Wyatt Mason has been named consulting editor at large for the Margellos World Republic of Letters, Yale University Press's series of literature in translation.

Amazon's editors have selected their 10 titles as Top Picks in February, and the titles are seeing varying levels of success.

Following the example of iconic bookstores like New England Mobile Book Fair and Politics & Prose, 22-year-old R.J. Julia is putting itself on the selling block.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar will be on The View on February 7 for his children's book What Color is My World: The Lost History of African American Inventors (Candlewick Press, 9780763645649).

Bookseller Una Mulzac (1923-2012), founder of the Harlem’s Liberation Bookstore on West 131st Street in New York City, died late last month at the age of 88.

Edwards Brothers and Malloy Inc., both based in Ann Arbor, have combined to create Edwards Brothers Malloy.

The man who grew the Hudson News chain from a single store in LaGuardia Airport in 1987 to roughly 600 stores in the U.S. and Canada, Robert B. Cohen, died; he was 86.

With the closing of Outwrite Books in Atlanta late last month and the impending closing of True Colors (formerly Amazon Bookstore Cooperative) in Minneapolis, some in bookselling circles have begun to question whether niche bookstores can survive. Twenty years ago, specialty stores were seen as a strategy to face the onslaught of the chains. “The niche has been completely our salvation,” says Richard Goldman, co-owner of 21-year-old Mystery Lovers Bookshop in Oakmont, Pa. “While it’s not a universal cure-all, it was key to our strategy.” Although many specialty bookstores have closed, others are finding success by shifting their focus, broadening their inventory, and adding more events. And some are growing. Mysterious Galaxy in San Diego, Calif., opened a second location in Redondo Beach last fall; Idlewild Books in New York City added an outpost in Brooklyn last month; and A Room of One’s Own in Madison, Wis., is moving to a new space in July, doubling in size.

In a world where people increasingly consume their content on multiple platforms, questions are swirling about why publishers are not allowing readers easy access to both digital and print. (Studies show that most e-book readers also buy print books.)

Despite posting a 35% sales increase for the fourth quarter and earnings that were better than expected (if still down compared to a year ago), last week was a tough one for Amazon. Analysts and investors were disappointed in the quarterly report, and the stock price for the nation’s largest online retailer fell almost 8% the day after the earnings report was released on Tuesday, though it bounced back a bit on Thursday. Analysts have long worried that Amazon was investing too heavily in its business, but that hasn’t stopped Amazon from keeping up those investments or its stock price rising (it has a 52-week high of $246.71). The most recent report, though, renewed concerns among some analysts that Amazon was not getting a high enough return on its investments.