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Welcome
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Index (scroll down for stories)
1. 'Lace
Reader' another
example of self-publishing success 1. 'Lace Reader' another example of self-publishing success Buzz created by local bookstores and book clubs gave debut author Brunonia Barry the boost she needed to get her self-published novel, The Lace Reader, picked up by HarperCollins and promoted into a best-seller. Barry had a dream that led to creation of the novel: "I had a dream that I saw a future event in a piece of lace," Barry says, "and it came true the next day." That’s when she sat down and began writing the manuscript. Her husband, Gary Ward, encouraged her to self-publish. The two have their own software publishing business, which served as the experience base for the venture. The Lace Reader is set in Salem, Mass., and the picturesque seaside town plays a major role in the story. The author and her husband promoted the book by going to local independent bookstores and asking for the names of local book clubs that might be interested in reading a first-time author. "The first two book clubs got just straight pages of the book in a box," Ward says. "We didn't have any real printed books yet." Hilary
Emerson Lay, manager of the Spirit of '76 bookstore in Marblehead, Mass., calls
Barry and Eventually, Barry and Ward printed 2,000 copies of the book. Local bookstores talked it up, and word spread to book clubs around the country. Booksellers also helped Barry make important contacts in the publishing world that led to The Lace Reader receiving a starred review in Publishers Weekly. Rebecca Oliver, a literary agent with Endeavor talent agency, became Barry's agent and put the book out for auction in fall 2007. Before the bidding even got off the ground, Oliver turned down a seven-figure offer. "The first bid came in, and Gary and I said, 'Yes we'll take it,'" Barry remembers. "And [Oliver] said, 'I don't think so.'" In the end, three major publishing houses bid on the book. She signed with William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins, for a deal that is reportedly worth more than $2 million. In addition to the original deal, the rights to the book have also been sold in more than 20 countries, and there is interest in adapting the story into a film. Here’s the opening sentences of the book: “My name is Towner Whitney. No, that's not exactly true. My real first name is Sophya. Never believe me. I lie all the time. I am a crazy woman. ... That last part is true.” 2. Indie Press 101: How to check titles by publisher on Amazon.com In the July issue of the Southern Review of Books, we noted that according to R.R. Bowker, 134,773 new print on demand (POD) titles, produced by toner on paper rather than ink on paper, were listed in Books in Print in 2007. That led us to question how many of those 134,773 titles were short-run books coming from the vanity/subsidy presses frequented by authors who can’t find a traditional publisher and lack the knowledge to create their own small press to self-publish their work. That in turn led us to check the number of titles that come up under the names of the top vanity presses/subsidy publishers using the Web site search function of the U.S. division of Amazon.com. Why check Amazon? Because Amazon.com is intent at the moment on creating vanity press monopolies for its BookSurge and CreateSpace divisions. It is doing this by turning off the “Buy Now” buttons on the Amazon Web site for subsidy and some other publishers that don’t manufacture their POD books at the two Amazon POD divisions - or list them via the Amazon Advantage or Marketplace options. One of the vanity presses, BookLocker, is seeking class action status for a lawsuit it has filed against Amazon.com’s new POD manufacturing policy, alleging the new Amazon dictum is contrary to certain provisions of the Sherman Antitrust Act. There are at least two different methodologies for finding the number of titles listed on Amazon.com that are published by a given company. Each of the methodologies produce different results. We asked Amazon.com public relations to verify our numbers and methodology for the July issue story, but the public relations folks declined to cooperate. Amazon’s position is that it doesn’t disclose the counts of books by publishers – even though anyone can use the Amazon search functions to get those numbers. Amazon.com public relations also declined to tell us how many titles in total are listed on the Amazon.com Web site. The best the Amazon PR folks would do is say there were “millions.” So far, the highest rank we’ve seen for a title listed on Amazon.com was something over six million (where No. 1 is a best-seller and 6,000,000 is a rank for a book that is dead in the water), so it seems fairly safe to say that at least six million titles are listed on the book site. In this article, we’ll tell you how to use either of two methodologies if you want to get a rough idea of how many titles are listed on Amazon by a given publisher. For the July issue story, we chose to use the search box at the top of the Amazon home page. To do this, go to Amazon’s home page. In the search engine box at top left, choose “Books” in the pulldown menu. In the empty box to the right of the pulldown menu, type in the name of the publisher in which you are interested. The counts we found for 12 vanity presses using this methodology are shown in column two (the middle column) of the table below. To use the second methodology, use the advanced search function at Amazon.com. To do this, as an Amazon.com tech (not in public relations) informed us, and as Angela Hoy of BookLocker reminded us, go to the Amazon.com home page. In the search boxes at the top, use the pulldown menu at the left to select “Books.” When the new page comes up, click on “Advanced Search” in the upper left hand corner of the page. This will bring up the advanced search page where you can make a number of selections. If you have trouble finding the advanced search button, clicking on the following hyperlink will take you to the same page: http://www.amazon.com/Advanced-Search-Books/b/ref=sv_b_0?ie=UTF8&node=241582011 To get the numbers in our third column, we entered the name of a publisher such as “Lulu” in the publisher box on the advanced search page. For our variables, we selected All Subjects, All Conditions, All Formats, All Bindings, All Ages, All Languages, All Dates and then sorted by Relevance. We ran our sort totals on Aug. 8, 2008. If you use the same settings for an advanced search, you’ll come up with pretty much the same numbers