The Week of Banned Books

It's Banned Books Week, of course, but not all the news is good. The New York Times, for instance, reports that Tango, penguin star of last year's most-challenged book, now comes from a broken home. In addition to some great visuals, here are a few of the thought-provoking posts on the topic.

Unsurprisingly, other things have been happening this week, too. Among them:

Posted at 12:26AM Oct 04, 2008 by Sarah Rettger in General  |  Comments[0]

BookstoreWeek

You know, with record-setting bank failures claiming most of their attention, I don't think our friends at McGraw-Hill will be too upset that I borrowed one of their titles for this week's post. (Based on what I've seen and read about the regional trade shows so far, my version's going to have more positive news. What are the chances that has something to do with the dearth of booksellers making $19 million in three weeks?)

GalleyCat points to a City Room post about Branding New York: How a City in Crisis Was Sold to the World, Miriam Greenberg's book about how some smart marketing got the city through an earlier economic and social slump.

Stephen King added a completely unnecessary new word to my vocabulary this week (courtesy of his son Joe Hill): manfiction.

Literary Kicks looks at the publishing equivalent of junk bonds, and wonders where the publishing bailout will come from.

Is the exchange rate stopping you from planning a trip to London this fall? Save money by planning a tour of completely fictional pubs.

Joe Wikert focuses mainly on bookstore chains in his six-part look at how stores can compete with online venues, but as Chad Post points out, there's no reason indies can't take on some of those ideas.(Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal tries to convince us that Wal-Mart hasn't actually had a measurable impact on independent businesses. Happily, there are a lot of skeptics, who will probably appreciate this recent study.)

Other people have ideas for fixing indies too: Bob Miller echoed his recommendation at NEIBA that indies play up their e-book offerings, and novelist Jane Finnis sees a solid future in in-store POD.

I haven't seen anyone but Haven Kimmel connect independent bookstores and "varmint guns" - if I've missed something, please let me know. (Kimmel's not the only one to check in with Square Books this week - it just happens to share its location with the first presidential debate still scheduled for tonight.)

Any other reports from Brisingr weekend? Alison Morris has the scoop on the Wellesley Booksmith's event, although she points out that the store might have encouraged more kids to take fencing lessons than to buy the book.

A few notes on publisher blogs: Congratulations to Beacon Broadside, celebrating its first blogoversary. Props also to Abbeville Press for giving the cover of their Courbet the exposure it deserves. (Yeah, bad pun. Deal with it.) And New York Review Books helped fill my daily laughter quota by directing me to this publishing glossary.

If you didn't get enough Brian Selznick at BEA this year, make sure to read his conversation with Paul O. Zelinsky (courtesy of Fuse #8).

Finally, there's $300 up for grabs if you convince a colleague to write his or her first Next List nomination.

Posted at 03:21PM Sep 26, 2008 by Sarah Rettger in General  |  Comments[2]

That was the week that was...

I'm pinch hitting this week for blogger extraordinaire Sarah, who's at the NEIBA trade show, and here's a roll call of some (possibly) interesting stuff...

In the midst of getting the November Indie Next List ready to go out the door (hmmm, too dated? How about "over the net"?...) and off to the printer, I'm still making my way through Boris Kachka's big thumb-sucker on the book business in New York magazine, but a few others have weighed in. Author Beth Kephart notes, "Call me crazy (others have), but I'm still going to bet on a future enriched by books," while the New York Observer has the slightly eerie backstory on the reverse-zelig-like image of a publishing party in "Jane masks." (Can you find the real Jane?...)

Yes, I have been watching the Watchman trailer when I should have been reading, and, yes, I am in favor of tort reform only for cases involving disputed rights to film projects (and only then when it might delay the opening of said projects...), but, clearly, one guy who won't be there for opening night is author Alan Moore. From the Los Angeles Times blog "Hero Complex," where he notes:

Will the film even be coming out? There are these legal problems now, which I find wonderfully ironic. Perhaps it's been cursed from afar, from England. And I can tell you that I will also be spitting venom all over it for months to come.

What if the cool new thing is something old? The Los Angeles Times profiles New York Review Books, Europa Editions, Hard Case Crime, and Persephone Books -- all houses that specialize in reprints for "people who haunt bookstores searching for the next great read." Another example of how taste, point of view, and acumen create that happy event for readers: a comprehensible quality shortlist "in a publishing industry that is just as blockbuster-driven as the movie and music industries." (Not unlike a great list of the next cool titles put together by indie booksellers...) And a quick p.s.: If you haven't already, check out the NYRB blog.

