Next week’s Time magazine considers Amazon’s expansive publishing ambitions in a long piece. They conclude: “Imagine a world where publishing has two centers rather than one: a conventional literary center, governed by mainstream publishing–with its big names and fancy prizes and high-end art direction–and a new one where books rise to fame and prominence YouTube-style, in the rough and tumble of the great Web 2.0 mosh pit. The two centers will affect each other gravitationally and swap authors back and forth between them, but they’re not likely to eat each other. With any luck, they’ll energize each other. “Which is […]
Bunch of Grapes Ready to Reopen on Vineyard
The Bunch of Grapes bookstore will reopen on Saturday in Vineyard Haven (on Martha’s Vineyard), a joyous return after a fire last July 4th significantly damaged the store and its contents. New owner Dawn Braasch, who bought the business from Jon Nelson last October (and has a long-term lease from his mother and founder of the store Ann Nelson, who is also helping Braasch as a consultant), tells the local paper “not only are we serving the community, but the community has really served us. Over the years, people have been such good patrons, and without them, we wouldn’t be […]
People and More
Publisher of Sweden’s Nicotext Fredrik Colting has now admitted that he wrote 60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye and invented the pseudonym JD California. (A photo that ran in the Telegraph depicted a friend of Colting’s who is an actor.) Colting claims not to have understood he was echoing Salinger’s name with his pseudonym: “Somehow, John David California sounded like JD. I didn’t think about that actually. I just thought it sounded cool. Of course afterwards, I see the resemblance.” He has also backed off of his fiery language about the suit and now claims, “I’ve never said this […]
More Pronouncements, from Ackman and Olson
A NYT blog publishes a performance report from Bill Ackman to investors in Pershing Square. Even with the big run-up in Borders stock recently and the sweetheart deal in which Pershing got to reprice their underwater stock warrants to the bargain level of 65 cents a share in exchange for extending their $42.5 million loan, the hedge fund is still at a loss on their Borders stake. Ackman notes that the average cost of their position after the cheap warrants is still just under $7 a share. He writes, “while the economic environment and digital book readers continue to be […]
Another High-Profile Resignation at Granta, and More People News
This time it’s at Granta Publications and Portobello Books, where David Graham has resigned as managing director. Announced in a two-line statement, the company says “queries previously directed to David Graham should be directed to Granta publisher Sigrid Rausing.” Graham came over from Canongate in 2006. Also in the UK, Hannah Black is leaving Century to join Harper UK in August as a publisher at Harper Nonfiction, reporting to Carole Tonkinson, the Bookseller reports. At Sourcebooks, Rebecca Frazer has joined the company’s New York office an acquisitions editor for Jabberwocky. She has acquired and edited children’s books for HarperCollins, Simon […]
Shaman Drum Gives Up the Fight to Survive; Wisconsin Store to Close After 113 Years
Owner of Ann Arbor bookstore Shaman Drum Karl Pohrt will close the store at the end of June. “I feel like I’ve had this charmed life to sell books in Ann Arbor for nearly 30 years,” he tells the Ann Arbor News (which will also close soon.) “That’s a good run.” The store’s site says, “On the advice of my accountant and my business manager, I am closing Shaman Drum Bookshop June 30. Despite a first rate staff, a fiercely loyal core of customers, a very decent landlord and my own commitment to the community of arts and letters in […]