we did in column 3 in the table below. If you use a different set of variables, you’ll come up with different numbers. Why the difference in the totals in the two columns? There are a number of reasons. Perhaps the most important is that column two gives total of titles. Column 3 gives totals for titles in all formats. In other words, in column two, one title counts as one title. In column three, one title published in hardback, paperback, mass market and ebook would count for four titles. If there’s an audio book version, the count is five. That’s perhaps the main, but not the only, reason, that the numbers in column three usually tend to be bigger than those in column two. Another big difference is in the way different vendors enter information on titles into the Amazon.com database. Then there’s the matter of the online merchants who vend through Amazon, and make their own entries for titles available or use services like Fillz to do so. The vagaries of the Amazon database and search engine also produce different results with different search functions. Finally, keep in mind that many of the titles are entered by first-time authors unfamiliar with the Amazon system, so coding errors are common. To get a handle on the vagaries of the Amazon system, consider what happens if you enter “Lightning Source” as the publisher using either methodology outlined above. Lightning Source is not a publisher, but rather, a wholesaler/vendor of POD titles. A search using methodology 1 produces one title supposedly published by Lightning Source, which in fact is published by someone else. A search using methodology 2 produces 165 results – none of which are published by Lightning Source, although most of the titles can probably be purchased from Lightning Source. We put in our own publishing house under the advanced search function, and the Amazon search engine returned more than twice as many listings as we should have had. For that reason, we are particularly suspicious of any data obtained in column 3 below using the advanced search function. The listings are likely more than twice as high as the actual title count by publisher. So take all number produced by either methodology with a grain of proverbial salt. Despite all the weaknesses of the Amazon search engine, either methodology for checking titles by publisher may be useful to you at one time or another. Because the Bowker numbers for POD (toner on paper as opposed to ink on paper) titles published in 2007 was what first got us interested in the number of vanity press titles on Amazon (most of the vanity press titles these days are toner on paper, or POD), when time and space permit, we hope to use the advance search function to break out vanity press titles published in 2007 to see how they stack up against the Bowker number. The advanced search function should permit us to do that with a modicum of accuracy. For now, what’s perhaps most important is that titles from the major vanity presses make up a relatively small part of the more than six million titles that appear to be listed on Amazon.
3. Breaking news from the book barons Hachette Book Group estimates that they sold 1.3 million copies of Stephenie Meyer's Breaking Dawn on Aug. 2, the release date for the book, a vampire love chronicle popular with teen females. The company added a 500,000-copy reprint prior to publication, for 3.7 million total copies in print. Borders announced that its stores and web site sold over 250,000 copies on opening day--"nearly 10 times what the retailer's first-day sales were for Eclipse, the third book in the series."… A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, which was published in hardcover in May 2007, will appear as a trade paperback on November 25. Riverhead Books has already shipped more than 2.3 million copies of the hardcover… Hachette Book Group said it will use BlogTalkRadio - the free, web-based radio talk-show platform - to launch five "radio shows" featuring content from HBG imprints this September… Christian author Bruce Wilkinson has reached an agreement with Multnomah Books to deliver two major works of inspirational nonfiction. Wilkinson’s The Prayer of Jabez, published as a hardcover by Multnomah in April 2000, has sold more than 10 million copies to date, and is the second best-selling Christian title of all time behind Rick Warren’s The Purpose Driven Life. The first new book, You Were Born for This! will be published in hardcover in the fall of 2009. The deal was announced by WaterBrook Multnomah President and Publisher Steve Cobb, who acquired world and first serial rights to both works. David Kopp, Multnomah executive editor, will edit both books. Together, Wilkinson’s books, including The Secrets of The Vine, A Life God Rewards, and The Dream Giver, have sold more than 20 million copies. Leaving America at the height of his writing success in 2001, Wilkinson and his family spent three years in Africa, where their achievements included the training of tens of thousands of pastors, the recruitment of 3,000 American volunteers who planted 500,000 vegetable gardens for the hungry, the founding of an organization supporting orphans, the creation of a TV series and a major motion picture on AIDS now distributed in more than 200 countries. “Many people are on the edge, wondering, ‘Can I find my destiny, my higher purpose that I haven’t been able to achieve so far?’” said Wilkinson. “You Were Born for This! provides tested answers that result in breakthroughs now. This book is all about how to unlock your buried purpose and fulfill your destiny.”… Also on the Christian front, Howard Books will release The Purpose of Christmas by Rick Warren on Oct. 7. According to Warren, “I believe this is the clearest presentation of the gospel I've ever written and I believe it will reach many, many hearts for Christ each Christmas.” Howard Books is a division of Simon & Schuster. 4. Great American Bargain Book Show gets rave reviews
According to Spring
Book Show 2008 organizer and Freight Management Systems CEO Larry May of
Knoxville, Tenn., moving the Great American Bargain Book Show from the downtown
Georgia World Congress Center to a north suburban venue provided a number of
