Barnes & Noble

The Kitchn Launches Paid Membership and Print Magazine

The Kitchn, part of the Apartment Therapy Media portfolio, launched a paid membership tier that includes a new quarterly print magazine plus members-only digital recipes, personalized recommendations, an AI-powered cooking assistant and an ad-free Cook Mode. The debut issue, “What’s for Dinner?”, will appear on newsstands at Target, Walmart and Barnes & Noble on July 31 with an initial print run of about 80,000 copies. The membership was developed in-house, editorially led by Kitchn Editor-in-Chief Lindsay Funston, costs $40 annually at launch (no monthly option) and does not put existing free content behind a paywall—preserving the publisher’s programmatic ad business, which the company says has seen RPM rise 20% year over year. Company president Riva Syrop framed the move as incremental diversification rather than a rescue of the business.

Brands Adjust Shipping Policies Amid Rising Fuel Costs

Higher fuel prices have pushed retailers and D2C brands to revise shipping policies: companies are raising free-shipping thresholds, adding delivery fees, testing paid options, and switching to calculated shipping that reflects carrier rates. The pressure follows spikes in gas prices tied to disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz and rising carrier fuel surcharges; carriers including FedEx, UPS and the U.S. Postal Service have raised prices. Small brands like TickWise 3 Moms Organics report large increases in truckload and per-package costs and have raised product prices and free-shipping minimums. Larger retailers (Barnes & Noble, J.Crew, Madewell) have also adjusted site shipping options. Some merchants (Joe & Bella) found higher thresholds cut conversion and reverted changes, while others (Lori’s Designer Shoes) plan to show calculated rates to preserve order volume. The changes highlight trade-offs between covering fulfillment costs and protecting conversion/average order value.

Barnes & Noble CEO OK With Selling AI Books

Barnes & Noble CEO James Daunt said in an NBC interview that he has no problem selling AI-generated books under conditions: they must not pretend to be human-authored, must not copy others, should be clearly labelled, and must possess sufficient quality and consumer demand. The comment follows a high-profile case in which Hachette Book Group pulled the horror novel Shy Girl and cancelled a planned U.S. edition after analysis by detection software (Pangram) suggested up to 78% AI-generated content and allegations that author Mia Ballard used AI. The article also notes wider industry developments: an Anthropic settlement over training data, and a BoD survey reporting 52% of authors in German-speaking countries use AI tools for writing-related tasks.