New York, NY – March 3, 2008 – Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the world’s largest bookseller, announced today the launch of Barnes & Noble Studio, a new multimedia destination on Barnes & Noble.com (www.bn.com/studio). Barnes & Noble Studio will feature a range of original content about books, readers and writers, and showcase web video series and other multimedia content about varied aspects of literature, complemented by user-generated material.
“Barnes & Noble Studio will be the destination for book lovers. A place where readers will go for inspiration and discovery, to view and listen to content and recommend it to other readers who share their literary interests and passions,” said Mike Skagerlind, vice president and head of digital media for Barnes & Noble.com. “Our programming celebrates the diversity and creativity that surround the world of books, authors and readers in a way that is useful, entertaining, and accessible. Barnes & Noble Studio will do for the book what the cooking show did for the recipe.” Mr. Skagerlind recently joined Barnes & Noble and spent 12 years at MTV Networks’ Nickelodeon, where most recently he was the general manager of Nickelodeon Online.
The Studio debuts today with Barnes & Noble Tagged! and Book Obsessed, two new web video series. These two series are the first in a suite of original productions and other content initiatives from Barnes & Noble Studio that are slated to launch over the coming months.
- Barnes & Noble Tagged!, hosted by Molly Pesce, is a magazine-style weekly web series that takes an upbeat look at what’s happening in the book world. The five-minute weekly show will let book-loving viewers know what new titles to look out for and will reveal the stories behind recent book news. The show will also feature an interactive poll where viewers can cast their vote on the chosen topic of the week. Ms. Pesce is a book lover herself with a penchant for real-life adventure books. She is currently writing her own account of modern motherhood and will be familiar to viewers from her role as the host of shows on Animal Planet and NBC’s iVillage Live. The program is produced for Barnes & Noble by Allen/Nee Productions.
- Book Obsessed takes a five-minute look at passionate readers and their world through the books they love. The first episode in the weekly documentary-style series spends a day at the home of Laurie Gold of Dallas, Texas, who loves romance novels – and only romance novels. The second episode features Joe Perlman, a man who has a mere 35,000 books in his Long Island home. The third features a married couple that met at a mystery novel convention. To complement these portraits of book aficionados, Barnes & Noble Studio will invite viewers to upload short videos about their own book obsessions for inclusion into the Book Obsessed channel. Submissions can be made starting March 10. Book Obsessed is produced for Barnes & Noble by City Lights Media and is shot on location around the USA.
The Studio also launches today 16 Book Channels, featuring a large range of book-related videos organized into the following literary genres:
| Book Trailers |
Paranormal |
| Children's |
Politics |
| Diet & Health |
Relationships |
| Fiction |
Religion & Spirituality |
| Historical Fiction |
Romance |
| Home & Hobby |
Sports |
| Mystery |
Thrillers |
| Nonfiction |
TV & Media |
The Book Channels feature a mix of both Barnes & Noble-produced video and audio content, along with publisher book videos. At launch, the total archive will extend to over 700 video and audio pieces, ranging from exclusive author interviews, live performances at Barnes & Noble stores and readings to book trailers from publishing houses.
In addition to launching these new web-video series today, Barnes & Noble Studio will also act as another way to access other original series that Barnes & Noble has already created and launched:
- One on One -- Hosted by Public Radio veteran Katherine Lanpher, this audio series has in-depth interviews with notable writers, including Louis Auchincloss, Sherman Alexie, Ann Patchett and Robert Dallek.
- Upstairs At The Square -- Again hosted by Katherine Lanpher, this performance and interview web-video series is taped before a live audience at Barnes & Noble’s Union Square store in Manhattan. The series matches up literary notables with up and coming musical talent such as David Lynch and Au Revoir Simone, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Craig Finn, Paul and Sophie Auster.
- Live From B&N -- This video series is devoted to live appearances at stores all across the country by writers from all walks of life, including Madeleine Albright, Valerie Plame Wilson, Oliver Sacks, Jim Cramer, Tom Brokaw and Umberto Eco.
- Meet The Writers – Video -- This video series features interviews with authors. Recent interviews have included President Bill Clinton, John Grisham, and Leonard Nimoy.
- Meet The Writers – Audio -- Hosted by Steve Bertrand of Chicago’s WGN Radio, this audio series has already interviewed over 370 writers since its inception in 2002.
- Barnes & Noble Book Clubs -- Launched in October 2006, these clubs host more than 150,000 user sessions every day, participating in 33 distinct discussions. In addition to discussions on specific titles, Barnes & Noble recently launched its “Center Stage” feature, where book club participants have a weekly chance to chat in forum discussions with notable writers. The March Center Stage schedule features Sophie Kinsella, Sara Paretsky, Anne Rice and Jonathan Kellerman.
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About Barnes & Noble, Inc.
Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the world’s largest bookseller and a Fortune 500 company, operates 801 bookstores in 50 states. For the fourth year in a row, the company is the nation’s top bookseller brand, as determined by a brand’s overall strength based on its combination of familiarity, quality and purchase intent, according to the EquiTrend® Brand Study by Harris Interactive®. Barnes & Noble conducts its online business through Barnes & Noble.com (www.bn.com), one of the Web’s largest e-commerce sites.
General information on Barnes & Noble, Inc. can be obtained via the Internet by visiting the company’s corporate website: http://www.barnesandnobleinc.com.
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