Hard Nook life

B&N e-reader sales take plunge

THE NOOK e-reader business is turning out to be anything but a page-turner for Barnes & Noble.

The bookseller said on Thursday its holiday sales sagged, pulled down largely by a hefty 61% drop in sales at its Nook unit.

Sales of the tablets and their accessories slumped 67% from a year earlier as fewer goods were sold and average prices fell. Sales of content, including digital books and apps, fell 27%.

New CEO Michael Huseby blamed the weakness on a lack of new Nook models last year compared to 2012, when Barnes & Noble put out two updated devices.

The New Yorkbased company promoted Huseby, formerly head of its digital division, to its top spot Wednesday.

“Barnes & Noble is stuck in a really tricky situation,” Michael Souers, senior industry analyst at S&P Capital IQ, told the Daily News.

“Their retail stores are profitable but slowly losing share to e-books, and then the Nook is a drain on cash flow and investment.”

The company has poured money into the Nook in recent years, but still has struggled to keep pace with the growth of rival devices like Apple’s iPad and Amazon’s Kindle.

“The competition is so intense, it’s difficult to see them gaining a major foothold,” Souers said.

Overall sales at B&N stores and on its website fell 6.6% to $1.1 billion. Minus the Nook business, though, comparable store sales were down just 0.2%.