And, with this in mind, it was interesting to see the New York Times piece on novelist Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis, characterized as "a fringe figure in the English-speaking work" who has been transformed into "a literary favorite and trendsetter" promoted by such writers as Susan Sontag, Harold Bloom, and Philip Roth." Also, the Wall Street Journal profiles novelist David Rhodes, long out of print, whose upcoming novel, Driftless has been published by Milkweed Editions, which has also brought back into print Rhodes' acclaimed Rock Island Line.

Maybe it's because I just finished the new John le Carre novel, A Most Wanted Man (great!), but here's a recent Washington Post that caught my eye, "Even Spies Go to Trade Conferences." Yup, it seems that the privitization of our government includes the cloak and dagger set:

About 70 percent of more than $50 billion in annual spending on intelligence now goes to corporations for everything from major computer systems to heating bills. As many as 37,000 contract employees work alongside up to 100,000 government intelligence workers, according to a recent government survey.

That much money it's no wonder you can convince so many vendors to hang out under one big roof. "Demand is huge," said Premkumar Natarajan, VP of BBN Technologies, "people always need to know more. After 9/11, they acknowledged they needed to know more." Hmmm.... The piece sort of buries what might have been my lede: that Google had a booth at the show, that the Google exhibitors "said they were not allowed to tell a reporter why the company was there," and that visitors from the Pentagon, the Marine Corps, and the "Army Joint Informational Operations Warefare Command" all came by for a chat. (Maybe I should rethink my search engine choice...)

And, finally, one of the cool things about signing up for the IndieBound Community has been sharing favorite indie stores and other interests, finding out what others are passionate about, and getting fun updates. One of my interests is "local tomatoes" -- which has generated some comments -- but I'm proud to say that my wife and I harvested this year's tomato yesterday. (We are going to flip a coin to see who gets to eat it tomorrow at breakfast...)

Turns out I'm not alone, but am I ever in the minor leagues. The Los Angeles Times profiles Bill Anderson, who this year grew 10,990 tomatoes, which he and his wife harvested from 34 tomato plants on their 6,500-square-foot lot, along with "some grass, a few trees, [and] a few dozen rose bushes." There are more of his ilk. Scott Daigre is a garden designer whose six "Tomatomania" seedling sales draw an estimated 12,000 to 15,000 people. Daigre's favorite recipe? "Pick a great tomato. Wash it. Or not. Cut it. Or not. Salt it. Eat it." My next recipe? From the Wall Street Journal's piece on "Tomatoes' Sweet Comeback," Cherry Tomatoes With Olives and Pine Nuts.

Eat (tomatoes). Sleep (in over the weekend). Read (great books).

Posted at 05:07PM Sep 19, 2008 by Dan Cullen in General  |  Comments[1]

Time for another quote roundup

Why you can't help loving Lois Lowry: "One actor, playing an abusive man, felt that perhaps his line ... was dated, and could I come up with something more contemporary? I did, but it was obscene and made the theater director snort coffee out of his nose when he read it in my email."

Or, for that matter, Maureen Johnson describing the human body: "It has a really old instruction manual and is slow to adopt updates and just follows the program."

Anathem is not for the unprepared: "What's a gigantic sci-fi novel without a glossary of terms?" (Or you could just offer your customers Unshelved's take.)

Geography 101: "That's why it's important that you know that we invented Velcro. And basketball."

Young Jamie Ford bought the propaganda early: "It was run by Lanny something, a man we presumed to have an IQ of 389, because of his sheer proximity to that many cool and noteworthy books."

Get 'em while they're young, Part II: "Once she smuggled me into the stacks. Glorious. All those books."

When it's your store, you can say what you want to the customers: "But hey, no one's stopping you from shopping there. In fact, from this day forth, we're encouraging you to."

One of Short Stack's best lists: "It's sad to think that a whole generation judged an extraordinary book by this film."

How to combine shameless plugs and PSAs: "Why not head over to your local independent bookstore instead, and pick up The Greatest Novel Ever Written (By Me), Forever Changes by Brendan Halpin? "

Another advantage of urban living: "Since I started riding the subway to work, I would estimate that I've read three times the number of books I read in a similar time span while commuting by car."

It's not enough that they have a great blogger on staff: "Plus you’ve got to admire a place that nabbed the website www.harvard.com. They HAD to have figured out the ‘net was going to be a bit deal before anyone else, don’t you think?"

What can happen when you write: "Always annoying to be reviewed by people who haven't read the book."

