NYtimes has a big piece on Barnes & Noble. The upshot is that BN is working hard on a new Nook to debut later this spring and that its entire lifeblood appears to rest on the Nook’s success. Without BN, says the article, publishing may die. Which is ironic given that the VP of something for BN was at Digital Book World this last week touting that 75% of books sold are still in print format. If BN was so positive that print books were going to be a mainstay of publishing, why is so much of the retail space filled by non book items like toys, games, stuffed animals, and journals?
Jonathan Franzen argues that digital books will be the downfall of literature because digital books lack permanency. It’s an interesting argument and I’d like to ponder it for a while.
“I think, for serious readers, a sense of permanence has always been part of the experience. Everything else in your life is fluid, but here is this text that doesn’t change.
“Will there still be readers 50 years from now who feel that way? Who have that hunger for something permanent and unalterable? I don’t have a crystal ball.
Harlequin has acquired Heartsong Presents Book Club from Barbour Publishing. If you recall, HarperCollins acquired Thomas Nelson to become the largest Christian fiction publisher in the world. Harlequin appears to want to maintain its foot in the door.
Amazon says that participating in the Kindle Owner’s Lending Library increases sales of books, but it doesn’t say it increases sales of the books of the authors that participated. Instead, it says that overall purchases increase.
Amazon compared two customer groups of Amazon Prime members who have owned an e-reading device for more than six months and have made at least one recent book purchase in the last 30 days. The members of one group used the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library and the members of the other group did not. Grandinetti said that after after the average customer’s first borrow from the KOLL, he or she went on to purchase 30 percent more books.
Perhaps this is to combat gifts that go unused. In other words, freebies seed the use of the device overall.
More than a fifth of those who received a Kindle said they have not used it.
The main reason was that owners had failed to download any e-books, the survey found.
Goodreads announced that it will no longer be using Amazon data to populate book information. This is not related to the Google privacy changes but I suspect is has to do with Amazon not wanting Goodreads to use the data without either compensation, more compensation, or perhaps Amazon doesn’t want Goodreads linking to other retail sites.
Certainly I recognize that TV is entirely different from novels–new storylines will open up and things will change the characters in fundamental ways, but I want to think that a show will start out in a place that feels true to the heart of the books. And that was absolutely not the case with Rizzoli and Isles. I love the characters in the books to death, they are both incredibly intelligent, hard working women who have a layered and complex working relationship. The show decided to go for a silly, over the top, BFF vibe. It’s not that the show isn’t fun, I’m sure it’s fun for a lot of people. It’s just that I look at the source material and then I look at the show, and think…this was the best you could do
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I am putting together a deal page because most of the deals appear to be repetitive at this point. The deal page can be accessed at all times via one link and there is link in the drop down For Readers menu item. If I turn up any new deals, then I’ll post them during the News and Deals post. The deal page is here and I’ll be building on it over the next couple of weeks. It will also have any coupon codes or deals of interest. The following is a new deal, I believe:
- From Two Rivers: Part 1 of Eye of the World by Robert Jordan * $0.99 * A | BN | K | S
- Hot Girl by Dream Jordan * $2.99 * A | BN | K | S
- Me, Myself, and Why by MaryJanice Davidson * $2.99 * A | BN | K | S
- Midnight Sins by Lora Leigh * $2.99 * A | BN | K | S * Romance *
- Cheri On Top by Susan Donovan * $2.99 * A | BN | K | S * Romance *
- Death, Taxes and a French Manicure by Diane Kelly * $2.99 * A | BN | K | S
- Secrets to Seducing a Scot by Michelle Marcos * $2.99 * A | BN | K | S * Romance *
- Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams * $2.99 * A | BN | K | S
- Autumn by David Moody * $2.99 * A | BN | K | S
- Kill Zone by Jack Coughlin * $2.99 * A | BN | K | S
- Infinity by Sherrilyn Kenyon * $2.99 * A | BN | K | S
- One Good Dog by Susan Wilson * $2.99 * A | BN | K | S
- Typhoon by Charles Cumming * $2.99 * A | BN | K | S