advantages, “I had a blast,” said Karin Wilson, owner of the Page & Palette book store in Fairhope, Ala., and the current president of the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance (SIBA). “I’m going to talk everyone in SIBA into doing this. Mixing remainders into regular stock is the thing of the future.” As for the experience of sellers, Jason Zutaut, executive vice president of bargain book dealer Strictly By-The Book of Fall River, Mass., summed it up. “Overall, a great show. We were busy all day, and wrote a bunch of great orders. We sold over half a million books,” he said. Among the shoppers at Zutaut’s display area was Todd Morris, proprietor of Pickle Patch Book Fairs of Austell, Ga., who was attending his third bargain book show. “This helped us get ready for the start of the school year. We bought thousands of books from seven different vendors,” he said. Larry Austin, owner and president of East Tennessee Trade Group of Madisonville, Tenn., was equally enthusiastic. “This was a tremendous show for us,” he said. “We quadrupled our expectancy for the show. I think anyone that retails books is missing the boat if they don’t attend this show.” Debbie Smith of Bargain Books Wholesale of Grand Rapids, Mich., a wholesaler whose offerings are about one-third Christian and the rest secular, hadn’t expected much from the show, given the current state of the economy. “It surprisingly turned out to be a very good show,” she said. “Most of us came not expecting a lot. I could go home very happy right now, two hours before the show officially ends.” Another happy buyer was Sander Sakhrani of Pages Mail Order of Forest Hills, N.Y., and Mumbai (Bombay), India. Pages buys primarily academic titles – particularly books that Indian students who hope to study in the United States buy to prepare themselves for exams that will get them passports and admissions. Near the end of the show, Pages had bought more than $22,000 in books, 90 percent of which will be exported to India. Amy Simon of World Publications of East Bridgewater, Mass., was impressed by the steady stream of orders. “It’s been a good show for us,” she said. “Bookstore owners, mostly from independent stores, mixed with buyers from small and regional chains, kept us busy.” Even Lakieta Bagwell, who works part time for show organizers Larry and Val May, was happy. A former singer at the Dollywood amusement complex in Tennessee, she was the featured vocalist at the Friday evening reception for show attendees. She obviously impressed her audience. One of the buyers bought 50 copies of her CDs for later retailing. Many of the vendors came to the show with low expectations, remarked Richard RePass of Fairmount Books of Buffalo, N.Y., one of the senior salespeople who has attended many bargain book shows. A vendor himself with more than 4,000 titles, and who also represents four other vendors, RePass credited Larry May with making bargain book shows like GABBS a success. “He’s coalesced the remainders industry into a serious part of the book business,” RePass said. Said Barry Baird of Thomas Nelson Bargain Books, the remainder arm of Christian publishing giant Thomas Nelson, “We were surprised and delighted that our sales were as strong as in previous years, given the state of the economy. There seems to be an unspoken consensus that the bargain book business is particularly appropriate in today’s economy. If retailers ever needed bargain product, it’s now.” Larry May, perhaps in the best position for getting feedback from show attendees, summed the show up by saying, “We delivered exactly the number of attendees that we had told the vendors to expect. Almost every vendor said it was a good show, especially after the serious decreases in attendance and sales at this year’s Book Expo America in Los Angeles in May and the International Christian Retail Show at Orlando, Fla., in July.” May said he and his staff would soon be following up with GABBS attendees to get their thoughts about next year’s show.
5. Romance Writers of America announce 2008 RITA award winners Romance Writers of America has announced the winners of the 2008 RITA awards. The winners::
6. News about bookstores, publishing, marketing and promotion About 100 employees of LifeWay Christian Resources, the Christian bookstore wing of the Southern Baptist Convention, are losing their jobs. Executives attribute layoffs to sales not meeting expectations in an economic downturn. In addition to cutting about five percent of its nationwide work force, the Nashville-based publishing arm is trimming expenses in other areas of operations, Thom S. Rainer, its chief executive, said in announcing the cuts. "We're experiencing what every other Christian publisher, retailer and conference center operator is facing," added Rob Phillips, a LifeWay spokesman. "That's just the reality of lower discretionary spending by our customers."… Bookstore sales in May were up 2.6 percent to $1.154 billion, according to preliminary estimates from the Census Bureau. For the year to date, bookstore sales have risen 4.9 percent to $6.604 billion…
7. Celebs fail to deliver manuscripts; publishers seek return of advances A number of celebrities have been accepting large advances for writing books, then failing to deliver the promised manuscripts by deadlines. One of the
latest defaults is that of Robert Downey Jr., star of the new hit film “Iron
Man.” The Associated Press reported that the actor has returned his advance to
Harper after having signed on to provide a "candid look at the highs and lows of
his life and career." Spokesperson Britney Ross of Rogers & Cowan "declined to
say why Downey wouldn't be writing the book," but a good guess is that with
“Iron Man” a blockbuster hit, he doesn’t need the money. Brown was to write about her teenage years as an avid reader and gifted student who became fascinated with men involved in the drug underworld, to rapping on Jay-Z's first big hit." Lil' Kim
signed a separate deal with
St. Martin's, promising a memoir of her 366-day sentence at the
Philadelphia Detention Center
federal prison. Listed in Amazon for publication earlier this year, it does not
appear to have been issued yet. Could a court date be far away? The American Booksellers Association in July announced a partnership with Applewood Books that will enable ABA member booksellers to publish out-of-print books on demand. The new program will provide participating booksellers with the ability to publish any title that is in the public domain or any book, such as a local interest title, whose rights exist with or have reverted to the author and to sell it at margins from 50 to 75 percent. In a
statement, Len Vlahos, chief program officer for the ABA, said, "This program
represents a tremendous opportunity for independent booksellers to sell
high-margin merchandise that will further tie their stores to local
communities." He added that by working with Applewood, which has more than 30
years of experience in the field, booksellers can avoid dealing with "the
complicated maze of out-of-print licensing and public domain publishing."
