consumer activity)."

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On her bookstore blog, Harriett Logan, owner of Loganberry Books, Shaker Heights, Ohio, responded to yesterday's report on Borders company-wide handselling efforts (Shelf Awareness, May 6, 2009): "In theory, this is just a human counterpart to a national sales campaign (Are you sure there isn't a publisher deal involved here?). And they didn't mention the quotas. I know a longtime manager for Borders who was recently fired for not meeting these quotas--not exactly a kumbaya family approach to business. Why bother hiring intelligent people if you don't let them think? Why bother selling tools for intellectual growth if there is only one approved choice?"

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Morningside Books, New York, N.Y., will close in June. According to the Columbia Spectator, owner Peter Soter indicated that "though the University has been 'very supportive, and very helpful,' he is simply not making enough money to stay open."

"It may be too simple to say, but you need money to make money," Soter said. "I have always been a bit behind financially. I spend 5 years--taking maybe four days off and always working weekends--dedicating myself and committing to the store. To think about what to do next, it is weird. It is really hard to think about.”

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Expectations are high for The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet, a debut novel by Reif Larsen "for which he was reportedly advanced $900,000 after a fierce auction among nine publishers last June," the Boston Globe reported in a front page article Tuesday, the book's release date.

The Globe noted that Larsen describes his novel as "'exploded hyper-text' with arrows directing readers to the marginalia that are crucial to his storytelling. It is a novel with graphics, not a graphic novel."

Although he launches his U.S. tour today at the Brookline Booksmith, Larsen "held a preview for 16 local booksellers over wine and cheese kabobs at his parents' home in Cambridge," according to the Globe.

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ReadHowYouWant has partnered with the Perseus Books Group and its digital service, Constellation, to create books for visually impaired readers. In a statement, ReadHowYouWant noted that its "conversion technology will
repurpose the books into high-quality alternative formats, including 16-to-24 point EasyRead large print, Braille, e-books, synthesized audio MP3, and DAISY--a talking book format that produces audio along with the written text."

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Sad news. Johanna Justin-Jinich, a Wesleyan University junior working at the Red and Black Cafe at Broad Street Books, the university bookstore, in Middletown, Conn., was shot and killed by a gunman wearing a wig yesterday, according to the AP. Some reports indicated that the man being sought may be an ex-boyfriend. 

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Effective immediately, Random House Publisher Services is handling special sales for Candlewick Press, including sales into the specialty retail, specialty wholesale, premium and gift trade areas. Random House will continue to be responsible for Candlewick's back-office distribution services--warehousing, shipping, invoicing and collecting in the U.S., as well as full-service sales and distribution in Canada. Candlewick will continue to provide in-house sales coverage for the non-profit and literacy and display marketer channels. 

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Changes in Simon & Schuster's children's publishing division:

• Justin Chanda, v-p and publisher of Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, will now also head the Atheneum and McElderry imprints.
• Emma Dryden, v-p and publisher of the Atheneum and Margaret K. McElderry imprints, will take on an "advisory role" and will continue to edit authors such as Ellen Hopkins, Karma Wilson and Alan Katz.
• Mara Anastas, v-p and deputy publisher of Aladdin and Simon Pulse, will now also take charge of the Little Simon and Simon Spotlight imprints.
• Frank Totaro, v-p and deputy publisher for Little Simon and Simon Spotlight, is leaving the company, effective May 12.
• Kevin Lewis, editorial director of S&S Books for Young Readers, is also leaving the company.