How to win a book: "Here's what you need to do: take a picture of your nightstand and the pile of books that are on (under, next to, or toppling off of) it."

No post from me next week, because I'll be hanging out with New England booksellers at NEIBA's trade show. Stop by ABA's booth to say hi!

Posted at 03:59PM Sep 12, 2008 by Sarah Rettger in General  | 

The no-politics edition (I'm trying, at least)

In a two-part post, author Shannon Hale delves into the relationship between writers and readers.

Sarah Weinman has begun analyzing the state of imprints at the six major publishers. So far she's covered Hachette, Simon & Schuster, and Macmillan.

Even if you're underwhelmed <raises hand> by Chrome (Google's new browser), take a look at the user manual/behind-the-scenes look at browsers/excellent marketing device created by Scott McCloud, who sat on ABA's graphic novels panel in Los Angeles.

This was the first week of classes for (many) college students around the country, which meant it was once again time for my Google Alerts to turn up all kinds of complaints about textbook pricing and availability. The strangest story, by far, comes from Amherst, where an employee of the official campus bookstore called a professor and pretended to be the parent of one of the professor's students in order to find out what books the professor would be using.

Back-to-school time is apparently also the time to reminisce about most-hated reading assignments. Read Street asks if there are "any books out there you're still bitter about."

GalleyCat links to a geek test based on the pop culture references in The Brief Wonderous Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. (I got 56; let me know if you beat me.)

Just in case anyone still thought pre-publication embargoes were working, Fox News got its hands on a copy of Bob Woodward's new book, due out Tuesday. The Washington Post, Woodward's sort-of-former-employer, was supposed to have first dibs, so they had to push an article of their own -- but the four-part series will start Sunday as planned.

A post by Jessica Faust at BookEnds Literary Agency sparked a discussion of big-city bias in fiction.

One of my favorite books of this season, Graceling, has started appearing in stores ahead of its official pub date, but author Kristin Cashore reminds readers that they can get signed copies by contacting her local indie.

Okay, I've been good so far. I haven't said anything about the conventions or the rumors or the Daily Show. Will you indulge me for one politics-related item? There's a prize in it for you, courtesy of author Joshua Henkin.

Henkin has realized that he doesn't know any John McCain supporters except his in-laws. But he'd like to. In a guest post at The Elegant Variation, Henkin offers a signed copy of his new-to-paperback Matrimony to the person who e-mails him with the best explanation for why he or she will vote for McCain. Anyone care to try their luck?

Posted at 01:09PM Sep 05, 2008 by Sarah Rettger in General  |  Comments[2]

They just don't get it

Posts like this one, from novelist Tayari Jones, pretty much make our day around here:

More mood-boosting posts came from places like Small Beer Press, Reading is Sexy, In Hovering Flight (which shares its title - and author - with the #1 Next List Pick for September), Neighborhood Notes, Fuse #8, The Accidental Marketer, and Bookavore's great insights, which I liked so much I printed them out and covered my walls with them.

We especially appreciate the positive posts when they come on the heels of pieces like this one or this one or this one. (Many thanks to Joe and Drea for jumping into the discussion on the last post. If you need more information before posting your own comments, you can find statistics, citations, and resources on our Shop Local page.)

But not all is seriousness this week. In honor of all those school buses that have started rolling through the streets, the Poetry Foundation has published an appropriate list: 10 Poems to Read When You Get Stuffed in Your Locker. (via Jacket Copy)

And courtesy of Bookninja and our Australian colleagues, some booksellers share their favorite customer stories. Like this one:

Enjoy the weekend, everyone!

Posted at 03:57PM Aug 29, 2008 by Sarah Rettger in General  |  Comments[6]

Cultural Learnings

PSA: Read ABA President Gayle Shanks' open letter on the recent controversy over publisher Chelsea Green's upcoming release. But that's not this week's topic.

Instead, it's time to take a look at the worldview of kids today. The occasion? Beloit College has released its latest mindset list, a document it puts out each year to help professors understand how the typical eighteen-year-old sees the world. Aside from the obvious (computer-literate, not used to sharing a bedroom), the list points out that for the class of 2012:

Aside from a passing reference to Harry Potter (he could have been a classmate), the list doesn't take note of the book-related culture that's been part of their lives.  So let's take a look:

There's a lot they've missed out on, or taken for granted. (My suggestion, if they're looking to fill in the gaps, is Doonesbury. Seriously. The archives are a pop culture gold mine.) So have pity on them when they pick up Dark Dude this fall and think that Oscar Hijuelos is a newcomer - and tell them he won the Pulitzer the year they were born.