While Applewood will use
Ingram's Lightning Source as their printer, any store is welcome to work with
Lightning Source directly or use other POD vendors.
9. Update journalism: Latest skinny on past Southern Review stories Last month, we profiled Tan Lines, a summer beach read published by St. Martin’s Press. J.J. Salem, the author, admits to being heavily influenced by Jackie Collins. For anyone unfamiliar with Collins, she has in the neighborhood of 400 million books in print, as we’ve pointed out in the past. Her 26th book, Married Lovers, set in the Hollywood of today, was published recently by St. Martin’s. Twenty-six years ago she wrote Chances, a best-seller featuring a heroine who grows up in the mob and takes over the family business. It was the 10th-best-selling book in America that year. Her next book, Hollywood Wives, was her first blockbuster, and it’s been all successes since. Four years ago she jumped from her longtime publisher, Simon & Schuster, to St. Martin's Press. Six months ago, she changed agents. The new agent, David Vigliano, wooed Collins for several years before signing her up. The author promoted Married Lovers by touring the country in July in Mariah Carey's former tour bus, in a deal sponsored by Harrah's Casinos… Impressive as the Jackie Collins record is, we’d be remiss if we didn’t point out that romance writer Danielle Steel, who turns 61 in August, has some 570 million of her books are in print. She writes on average three books a year. The most recent, her 75th book, Rogue, just published, is about a sober-minded psychologist and her playboy ex-husband. When one of the two considers remarriage, their lives take a turn. The novel, which Publishers Weekly called "a familiar formula with fresh results," debuted at No. 4 on The New York Times list of best-sellers, No. 8 on USA Today's list and No. 6 on The Wall Street Journal's. Between 1996 and 2003, Publishers Weekly reports that 16 of her novels were best-sellers, and the Guinness World Records once cited her for having at least one book on the Times list for 390 consecutive weeks. 10. Amazon buys used book dealer AbeBooks, stake in LibraryThing Amazon announced on Aug. 1 that has acquired 12-year-old Vancouver-based AbeBooks (formerly the Advanced Book Exchange). AbeBooks is an online marketplace for books focusing on used, rare and out of print titles for sale by independent booksellers. It currently has 110 million books for sale from 13,500 sellers. Amazon will also acquire the 40 percent of LibraryThing owned by AbeBooks. LibraryThing is a social networking site where denizens keep track of their books and find other like-minded book lovers. Amazon is already an investor in Shelfari, a competing networking site for book fans. AbeBooks CEO Dr. Hannes Blum sent an email to its booksellers on Aug. 1 discussing the acquisition, saying the company would continue to operate as a stand-alone business. While
Amazon’s purchase price for the acquisition was not disclosed, TechVibes quoted
former ABE executive and still director Boris Wertz as estimating a price tag of
$90 million to $120 million. "According to the AbeBooks website, in 2007 they
did $190 million in gross merchandise volume and had 13,500 bookseller members
on their platform. Based on AbeBooks' 13.5 percent combined commission/service
fee and minimum monthly subscription fee of $25, AbeBooks' revenue in 2007 was
approximately $30 million. If you look at comparable online e-commerce
businesses like eBay with a current market cap of $32 billion and 2007 annual
revenue of $7.6 billion, it's safe to say that a revenue multiple of 3-4 would
be applicable for AbeBooks."
