After The Everything Store author Brad Stone responded on Bloomberg Businessweek to MacKenzie Bezos’s one-star review of his book at Amazon.com, Amazon spokesman Craig Berman took issue with Stone’s post. Referring to Stone’s line, “Bezos said that he married MacKenzie after searching for someone tenacious enough to break him out of a Third World prison,” Berman calls it, “Entertaining, and inaccurate. Mr. Bezos says ‘resourceful’ – not ‘tenacious.’ Mr. Stone knows that. He also knows that the correct word doesn’t work quite as well for his purpose. “Resourceful” and “tenacious” mean different things. They also have subtle connotations. You might […]
Archives for November 2013
The Everything Show
We’ll confess that this week’s exchange between MacKenzie Bezos and author Brad Stone only makes us more interested in Stone’s appearance at Digital Book World next January, as part of a block of programming focused on analyzing Amazon. This new page at the DBW conference site provides an overview of the Amazon-focused sessions, and also highlights two other “featured blocks” of new material. In response to suggestions from some of the C-level people who serve on the DBW advisory council, we’re featuring four sessions that present a structure view on “change management” (created with the help of consultant Carolyn Pittis, […]
MacKenzie Bezos and Brad Stone Debate Accuracy of Everything Store — Online, Naturally
Novelist MacKenzie Bezos (wife of Jeff) posted her first book review on Amazon.com since 2001, saying she “wanted to like” Brad Stone’s The Everything Store, but she didn’t. “Everywhere I can fact check from personal knowledge, I find way too many inaccuracies, and unfortunately that casts doubt over every episode in the book.” But her larger issue is “techniques which stretch the boundaries of non-fiction, and the result is a lopsided and misleading portrait of the people and culture at Amazon.” Particularly a misleading portrait of the ceo. She writes: “One of the biggest challenges in non-fiction writing is the risk that a truthfully […]
Perseus Books Group Reports “Strong Financial Results”
Perseus Books Group ceo David Steinberger dispatched his annual letter to the company’s 675 employees celebrating the milestones of the privately-owned company’s fiscal year (which ends June 30). ” I am struck by the power of the independent publishing model that we represent. In a year when much of the talk in the industry seemed to be about corporate consolidation, The Perseus Books Group generated strong financial results and surpassed our budgeted goals again thanks to great independent publishing by our in-house imprints, by our joint venture partners and by the clients we serve.” Initiatives during the year included the […]
People, Etc.
Founders and current editorial directors of Kar-Ben Publishing Judye Groner and Madeline Wikler will retire in December after nearly 40 years in publishing, beginning with the 1974 publication of MY VERY OWN HAGGADAH. Kar-Ben was acquired by Lerner Publishing in 2001 and became the company’s Jewish children’s book imprint. Kar-Ben publisher Joni Sussman said in a statement: “We thank Judye and Madeline for their enormous contribution to Kar-Ben and to the field of Jewish children’s books over the years, and for helping us to grow Kar-Ben into one of the largest and best known Jewish-themed children’s book publishers in the […]
Bookselling: Publishers Stop Supplying Chapitre, In-Store Browsing, and RiverRun Expands
After France’s second-largest book chain Chapitre announced their intention to sell all of their stores — or close any that remain unsold by next summer — the country’s publishers have been reluctant to supply it with stock, which only diminishes the value of those stores and accelerates the sale process for parent company Actissia (owned by Najafi Companies). The Bookseller picks up on an AFP report (in French) that says Hachette Livre, France’s largest publisher, is among those not shipping to the account. The company says in a statement, “The Virgin experience [Virgin Megastores in France went bankrupt earlier this […]