Further reinforcing the idea that many of the announced but not-yet-produced eink readers are dead on arrival with the rise of the iPad, last week Plastic Logic cancelled all backorders on their long-hyped oversized Que reader. The company is calling it a “delay” and tells Wired it “wants to make sure that the product they deliver is the right one for their target business customers in the rapidly changing marketplace. They are continuing to refine the product, technology and features, and are anxious to get in the marketplace as soon as possible.” But many people doubt the product will ever […]
Archives for June 2010
Bookselling: Titles that Sell Themselves
Daniel Goldin at Boswell and Books blogs about some indie bestsellers “that sell themselves.” He’s talking about “books that people are naturally drawn to” and if you “put a pile…on your paperback table, it will sell.” For his store, that roster includes MURDER ON THE EIFFEL TOWER by Claude Izner; THE POWER OF KINDNESS by Piero Ferrucci; Joseph Caldwell’s THE PIG DID IT (and now THE PIG COMES TO DINNER); and another “inadvertent sleeper” he just discovered–CHICKS DIG TIME LORDS: A Celebration of Dr. Who by the Women Who Love It.Post
Announcements: Topical McCullough eSerial; Getting Glued to Favorite Books; Candlewick's Audio; Horrid Henry Moves to Film
Capitalizing on President Obama’s confrontation with General Stanley McChrystal, Simon & Schuster is releasing a short ebook by David McCullough called TRUMAN FIRES MACARTHUR. It’s an excerpt from his Pulitzer Prize-winning biography Truman. The 35-page title lists for $1.99 and is supposed to be available from major ebooksellers by some time later today. Yesterday afternoon GetGlue launched a Foursquare-inspired pop culture iOS app that encourages users to “check in” to favorite TV shows, music, movies and yes, books, and see what friends are enjoying in real-time. Publishing partners providing “exclusive stickers” as “rewards” include Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, […]
People
Shane Armstrong has joined Scholastic as evp and president, international growth markets, reporting to ceo Dick Robinson. He will oversee all New York personnel in Scholastic’s ‘nternational group as well as the company’s operations for Scholastic Asia, Scholastic Export, and Scholastic Australia/New Zealand. Most recently he was head of the publishing group with Singapore educational publisher Times Publishing Ltd.Aisha Cloud joined the Tor publicity department as publicist on June 21. Previously she was at Scribner. UK author and publisher Russell Ash, 64, died suddenly, the Bookseller reports.
Bookselling: A New Store, Australia is IndieBound, and Staff Picks Press
Spokane, WA-based Auntie’s Bookstore is opening a new branch on the second floor of the River Park Square mall.Local story Following an agreement with UK booksellers, the ABA has now licensed elements of the IndieBound marketing umbrella to the Australian Booksellers Association, which will launch the program in July. Albany, NY bookseller Susan Novotny, who owns The Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza and Market Block Books, is using the POD technology at Troy Book Makers (which she co-owns) to launch a publishing imprint. It’s called Staff Press Picks. She tells the Times Union, “Our staff still reads books and they […]
The Next Round of Twilight Fever
Twilight fans have been camping out for days to secure good viewing spots at the scene of tonight’s premiere of The Twilight Sage: Eclipse in Los Angeles. The Hollywood Reporter says that “not since Star Wars has fandom been, well, so fanatical about a single movie” and they also claim “the fervor of the fans is already being compared to the frenzy that surrounded the Beatles when they hit America in the 60s.” The last Twilight movie recorded a $143 million three-day opening, but it was released in November. HR expects the new movie to do better, and also looks […]