11. ABA exec tells how IndieBound can help booksellers compete with chains The IndieBound outreach liaison for the American Booksellers Association (ABA) was in Atlanta on Aug. 1 to brief independent booksellers on a new program designed to help them compete. Paige Poe spoke at the Great American Bargain Book Show at the Cobb Galleria Centre. The ABA officially launched the IndieBound program at BookExpo America in Los Angeles in May. It is designed to help not only booksellers but all independent merchants at a time when competing with large chains and big box stores has become increasingly difficult. IndieBound is designed to bring together booksellers, readers, independent retailers, local business alliances and others who believe that healthy local economies help communities thrive. Following a year of study and planning, the ABA designed a program to tap into a growing national movement, creating new and interesting ways for independent booksellers and other independent businesses to better communicate their core strengths - independence, passion, community - to their customers. "America has clearly reached a tipping point - people are choosing Main Street over malls,” said Poe. “Nationwide, people are renewing their ties to friends, neighbors, and institutions in their cities and towns. Through IndieBound, we believe booksellers and other indie retailers are at the forefront of a movement that is already being embraced by shoppers." In a PowerPoint presentation, Poe showed her audience of ABA independent bookseller members a number of examples from around the nation of how bookstores are using various IndieBound marketing and public relations materials. A unique aspect of the program, she emphasized, is that all materials are available online for free download. Member users of the materials are free to modify the materials as they see fit. She also discussed the IndieBound affiliates program designed for use by authors to support the independent bookstores from their Web sites and blogs. Poe said that one of the newer initiatives, launched just before July 4, is the “Declaration of IndieBound,” a petition drive designed for community residents who support local independent merchants. Among the services provided at www.indiebound.org is one that permits people seeking a bookstore near them to enter their state and city. They will then be presented with a list of independent bookstores from the nearest to those within 50 miles. Buyers can click on any store listed for further information. Poe also
discussed how local bookstores can approach local media to invite coverage of
the IndieBound initiative. Materials available at the IndieBound Web site
include an eight-page public relations primer on making media contacts. In July, Victor R. Volkman and Tyler Tichelaar interviewed Jim and Linda Salisbury of Tabby House Press about smart self-publishing ideas: tips and techniques for becoming successful without spending a ton of money. The interview covers essential knowledge for self-publishers and a lot of specifics about children’s books, one area in which Tabby House specializes. Other topics include how to make your book conform to industry standards (and hence be sellable), how to understand your market, effective no-cost and low-cost marketing and promotion techniques and making money outside of the bookstore arena. Download the free podcast at http://authorsaccess.com/archives/107
13. Steven King short story made into 25-episode animated feature Marvel Comics has made a story by Steven King into an animated video whose 25 two-minute episodes are being distributed online and via mobile channels over five weeks. The story, called "N.," about a psychiatrist who becomes the victim of the same mysterious and deadly obsession as his patient, is in a collection entitled Just After Sunset that Scribner will publish on Nov. 11. Marvel will then make bring out a comic book series in 2009 based on the book. The video series is available on iTunes and Amazon at $3.99. It will be free to mobile users through the largest cell-phone companies; through an embedded Flash player that updates automatically; and through CBS's various online video channels. It will not, however, be free on You Tube and a dedicated site. Scribner will sell the book for $28 and offer a book-and-DVD package for $37.50. Five years ago, King's publisher might have taken the short story and offered it to a literary publication like the New Yorker, expecting that first serial rights would create interest in the book. In the Web 2.0 world, Scribner and King are betting that a digital adaptation designed for those with short attentions spans will be more productive. The innovative packaging of the story in multiple formats was announced at the recent Comic-Con. The publication plans have also been publicized by the Wall Street Journal. 14. Indie bookstore Page & Palette celebrates 40 years in community While many
independent bookstores are struggling to compete with chain stores, big box
stores and online competition, To
commemorate the bookstore's anniversary and the diversity of the town's locally
owned businesses, Page &
Palette published a 48-page color newsletter,
Forty Years at The Heart of Fairhope: Special Anniversary Edition. It
features a list of the store's bestselling backlist titles over the past 10-plus
years, profiles of more than 60 Fairhope businesses and their owners, authors'
