Open Letter has posted a list of 25 contenders for the best translated book of 2008 (into English), which makes a fine guide to recently-published literature from around the world. Ten finalists will be named in late January 27, with the winning titles announced on February 19th at a party at the Melville House offices.Open Letter
Greyish Thursday: Add to Your List
– HarperCollins “plans to delay pay increases until after July 1, 2009…a response to the U.S. recession, according to spokesperson Erin Crum, Bloomberg reports. “HarperCollins hasn’t decided whether to eliminate jobs, she said.”Bloomberg – “Last month, John Sargent, chief executive of Macmillan, whose publishing houses include Farrar, Straus and Giroux and St. Martin’s Press, said in a companywide meeting that he could not guarantee that everyone would have a job going forward. Mr. Sargent declined to comment.” – Pearson has a companywide freeze on nearly all raises, which includes Penguin. – Bowker announced internally a restructuring in “a couple of […]
Bertram's Sale Imminent?
Michael Neil’s latest quote on Bertram’s: “We are up for sale and a sale agreement is imminent. We are confident it will be sorted by the end of the week.”Norwich paper
There is Good News–In Canada, and Currency Markets
BookNet Canada, which tracks point-of-sale data covering approximately 75 percent of the market, says that for the four weeks ending November 23, dollar sales rose 2 percent and unit sales rose 4.9 percent, concluding that “Canada might be the only English book market still in positive territory.” Unfortunately, that could be due in part to the relative cheapness of books in Canada compared to the US, with the Canadian dollar still trading at a very low .80 against the US dollar.Release In general, the dollar has retained its recent strength, which for the time being helps lift the performance of […]
Amazon Launches iPhone Shopping App; Stanza Reads 40,000 More Titles
Amazon has launched an iPhone app to let users search and browse the site for products. Their big “twist” is an “experimental feature” using the built-in camera called Amazon Remembers. It’s basically another extension of the idea of using physical stores as a place to browse real products to help people decide what to buy online. You snap a photo of a product and Amazon “tries to find products similar to the ones in the photos. As soon as the customer receives the results, they can then purchase the item immediately or ‘remember it’ for later in their Amazon account.”Release […]
Shopping Obama's Campaign Manager; New Carter Mideast Book
Attorney Bob Barnett is representing Barack Obama’s campaign manager David Plouffe, shopping a proposal for THE AUDACITY TO WIN, “not only an inside look at the Obama run but a guide for how to run an organization,” the AP reports. Barnett promises, “There will be many books about the Obama campaign, but only one from the campaign itself.” It’s intended as a fall 2009 release.AP Separately, Jimmy Carter said yesterday his new book WE CAN BRING PEACE TO THE HOLY LAND will be published in late January.AP