Congressman Self-Publishes Attack on Iraq Policy Former Indiana congressman and “maverick” John Hostettler plans to self-publish NOTHING FOR THE NATION: Who Got What Out of Iraq, promising to reveal “why political leaders and their subordinates sought to remove Saddam Hussein from power.” The book is set for publication next month through his Publius House, named for the pseudonym used by some of the founding fathers. Hostettler tells the AP by e-mail the title is “the first of a series of books that will draw from my years of service in the United States House of Representatives.” Indy Star McClellanitella? Oh, […]
Lunch Weekly for Monday, November 26
Deal Reports Just e-mail to deals@PublishersMarketplace if you aren’t using the online form linked below. Report a deal using the online form The Key As usual, the handy key to our Lunch deal categories. While all reports are always welcome, those that include a category will generally receive a higher listing when it comes time to put them all together. “nice deal” $1 – $49,000 “very nice deal” $50,000 – $99,000 “good deal” $100,000 – $250,000 “significant deal” $251,000 – $499,000 “major deal” $500,000 and up FICTION Debut Joyce Lebra’s THE SCENT OF SAKE, about a 19th century Japanese […]
Lunch for Wednesday, November 21
Borders: Good News (Comp Sales Up), Bad News (Losses Ever Bigger) At least Borders is selling more books. Same-store superstore sales of $616 million were up 1.1 percent on a comp basis, while Walden store comps were up 3.6 percent at $110 million, and international comp sales rose 7.8 percent (thank you weak dollar/strong Asia). But they continue to lose more money than Wall Street dared to expect, dropping $39 million in net operating losses, or 66 cents a share, compared to $33 million a year ago. The total net loss is much more impressive at $161 million, though, including […]
Lunch for Tuesday, November 20
BN Performs: Comp Sales Rise Barnes & Noble reported a better than expected third quarter, with same-store sales up 2.6 percent for the period, “at the high end of guidance for a flat to low-single digit increase.” Sales of $108 million at BN.com were up 14.5 percent compared to a year ago, as companywide sales hit $1.176 billion. The operating net loss per share of $1.8 million was also less than half what the company expected, further improved by an “after tax benefit of $6.2 million, resulting from a more favorable physical inventory shortage rate than previously estimated and accrued.” […]
Lunch for Monday, November 19
Snap Judgments, Kindled Perhaps it means something that, even as Amazon’s morning press conference to introduce the Kindle was unfolding slowly this morning, their online Kindle store was already live with all the specs, pictures, promotional videos and more that one could want. Having attended events like this for some seven-odd years now, there is a sameness to the proclamations and timelines. Today ceo Jeff Bezos noted at the beginning, “an interesting question to think about is, why are books the last bastion of analog?” Acknowledging the printed book as a near-perfect device, he said, “we forget this is a […]
Lunch Weekly for Monday, November 19
Newsweek Trades Puff for Kindle First Look Amazon wanted a reporter who would write a long gooey cover piece about how the Kindle will transform the reading and writing experience, a new gloss on the piece reporters have been getting wrong for at least a decade now, and they found their man easily in Newsweek’s Steve Levy. But inside the long article and its ethereal declarations — “This is the most important thing we’ve ever done,” says Jeff Bezos. “It’s so ambitious to take something as highly evolved as the book and improve on it. And maybe even change the […]