comments about the bookstore, and photos of past events. Wilson, who is also the current president of the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance, said that the idea for the newsletter came from the Talking Leaves Bookstore in Buffalo, N.Y., who created a similar, though smaller, newsletter. The Wilson family has owned the store since the early 1970s. "I grew up in the business - I started working here when I was 10 years old and I still pay myself the same wage," she said with a laugh. "That's a joke, but booksellers will know what I mean!" In looking toward the future, Wilson, who we recently met while she was shopping for stock at the Great American Bargain Book Show in Atlanta on Aug. 2, said that Page & Palette will be starting a Shop Local alliance this fall. And, she added, the American Booksellers Association’s IndieBound campaign will be important in promoting local shopping. Wilson will also continue her involvement in the Page & Palette Foundation, which raises money for schools. "We've given away $150,000 to schools thus far," she said. "It's things like this that entrench us in the community. People appreciate and support our efforts." (Sources: ; Karin Wilson; David Grogan, BookWeb)
15. Monitoring the ebook and etailing markets Amazon.com’s net sales in the second quarter rose 41 percent to $4.06 billion from $2.89 billion in the same period a year earlier, and net income jumped to $158 million from $78 million. Analysts credited Amazon's heavy discounting and free shipping program, but Amazon apparently also benefited from the decision by many consumers to shop more online and spend less time driving to stores in an era of $4-a-gallon gasoline prices… Publisher Zondervan introduced a new merchandising program called Symtio at the International Christian Retail Show in Orlando July 13-17. Through Symtio, Zondervan will sell cards that can be redeemed at home for digital downloads of books in a variety of formats. This report says that "about 300 titles should be available by fall" for the launch of the program… Amazon reported in a mid-July news release that the number of books available for its Kindle machines had grown to 135,000. That number will increase substantially when a number of Christian book publishers make their books available for Kindle by the end of 2008. Among those committed to putting most of their catalogs on Kindle are Augsburg Fortress, Crossway Books & Bibles, David C. Cook, Gospel Light, Group Publishing, NavPress, Strang Communications, Thomas Nelson, Tyndale, Wm. B. Eerdmans and Zondervan . 16. Atlanta-area bookstore facing closure seeks public contributions Running an independent bookstore is a difficult job at best, Wordsmiths Books of Decatur, Ga., is learning. The bookstore, renowned for being one of the most open platforms in the metro Atlanta area for author signings, has also played host to appearances by such national big names as Amy Sedaris, Ani Difranco and Final Fantasy. However, Wordsmiths may be closed by the time this story appears. Shuttering of the bookstore is imminent, according to marketing director Russ Marshalek. The store in August was seeking to forestall closure until at least the annual Decatur Book Festival scheduled for the Labor Day weekend. The store held a weekend benefit in early August to raise needed funds. Owner Zachary Steele said the store suffered from two factors. One was initially locating in a location where the rent was too high. The other was financial losses from an event with a well-known author "that required a massive up-front investment that didn't pan out.” The store moved in March 2008 to another location where the rent was three times lower than at its original location. However, patrons say parking for the new downtown Decatur location is a challenge. (Source: Kirsten Tagami, Atlanta Journal-Constitution Online)
17. Sony opens up e-book Reader to other booksellers with new software Sony is offering a software upgrade to the newer edition of its Reader that will let it display books in ePub format. That means that other retailers can sell files for the Reader, opening it up beyond Sony's own online store and recent offerings from Borders.com. The action will add considerably to the number of titles available for the Reader, which were at about 45,000 books when the announcement was made. The new software also will support Adobe Digital Editions 1.5, which means it can render Adobe ebooks with digital rights management and "have the capability to reflow standard text-based Portable Document Format (PDF) ebooks for improved flexibility and readability." "This upgrade opens the door to a whole host of paid and free content from third-party ebook stores, Web sites and even public libraries," said Steve Haber, senior vice president of consumer product marketing for Sony Electronics. With the move, Sony is partly letting go of its ebook business model, under which it sold the $300 device and the books that could be read on it. More important, Sony’s move is a challenge to Amazon.com Inc., which last year put out its Kindle ebook reader, and tied it to its own online store. Amazon, however, makes it relatively easy for publishers and individuals to submit books to sell through the store, with Amazon taking 65 percent of the proceeds. Opening up the Reader could help Sony catch up to the $359 Kindle in terms of book selection. Amazon's Kindle store is offering more than 140,000 titles, but many of those are offerings from small publishers with little market potential. Sony's move could also help energize the e-book industry, which has yet to take off, despite the investment of big-name companies like Sony and Amazon. Neither has released sales figures for their reading devices. International Digital Publishing Forum, the main ebook publishing trade group, says ebook sales by a dozen major U.S. publishers amounted to $31.8 million last year, as measured on the wholesale level. The publishing forum backs the ePub format that the latest Reader model will be able to handle after the upgrade. Publishers supporting ePub include Simon & Schuster, Penguin Group, HarperMedia, Hachette Book Group, HarperMedia and Harlequin Enterprises Ltd. Users of the Sony Reader have already been able to load books as text files or in the Portable Document Format, or PDF. But ePub is the first outside format for which the supplier can copy-protect a book to prevent piracy. 18. Useful information and free services for writers Looking
for an online place to boost your book for free?
