Not wanting to be limited to the “official” buzz books, we also commissioned early reviews from one more curated selection of books featured at the show. Can Jonathan Franzen meet the tremendous expectations with FREEDOM? Veteran reviewer David Kipen says yes, and Nicole Krauss’s anticipated new book also sounds like one that will resonate with her fans. Freedomby Jonathan Franzen“This novel from the author of The Corrections invites sincere comparisons to Richard Yates, St. Paul native F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Tolstoy. “Of course, Franzen has something priceless going for him that Tolstoy never had: Page for page, line by line, […]
Borders' Core Skill: Shrinking
Reporting results for their first quarter ending May 1, in a still grim atmosphere for physical stores of all kinds, Borders sales fell 15.4 percent overall at $542 million. The loss from continuing operations of $64.5 million was better than a year ago, but the operating loss of $33.5 million was worse. Sales at the US stores fell further, down 16.1 percnent to $520–but same-store sales were down by only 11.4 percent company to a year ago. The company says that factoring out multimedia, which they theoretically pulled down dramatically years ago, comp store sales declined 6.8 percent, indicating less […]
More eNews: B&T Gets iPad Partner, BN Finally Releases iPad App
Originally outflanked by Ingram Digital, which is an aggregator partner with Apple for getting books into the iBookstore, Baker & Taylor announced today an agreement with another aggregator, LibreDigital. B&T will offer their publishing partners “a full range of digital services from LibreDigital” as part of the agreement, including access to the iBookstore. Separately, Barnes & Noble said this morning that their BN eReader app is finally ready for the iPad. They say that you can shop directly from within the app, though we have not had time to try it out yet. Through the library function, app users can […]
People
Peternelle van Arsdale has left her position as executive editor at Putnam to become a ghostwriter and freelance editor. She can be reached at pva@pvabooks.com. Publishing executive John Wicker has joined Tata Consultancy Services as publishing sector head for North America in their media and information services group. A division of the giant Indian conglomerate, Wicker will focus on helping publishers manage the costs and complexities of conversion to a digital publishing world, leveraging Tata’s natural strengths to advise on quality outsourcing. At Random House Children’s, Shana Corey has been promoted to executive editor. She was previously editor-at-large. At Harper […]
Survey Says A Quarter of Customers Likely to Buy An eReader in Next Year
At Verso Digital’s survey presentation earlier this week, they also shared new results on ebook use. They found that 6.8 percent of respondents (bearing in mind this that is an online-only survey, so may not reach the less technically-inclined) already own an ereading device, and a significant 24 percent are somewhat likely or very likely to buy one in the next six to twelve months. In terms of who already owns devices, they say that ebook buyers fit their profile of “avid readers,” with 25 percent expecting to buy 10 or more ebooks in the next year, and another 14 […]
Book News: Auel Date, Larsson Strong Out the Gate
Knopf spokesman Paul Bogaards indicates that the third and final book in Stieg Larsson’s bestselling trilogy, THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET’S NEST, had estimated first-day unit sales (in print and digital combined) in excess of 250,000 units. Two reprints just ordered will bring them up to 900,000 copies in print, as Bogaards celebrates that “we finally have a book that is driving traffic into stores…. The hope is that Larsson will prompt other sales, especially as the summer lists from publishers across the board look very strong – with standout work coming from Justin Cronin, Bret Easton Ellis, Samantha […]