Posted at 12:47PM Aug 22, 2008 by Sarah Rettger in General  | 

Anyone for a low-impact woodland bookstore?

Thanks to Jessica for taking me up on last week's comment challenge! As long as Dan continues to supply the candy, I'll keep asking for your help when I run into future headdesk moments.

Bookstores getting some electron-love this week: Constellation Books, BookHampton, Northshire Bookstore, Innisfree Bookshop, Fountain Bookstore, Burke's Bookstore and Talking Leaves, Harvard Bookstore, and others.

Of interest to those on the business side of bookselling: Inkwell finds a resource for health insurance (I'm linking, but not endorsing in any way), PW reports on free freight, nonprofit status as a bookstore business model, why your store isn't the only one where political books aren't selling (via Gawker), the indie bookstore as a "incredible client experience" (see #18), and why customers think you should have an e-newsletter.

If your customers are looking to emulate their favorite foreign service officers, you can point them to the State Department's reading recommendations. No traditional beach reads on this list, but lots of geopolitics.

Instead of another complaint about the many terrible book-to-film adaptations, The Morning News highlights some of the best.

Even a non-Tolkien fan like me (don't throw things, please) has to love these hobbit holes - or more precisely, "low-impact woodland homes." Talk about living in a place with character!

Have you checked out the new Banned Books Week site?

Play-on-words points to Macmillan, which has released some new audiobooks under the banner of "Girls Gone Audio." Points also go to Chronicle, which promoted its line of postcards based on spam subject lines.

I wouldn't have expected a debate over whether or not Edgar Allan Poe was a Southern writer would attract much attention, but the Baltimore Sun knows better. (Yes, that's the third time I've linked to Read Street in this post. It's a great resource for news, analysis, and bookstore profiles, so you'll be seeing a lot of them.)

Posted at 11:50AM Aug 15, 2008 by Sarah Rettger in General  | 

I'm giving away...

... candy. Read to the end to find out how you can get some.

I like this idea, courtesy of Read Street: "If I were King of Books I would recommend an index for any novel of more than 300 pages, and make it mandatory for family sagas that span generations and countries." Besides more charts like the ones in Madeleine L'Engle's books, which show not only how the characters fit together, but also which books they're in, I'd love to see an online version, with links to buy each book. Drupal's going to be up on our e-commerce sites in a few months - anyone want to tackle the project?

What's the best sport not in the Olympics - or anywhere on Earth? Not surprisingly, most of the answers come from books. (via educating alice)

Nielsen BookScan released its "evergreen" list of titles that have consistently been among the top 5,000 sellers over the past ten years. They claim these are the titles that bookstores *must* keep in stock, but that's definitely not the case at my store, where Birdsong moves only when a book club picks it out, and Pratchett gets even less traffic. That's the beauty of indies, though - anyone want to comment on how the "evergreen" titles are doing at your stores?

From Sherman Alexie, the latest on the Seattle-Oklahoma City basketball saga. (via Bookslut)

Books and politics are never very far apart. At Shelftalker, Alison asks readers what characters they'd like to nominate for president, with links to plenty of fictional campaign gear available online. Gerry at Partners West has had enough of political drop-in titles, especially of the comic book variety.

Need a guide to book parts? Now you can rely on a visual dictionary.

As the Olympics open, PEN continues its readings and translations of Chinese writers.

Everyone knows about fanfiction for TV shows, and major series like Twilight and Harry Potter. But Tuck Everlasting? Goodnight Mr. Tom? I had no idea.

At least one bookseller has good things to say about the discussions of returning Breaking Dawn - Jay's a big fan of Clay Shirky, apparently.

The "what embargo?" review of Ron Suskind's new book prompted a return to the conversation about laydowns and on-sale dates and why the (now book review-less) LA Times won't sign any affidavits.

Non-sequitur of the week: "If Linen ‘n Things can afford glossy ads, why can’t bookstores?" I'm tempted to respond, but still can't get my mind around the logic. If anyone can, send me a link to your response and I'll put some candy in the mail.

Posted at 10:06AM Aug 09, 2008 by Sarah Rettger in General  |  Comments[3]

Pre-Breaking Dawn edition

I don't have to tell anyone what the big book-related event is this weekend. To give you a break from the hordes of Breaking Dawn fans waiting for the clock to change to 12:01 AM, here's what else is going on in the book world.

In bookstore news:

Elsewhere:

Posted at 04:14PM Aug 01, 2008 by Sarah Rettger in General  |