Chorion, the company that controls the Agatha Christie estate, is announcing the recent discovery of 13 hours of audiotapes made by the author in the early 60s, found “in a dusty cardboard box in one of hero former houses by her only grandson, Mathew Prichard.” The material was eventually used in her autobiography, published posthumously in 1977. Chorion is using the occasion (timed to coincide with the 118th anniversary of her birth) to suggest that they might update that book: “There are bits and pieces of the autobiography that could be reviewed, in light of listening to the tapes.” Christie’s […]
The Sky Is Falling
It’s changing times in the book business for sure, but NY Magazine applies the cliched journalistic formula to make that into End Times. Random House’s new ceo may be more business-focused and energetic. Borders is in trouble. Books sold to stores are nonreturnable, and sometimes publishers have to pay display fees, the same way every other manufacturer deals with retailers. A prominent author left his old publisher after decades of support to get more money somewhere else after his sales flagged. The tooth fairy may be apocryphal. The timing of this achingly long list of moans and whines that proclaim […]
NavPress's Growth By Pulling Back
Michael D. Miller, who took over as executive publisher a year ago at Christian publisher NavPress, tells the local paper the company is changing its focus: “We drifted too far toward seeking best-sellers,” Miller said. “When you follow the trade model, you have to put a lot of material out to satisfy the needs of customers. We decided that is not in our best interest.”He adds, “I am trying to pull us back to remember that we are distributors of spiritual messages that God has given to people through the body of Christ to share.” They say the company had […]
Sony Reader's Target Rollout
This weekend Target is launching endcaps in the electronics section of all of the chain’s 1,634 stores carrying the Sony Reader and related accessories. Buyers also receive a coupon code redeemable for a free download Philippa Gregory’s The Other Queen, which releases on September 16. CNet
Used Booksellers: Megalisters vs. Hand-Sellers
The NYT looks at how software drives the low-margin business of selling used books online in quantity: “The state of the art in used-book selling these days seems to be less about connoisseurship than about database management. With the help of software tools, so-called megalisters stock millions of books and sell tens of thousands a week through Amazon, AbeBooks and other online marketplaces. Some sellers don’t even own their wares….” Thrift Books–with 180 employees and about 3 million books for sale–“acquires its stock literally by the ton, usually from libraries, secondhand stores and charities.” They log the ISBNs and post […]
Do You XML?
O’Reilly and the Ideal Logical Company have partnered in a new information enterprise that will include conferences, a survey, and research papers “to understand and spread the knowledge publishers need to move forward with XML.” They note: “The StartwithXML project will explore all the issues of moving to a StartwithXML workflow through interviews and case studies with publishers and with the channel partners they will be working with to reach new readers in new ways. We’ll be looking at what benefits can come to a publisher today from working this way, and what important steps to the future are enabled […]