Marion Manekar says the new e-reader from Barnes & Noble, the Nook, is better than Amazon’s Kindle and therefore could break Barnes & Noble as a printed bookseller.
Category Archives: Publishing
Does It Matter What It Costs?
Sarah Palin has a memoir coming out next month, Going Rogue: An American Life. You can pre-order it from Amazon for $9–the same at Walmart. Buy it at Books-a-Million for $15.65.
I very well may buy this book, but should I go for the $9 or the $15 price? Why are deep discounters able to discount some books so deeply? Should I care about paying too little for a book, or should I let the publishers figure out their stupid business models by themselves?
In related news, political pundit Bernie Quigley talks about the messages within the titles of Palin’s and Mitt Romney’s upcoming books. Romney’s book, to be released in March, is called No Apology: The Case for American Greatness. Quigley says that title focuses on the past.
“There is hubris and a kind of conspicuous arrogance to it, which he asks us to wear with our chests out. Romney’s title suggests a full endorsement of the Bush II paradigm without a moment’s introspection,” he says. “Going Rogue, however, suggests a new direction, a new adventure, something just ahead there in the great unknown. It is a very good title and speaks in essence to the frontier spirit of those who venture beyond the Hudson River or the Beltway.”
Publishers, Bring On the Compensation
If you read other lit-blogs–and really, why should you (don’t answer that)–then you likely know that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has announced guidelines which will more-or-less require lit-bloggers to state that the book being reviewed was sent to them as a gift from a loving publisher. Because reviews amount to endorsements, the FTC argues, and those galleys, unedited proofs, and ARCs sent to the blogger, sometimes without blogger consent, amounts to payment. Paid endorsements–dare I sully your eyes with the filthy word advertising–that’s what the FTC is cracking down on.
Frank Wilson has harsh words for this, and links to great information on what the FTC is trying to do. In another post, he links to Jen Miller’s fun comments on full disclosure. To summarize, the FTC just wants bloggers to say what they got from a publisher in exchange for the no-doubt glowing review on their prestigious blogs, because, you know, all blog reviews are glowing and most blogs are prestigious. Newspapers don’t have to say anything in their reviews, just bloggers and nefarious social networkers.
What about disclosing what we want to receive from publishers? I will gladly receive full compensation for considering reviews on all manner of books. I am willing to be supplied with enough shiny new books or cash equivalents to open a Brandywine Books Store somewhere on the Interwebs. At least, the FTC says I can, so lets do it and make the world a better place. In return, I will make a variety of stock reviews and blurbs available to the publishers, like these:
- This book has impacted my life since the first day it hit my doorstep.
- I can’t tell you what reading this novel has done for me. Just looking at it makes me say WOW!
- Honestly, I couldn’t put this one down. I ate with it, showered with it, drove around town with it. Truly a sensation!
- I swear this is the best book I’ve read today. Buy two copies and share it with a friend.
There’s a lot more where those came from, so call me, publishers. Write me into your marketing plans. You know a personal, heart-felt endorsement from me will sell more of any book than could be sold without one. Cat fur! It’s a win-win for everyone.
With Greater Demand Comes a Higher Price
D.J. Taylor asks why Dan Brown’s new book is so heavily discounted when thousands of people are eager to read it. Why not capitalize on all of the hype by asking readers to pay full or slightly-off-full price? The reason is that the hype and discount will get buyers into the store and maybe, just maybe, they will buy something else. How does that figure, Taylor asks. Won’t it drive the price for other books down?
I agree, and as thrifty buyer (more or less) I balk a paying $25 or more for a book. I remember seeing Robinson’s Gilead in the store after much praise, and I wanted to buy it. I was even a little excited. But I think was priced at $28.00, and it was much smaller than I had imagined. I passed it up.
But Brown’s fans are even less hinged on reality than I am, so make them pay $20 or more for the most anticipated novel of the year. Tell them it sells for $35, but they can get it for $22.50 if they give the secret word. They love stuff like that, and some will even pay $35.
Sweden Has Pirates in Government
The Pirate Party, a legitimate political organization in Sweden, wants to eliminate patents and make copyright a free-flowing breeze. How much does the Swedish government underwrite these people’s lifestyles for them to believe this nonsense? I think someone should propose to film a movie in Sweden and ask the pirates to volunteer, understanding they will not be paid or fed.
Oh, joy.
Philip Pullman (of His Dark Materials fame) is going to publish an alternative version of the life of Christ. It “strips Christianity bare.”
Have the publishers considered the fact that Muslims revere Jesus as a prophet? That a book like this might insult Muslims? I mean, I know they despise Christians, but what about the Religion of Peace?
Tip: Dale Nelson.
Incredible!
Frank Wilson links to “The Narrative,” a presentation on PJTV on the playbook many media outlets use to present their views. It’s incredible. The war against Western culture and by extension the God whose words informed that culture has been waged for decades by the people with the bumper stickers “War is not the answer.”
T.S. Eliot: “Unreliable Judge of Censorship”
Many have thought of the poet and publisher T.S. Eliot as stern and unapproachable, but an exhibition of letters coming to the British Library shows him to be a compassionate advocate of struggling writers and willing to publish a lesbian novel, one of the first ever. I think it’s interesting that he says, “I am perpetually being shocked by what doesn’t shock other people and not being shocked [by what does],” meaning he thought himself a poor judge of censorship issues. (via Books, Inq.)
Maybe I’ll never see one of my books in hardcover…
Joe Carter at First Thoughts passes on excerpts from a Financial Times article, about how Amazon’s and Google’s pricing policies are destroying the market for hardcover books.
Arnaud Nourry, chief executive of French publishing group Hachette Livre, said unilateral pricing by Google, Amazon and other e-book retailers such as Barnes & Noble could destroy profits and kill the lucrative trade in hardback editions.
Most of my book buying is in softcover, mainly because I’m poor. I made it a project, years back, to get most of my C. S. Lewis in hardcover, though. I suspect that if I checked closely, I’d discover that the majority of the hardcovers I own have been bought used or from clearance tables.
But still…
Word up on the words in the Word
Our friend Ori sent me this link today, about the upcoming really, really even newer revision of the New International Version of the Bible. The tone of the article is that they’re going to make it even more gender neutral, and that people who objected to the last “humankind” revision were complaining on purely ideological–not scholarly–grounds.
And over at Worldmag.com, I see this piece by Alisa Harris, linking to this article from Christianity Today, which talks about the same revision. The tone of this article is that they’re going to tone down the changes, and that the publisher recognizes the legitimate concerns of past critics.
Methinks, if you’re looking for a job, they’re hiring in the Spin Control Department over at Zondervan.
Me, I still sometimes use my old (pre-revision) NIV Study Bible, because the notes are excellent.
But in general, I’ve decided I prefer something a little more literal, like the New American Standard or the English Standard Version.
If I live long enough, I’ll probably just go back to the King James. Or the Geneva Bible, just to irritate people.