Check out Atlanta-based Axis Avenue, a company dedicated to help authors market
themselves to a wider audience, while also giving readers a new outlet to
creativity. Axis
19. Apple makes ebooks readable in iPhone with new application Apple entered the ebook business with the introduction of the latest G3 version of its iPhone. Among the
free app downloads for the new phone is Fictionwise's eReader software, which is
bundled with free copies of Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan of the Apes and
James Fenimore Cooper's The Last of the Mohicans. A paid Bookshelf app ($.99) supports ebooks in formats including mobipocket and html. 20. News about how marketing and publicity sells books Betty White, Emmy award-winning actress, appeared on “The View” in late July to discuss Together, A Novel of Shared Vision (Thomas Nelson, 2008), which she assisted musician and actor Tom Sullivan in writing. All studio audience members at “The View” received a copy of the book. Sullivan also appeared on “The Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson” on July 30 to discuss the novel… It’s not unusual for a popular book to attract tourists to the town. Savannah, Ga., has been benefiting for years from the publication of John Berendt’s Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. So it will be interesting to see how William Morrow, working in cooperation with the local chamber of commerce of Salem, Mass., will fare in attracting tourists to that community. Morrow has worked extensively with the tourism agency, local merchants and historic site organizations in Salem to promote the area in connection with its publication of The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry, the Boston Globe recently reported. The novel is about a family of Salem women who can read the future in patterns of lace and who have secrets that go back generations. Salem "already has this great literary past, with Nathaniel Hawthorne and playwright Arthur Miller (author of The Crucible, about the Salem witchcraft trials), and now having a contemporary novel is a treat,” Kate Fox, director of Destination Salem, told the Globe. Morrow has made a video of Salem scenes from the book. The House of Seven Gables will offer a walking "literatour" of locations mentioned in the book. The Salem Trolley plans Lace Reader tours. Morrow is sponsoring a sweepstakes with prizes of trips to Salem going to the winners. The Globe notes: "Locating a novel in a relatively more intimate, colorful, and historic community like Salem, which everyone has heard of but relatively few have visited, can draw people who want to see the real places they read about. While that's good short-term publicity for a new book, it can benefit a city for years." 21. Benioff’s ‘City of Thieves’ boosted by indie booksellers, publisher reps John Mutter, in his popular Shelf Awareness newsletter, details the importance of publisher reps and independent bookstores pushing a title to success. City of
Thieves, by
filmscript writer David Benioff, who most recently wrote the screenplay for
Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite The novel,
published in May by the Viking division of Penguin, is set in Leningrad
during the German Wehrmacht’s siege during World War II. The book features two
young men who have less than a week to find a dozen eggs for a secret police
colonel or lose their lives. The colonel's daughter is getting married, and the
eggs are needed to make her a wedding cake at a time when starvation is so
widespread some of the local residents have turned to cannibalism. Two months after publication, City of Thieves has more than 50,000 copies in print and had appeared on local and regional bestseller lists in California. While the main target of the book promotion was independent bookstores, other retail outlets have jumped on the bandwagon. Diana Van Vleck, the publisher’s field sales manager, told Shelf Awareness’ John Mutter that "the chains have been supportive" and independents have been phenomenal. Although the book will sell "millions of copies in paperback," as Pearl put it, Viking aims to continue to sell the hardcover through the rest of the year as a beach read, holiday gift or "a book that will entertain anyone who reads it." The book has also received favorable media attention. The New York Times Book Review gave the book a glowing review. Alan Cheuse reviewed the book on NPR’s “All Things Considered.” Author Benioff has appeared at several dinners with booksellers in California and done “a lot of radio, a little TV, a Wall Street Journal online interview and a featured interview in the current PowellsBooks.news e-mail newsletter and on Powells.com.”
22. Milestones:
Records and news of note in book publishing 23. British memoir delayed when Salman Rushdie says he’ll sue over portrayal
John Blake Publishing has
delayed publication of On Her Majesty's Service by Ron Evans after Salman
Rushdie threatened legal action over the memoir by a former Special Branch
officer who had served on a special detail protecting Rushdie. The International Christian Retail Show concluded its annual run on July 17. This year’s event opened July 13 at the Orlando County Convention Center in Florida. With approximately 7,448 attendees, the 2008 show attendance was down sharply from 9,266 last year in Atlanta, and even more sharply from the event’s highwater mark of 14,694 set in 1999. Described by one attendee as “lackluster,” the Orlando show was attended by merchants representing many segments of the Christian retail industry. Retail representatives (buyers) were exposed to Christian books, music, and gifts vended by 355 exhibitors in 998 booth spaces, including 66 first-time exhibitors. Touted as the Christian retailing industry’s largest annual gathering, this year’s event included a number of empty booth spaces. Professional attendance – total attendees minus exhibitors and youth - was 2,386, a 17 percent drop from attendance in Atlanta in 2007, and about half the attendance in New Orleans eight years ago. International attendance was flat at 739, with international attendees from 63 countries, compared to last year’s international attendance of 748 from 59 countries. Exhibitor personnel attendance (vendors and their helpers) was down significantly at 4,787, compared to last year’s 6,007. That provides an approximate ratio of two vendors for every buyer – a bit lopsided, but not nearly as bad as BookExpo America, where people trying to sell something outnumber the buyers by a much greater ratio. One of the notable vendor absences this year was Christian publishing giant Thomas Nelson, which took no exhibit space. But even if Nelson had participated, all would not have been wine and roses at this year's event. Observed one regular attendee: “Ridiculously high gasoline prices appear to have cut into the usually robust attendance.” Countering that, CBA President Bill Anderson found the glass half full rather