iRex had initially promised their new readers would be on sale in Best Buy by October. They have encountered so many “unexpected delays” the company has stopped promising new delivery dates.MocoNews Amazon’s secret monthly sales record for Kindle, which reached a new mark just last month, has rather predictably ridden holiday sales interest to another new, still secret record.Release Their site seems to be down this morning, but yesterday Quill and Quire confirmed in an interview that Kobo intends to launch their own ereading device internationally in 2010, reaching all major markets through the partners who joined in the recent […]
Archives for December 2009
Bookselling: Brooklyn's Vox Pop Closes Temporarily
The Vox Pop Cafe says on their site they have closed for now and are “in the process of trying to address the issue of back taxes that was inherited by the new management when NYS Department of Taxation and Finance chose to seize the assets. We are currently negotiating with them to have the space reopened.” The post adds: “Since we have reopened we have been actively paying down much of that inherited debt. We chose to use our limited resources to pay the people who needed it most first — like back pay for our employees who are […]
Reidy Reflects on the Year
Carolyn Reidy at Simon & Schuster shares the first of the traditional year-end letters to employees, celebrating the company’s resolve in performing well during a difficult year, even as “we have every reason to expect that this coming year will bring its own set of difficulties for us to face.” On the positive side, “our future is limited only by the resolve we bring to the task, the imagination we apply to the art, and the skill that we bring to the science of publishing.” More practically, she notes “anticipating that the bookselling climate might not recover at any point […]
People
First reported by the Washington Post’s Ron Charles via Twitter, director of the NEA’s national reading initiatives and Big Read evangelist David Kipen‘s position has been eliminated and he will leave the organization at the end of the year. Andrews McMeel publisher Kirsty Melville will move up to the new position of president of AMP’s book division, continuing to report to company ceo and president Hugh Andrews. He notes “she skillfully conceived, developed, and launched AMP’s cookbook program, streamlined our product offerings, accelerated our digital and online presence, and provides energy and leadership to editorial, marketing, sales, and production teams […]
Bookselling: More Closings, Challenges
Leo’s Book Shop in downtown Toledo, OH will close by the end of the year after 42 years in business. Owner Daryl Yourist says he “will continue to operate his textbook business, but not from a retail establishment, and not downtown.”Blade Toronto Women’s Bookstore, a “36-year-old institution and icon of the local feminist movement,” told supporters that it is “in crisis” and is “hoping to raise $40,000 by January – enough to keep its doors open for another three months,” the Globe and Mail reports. The nonprofit is one of three feminist bookstores in Canada.Globe and Mail And the AP […]
People: Paulsen to Launch Eponymous Children's Imprint; Knopf and Random Canada Merge Editorially; and More
President and publisher of Putnam Children’s for the last 15 years Nancy Paulsen will launch an eponymous imprint, Nancy Paulsen Books in 2011. She plans to publish 12 to 15 picture books, middle grade and young adult novels a uear. Paulsen will keep her current position until a replacement is named, with a search underway now. Paulsen says in the announcement, “I am thrilled with the opportunity to return to my true passion full time–editing. My imprint will focus on publishing a select group of picture books that are eye-opening and inventive, along with fiction, from culturally diverse and distinct […]