Chief editor of the Oxford English Dictionary John Simpson will retire in October 2013, a position he has held since 1993–the seventh OED editor since Sir James Murray’s appointment in 1879. Under his leadership, over 60,000 new words and meanings were added to the dictionary. Time has a lengthy interview with Simpson on his tenure. Current editorial project director Michael Proffitt will take over as chief editor on November 1, and principal etymologist Philip Durkin will move up to join Edmund Weiner as deputy chief editor. Chief executive of Oxford University Press Nigel Portwood said: “John Simpson has made a truly outstanding contribution to […]
Bookstores
Bookselling: Closures, and More
Murder By the Book in Portland, OR has failed to execute a deal with a new buyer so, as warned in January, the store will close for good this Saturday. Co-owner Barbara Tom indicates “several people with good hearts expressed interest,” but nothing was finalized. The Oregonian adds: “Good hearts were everywhere in the weeks leading to the closing. Longtime customers offered to donate money; one sent a care package from California with pocket-sized packs of Kleenex for when the employees needed to cry. Seattle author Kevin O’Brien sent a box of chocolates. Many other authors, local and national, sent […]
Indies Choose Erdrich, Strayed, Ivey and Green and More
The ABA announced a popular set of Indies Choice Award winners for 2013, selecting “handselling favorites” as voted on by member stores. The honorees are: Fiction The Round House: A Novel, by Louise Erdrich (Harper) Nonfiction Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, by Cheryl Strayed (Knopf) Debut The Snow Child, by Eowyn Ivey (Little, Brown) Young Adult The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green (Dutton Children’s) John Green also won their “Indie Champion Award” Middle Grade Wonder, by R.J. Palacio (Knopf Books for Young Readers) Picture Book Extra Yarn, by Mac Barnett, Jon Klassen (Illus.) […]
Booksellers Plead with Court Not to Dismiss DRM Case
The three booksellers who sued Amazon and the six largest publishing houses for what they characterized as restrictive DRM practices filed a response to those parties’ motions to dismiss the case. In the memo, filed yesterday, Posman Books, Fiction Addiction, and Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza say Amazon are “misreading” the complaint and relying on an “unsupported assertion of what they claim is contained in non-public contracts that they have purposefully decided not to produce to the court.” The original suit–already revised and amended once–“more than adequately alleged harm to competition in the market for ebooks” in the booksellers’ view. […]
Bookselling: Northshire to Hire 25 For Saratoga Springs Store; Blackwood & Brouwer to Close; WH Smith Declines Continue
Northshire Books, which is preparing to open a second store in Saratoga Springs, NY, will announce later today that the store will hire 25 full-time and part-time employees. The Post-Star reports interviews will begin in Saratoga Springs next week, and will continue throughout the spring. Conversely, Blackwood & Brouwer in nearby Kinderhook, NY will close at the end of June after 23 years in business. “There’s no blame coming from us in any specific direction,” co-owner Rondi Brower told the Albany Times-Union. “It was a combination of factors. The miracle is that we stayed alive so long, not that we’re […]
Slim Sales, and Slim Margins, for Kobo Devices and eBooks at ABA Stores
Digital Book World has a long report on Kobo’s sales relationship with ABA stores in the US. Sales are said to be much better than what indies experienced through Google Books–but still, by most accounts are negligible, ranging from low dozens of ebooks sold since the initiative launched last November up to stores reporting sales of a few hundred ebooks. Booksellers says their margin on device sales if 5 percent, and “the margin on ebooks varies between books, depending on Kobo’s pricing and discounts, but it usually falls between 8 percent and 20 percent.” General manager of The Harvard Bookstore […]