Here are the May picks: #1 Pick: The Lola Quartet: A Novel, by Emily St. John Mandel A Land More Kind Than Home: A Novel, by Wiley Cash In One Person: A Novel, by John Irving Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk: A Novel, by Ben Fountain Waiting for Sunrise: A Novel, by William Boyd Faith Bass Darling’s Last Garage Sale: A Novel, by Lynda Rutledge All Woman and Springtime, by Brandon Jones The Uninvited Guests: A Novel, by Sadie Jones The Book Lover: A Novel, by Maryann McFadden Let’s Pretend This Never Happened: (A Mostly True Memoir), by Jenny Lawson […]
Archives for April 2012
Patchett, Eugenides, Hamilton and Obreht Take Indie Choice Awards
The American Booksellers Association announced the winners of their 2012 book awards. Author turned bookseller Ann Patchett is the “most engaging author,” noted for “her exceptional involvement and responsiveness during in-store appearances and for having a strong sense of the importance of indie booksellers to their local communities.” The Indie Choice winners are: Fiction The Marriage Plot, by Jeffrey Eugenides (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) Nonfiction Blood, Bones & Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef, by Gabrielle Hamilton (Random House) Debut The Tiger’s Wife, by Téa Obreht (Random House) YA Between Shades of Gray, by Ruta Sepetys (Philomel) The […]
New Pew Research Study Demonstrates eBook Consumers Buy More Books And Read More, Too
Pew Research’s latest e-reading survey, released yesterday, confirmed and added more context on various trends among those who read electronically. Of the nearly 3,000 adults surveyed between November and December 2011 (with two follow-up surveys in January and February 2012) a little more than one-fifth of American adults (or 21 percent) reported that they have read an e-book in the past year. That number, arrived at in February, increased from 17 percent as reported in December 2011, the spike attributed to holiday gift-giving. The average number of digital books read in a year was 24 among those surveyed, compared with […]
Google Cancels eBooks Reseller Program, Dropping Indies
Both the ABA and Powell’s Books indicate Google informed them on Tuesday it is cancelling their eBooks reseller partnerships as of January 31, 2013. ABA ceo Oren Teicher told members in an email, “Google’s decision to discontinue the program is, therefore, far larger than just IndieCommerce and the users of our product. After January 31, 2013, Google will sell e-books through Google Play only.” Google says on their blog that “the reseller program has not gained the traction that we hoped it would, so we have made the difficult decision to discontinue it.” Whether that’s a statement about the resellers […]
People, Etc.
Editorial director of Book Business and Publishing Executive magazines Noelle Skodzinski has left the company, publisher Matt Steinmetz confirms to DBW. Palgrave Macmillan is launching a new imprint, Palgrave Pivot, that will blend journal and digital-short publishing models. At an average of 100 pages, they will publish works of a length “between the journal article and the conventional monograph” and “undertake to publish within 3 months of acceptance after full peer review.” The focus is on “new important research, or are a review of an area with broad appeal.” Publishing both digitally and on demand, they will sell titles individually as well as in […]
Early Results from Pottermore, Or Less
Pottermore executive Charlie Redmayne told Radio Litopia that in the first three days after launching on March 27, JK Rowling’s web site sold over £1 million worth of ebooks. And he proclaimed, as you would expect according to script, that initial sales were higher than expectations. “We had budgeted for a much lower figure,” Redmayne insists, noting that sales have softened since the splash debut. “It is still running at a much higher rate than I was anticipating, even for the launch. It is still surpassing anything I’ve ever seen for e-book sales.” Given the years of pent-up demand and […]