Author Christopher Hitchens, 62, lost his battle with esophageal cancer, dying on Thursday. Vanity Fair writes, “May his 62 years of living, well, so livingly console the many of us who will miss him dearly.” Hitchens’ UK publisher Atlantic Books has said they will release his already-planned final book, a collection of essays called MORTALITY, in January according to the Guardian. (It’s currently listed for sale in April online.) His US publisher Twelve also has the book in process, though has not announced a publication plan yet. Publisher Cary Goldstein says, “What’s paramount is to publish an enduring work that’s […]
A Million Kindles A Week; BN Said to Increase Nook Orders; and More eNews
Yesterday Amazon issued a press release saying they are selling “well over 1 million Kindle devices per week…for the third week in a row,” across all of their Kindle readers. They answer recent criticism of their new tablet by saying “Kindle Fire sales increased week over week for each of the past three weeks.” While the company has put Kindle sales in the “millions” before, it’s the first time they have declared sales of more than a million units in a week. Separately, Digitimes has updated their supply chain reports on devices expected to be manufactured for Barnes & Nook. […]
Bookselling: NY’s Boroughs to Lose One, Gain Two; Bodhi Tree to Vacate Space and Fresno Store to Close
Aurora Anaya-Cerda will open a bookstore, La Casa Azul, on East Harlem’s E. 103rd Street in spring 2012 after raising the needed $40,000. Organizers of the Word Up pop-up bookstore at Broadway and W. 176th Street is negotiating to stay permanently. Organized by Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance, the store has been there rent-free for five months, and is negotiating a paying lease and looking to raise funds for what has become a community arts center. As we clipped earlier in the week, the NYDN says that Astoria’s Seaburn Bookstore will close rather than renew their lease after 16 years in […]
Nook Headed to UK
Barnes & Noble executive Theresa Horner told the UK Publishers Association’s International Conference today “I imagine that in the not too distant future you’ll be able to find one of these devices here” in the UK. It remains unclear whether BN will be working with Waterstone’s or pursuing another path into the UK market. Horner commented: “I think B&N would say that having a chain of book stores is a great asset for selling book products, and if you think creatively about selling content, there is an endless well of possibilities for doing that.” In early November BN ceo William […]
Luxembourg Decides for Europe, Dropping eBook VAT to 3%
The European debate over whether to grant ebooks the same low VAT rate as print books may have just gotten a lot simpler. Luxembourg, the grand duchy of online tax evaders, has ruled that the “super-reduced 3% VAT” that has applied to print books will prevail for ebooks as well, beginning January 1, 2012. Luxembourg currently levies 15% VAT on most goods, including ebooks. The change will significantly advantage Amazon and Apple against other ebooksellers, since both companies have their European headquarters and tax domiciles in Luxembourg, from which they technically sell digital goods across Europe. (VAT is applied according […]
Article Questions Existing and Forthcoming Books On Marine Hero’s Acts
McClatchy Newspapers reporter Jonathan Landay has published a lengthy investigation challenging the accuracy of both the 2011 book THE WRONG WAR by Bing West, as well as the official account of the heroism that led to Marine Dakota Meyer recently receiving the Congressional Medal of Honor. Last month, Random House announced a deal with Meyer–the first living Marine to receive the presitigious honor in almost 40 years–and co-author West, promising his “eyewitness account of the battle.” Landway, who was present as an embedded reporter at the battle in Ganjgal, Afghanistan which was the setting of Meyer’s heroism, writes that “crucial […]