Mind the Gap

Barnes & Noble is the latest player looking to fill the Baker & Taylor–sized hole in the library market, with the retailer now touting its e-commerce portal for libraries. Just two weeks after being named interim CEO at HarperCollins UK, Kate Elton has officially taken the helm at the publisher in the wake of Charlie Redmayne’s abrupt resignation. Rich Dad Poor Dad publisher Plata is launching a children’s imprint focused on financial literacy. Amazon is planning to replace more than half a million warehouse workers with robots, according to internal documents obtained by the New York Times. For Reactor, author Maddie Martinez considers the growing trend of “lady knight” fantasy fiction. In France, independent booksellers are condemning Amazon France’s recent announcement of a 5% discount on new books delivered to more than 3,000 collection points across the country, reports the Bookseller. The San Francisco Chronicle visits a recently opened Bay Area romantasy bookstore to suss out why the genre has become so ubiquitous. The Hobbyist talked with former New York Times book critic Molly Young about the art of the book recommendation. And former Mystery Guild editor-in-chief and Ballantine editor Mary Ann Eckels has died at 87.