than half empty, observing, “Given the rising cost of gasoline as well as the recent increases in the cost of air travel, we are pleased that so many retailers find so much value in the show and invest in being here.” 25. News of chicanery, dishonesty and tort-feasing in the book business We recently converted one of our phone lines at Anvil to AT&T’s DSL 3.0 service, which permits us unlimited long distance domestic calling and allows the computer connected to the DSL line to be online (along with our credit card scanner) while we’re simultaneously making or receiving phone calls. The main drawback is people calling us claiming they’re full-time employees of AT&T who in fact are not, but rather, are independent operators trying to make commissions on boiler-shop sales of additional services. The first call came from someone who said he was Jamison Wrigley, and that he was going to be our new AT&T account representative for the next 24 months. Because he was abrasive on the phone – AT&T employees get some pretty intensive civility training, which he was obviously lacking – we asked him for a callback number so we could answer another call. Then we put the callback number into Google, and came up with some very critical comments from people who had received phone calls from that number. Then we called AT&T to ask if Jamison Wrigley really worked full time for them. He didn’t. We next called the callback number, and learned that the name of the business where “Wrigley” worked was ACG. We told the lady at ACG we didn’t do business with dishonest merchants. The next call came from a local Atlanta number. A male who said his name was Robert Johnson said he was making an appointment for a Marsha Douglas, our new AT&T service representative, to call on us about service updates. We asked him if he worked full time for AT&T. He said he did, and so did Ms. Douglas. We asked for his callback number as well, checked with AT&T, and determined that neither he nor Ms. Douglas were AT&T employees, but private vendors. We then called the callback number, and a woman who identified herself as Marsha Douglas answered. We told her that if she tried to keep the appointment “George Roberts” had made for her, she was not welcome on our property, and we’d have her arrested for trespassing. We then called AT&T back and said we wanted no more phone calls from their private vendors. They said they would remove us from their call list, but it would take 30 days. What a public relations disaster AT&T has become since the days I worked there after coming back from active duty with the U.S. Army! 26. Chuckles: Finding humor amid the stacks and shelves What’s the most appropriate binding for an edition of The Golden Ass by Lucius Apuleius? Why, full natural ass’s hide, of course. And if you’d like an edition of The Golden Ass bound in ass-hide, antiquarian bookseller Charles Agvent has one for sale. It’s the Limited Editions Club edition of 1932, 414 pp., large octavo (6 x 10-1/4 inches) bound in full natural ass's hide. Newly translated and with an introduction by Jack Lindsay. Illustrated with drawings, many of a mildly and appropriately erotic nature, by Percival Goodman. Mr. Agvent is selling copy #574 of 1,500 signed by the artist on the colophon page for only $250. A few minor scratches to the leather. Light, inevitable wear to the gold paper-covered slipcase. Fine in a near fine slipcase, if you’re still interested. 27. Left Behind series author Tim LaHaye speaks on Bible prophecy at California megachurch The possibility of an Israeli military strike on Iran’s nuclear facility has U.S. religious fundamentalists salivating over the possibility, an event they see as the beginning of the arrival of the Antichrist and the second coming. The
right-wing believers see the Prophet Ezekiel in the Old Testament as predicting
a future invasion of Israel by Russia, Iran and an alliance of Middle Eastern
nations, which could follow such a strike if Israel were to conduct one. Several thousand people turned out for that conference to hear nonstop teaching on Israel, Bible prophecy and globalism. Also featured were teachings on Ezekiel 38, which includes discussion of the war of Gog & Magog. 28. Amazon’s Kindle by the numbers Since Amazon launched its Kindle e-reader in November 2007, it has increased the number of titles available to users from 90,000 to 135,000, all of which can be downloaded wirelessly in less than 60 seconds. While that’s a small fragment of the six million or so titles listed on Amazon, the announcement at the International Christian Retail Show in Orlando in July that 11 Christian publishers will make a majority of their catalogs of books available for use on the Kindle is likely to increase that number significantly. Christian publishers making their catalogs available are Augsburg Fortress, Crossway Books & Bibles, David C. Cook, Gospel Light, Group Publishing, NavPress, Strang Communications, Thomas Nelson, Tyndale House Publishers, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. and Zondervan. 29. Major upcoming trade shows, seminars, book fairs and book festivals 2008 Trade Shows August
The New York International Gift
Fair – August 16-17, New York City, NY.
www.nyigf.com The Beijing International
Book Fair – August 30- Sept. 3, Beijing, China.
www.bibf.net/bibf September CIANA – September 14-15,
London.
www.ciana.co.uk October Northern California
Independent Booksellers Association – Usually first weekend in October. www.nciba.com
November 25th annual Miami Book Fair International, Nov. 9-16, Miami Dade College, Wolfson Campus, 300 NE 2nd Ave. in downtown Miami, 2009 Trade Shows January Atlanta International Gift &
Home Furnishings Market (Jan. 9-13) at Americasmart. February March Spring Book Show - March
6-8, Atlanta, GA. Cobb Galleria/Renaissance-Waverly Hotel. SBS is one of the
largest remainder and bargain book shows in the world.
www.springbookshow.com April London Book Fair - www.lbf-virtual.com Visit back issues of the Southern Review of Books by clicking on
January For more information about the book business, visit:
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"Southern
Review of Books Archives" hyperlink at the bottom of this page. The
search engine for the current edition and archives may be accessed by the button
at the bottom. The
Southern Review is edited by Noel Griese. The author of 17 books and
numerous articles on various subjects, he has been a newspaper reporter
and editor and has taught English and journalism at the Universities of
Wisconsin and Georgia. Elected to both Phi Beta Kappa and Phi Kappa Phi,
he holds three degrees in English and journalism.
ers,
"How To Write Romances and Get Them Published"
ation. The
2009 show will be held Friday-Sunday, March 6-8. 2009, at the Cobb Galleria
Centre in Atlanta. If you have overstocks,
your titles need to be represented. More than 50,000 bargain-priced titles
represented by 100-plus dealers will be up for sale.
