By Edward Nawotka In the UK, the big news was the announcement of the Booker Prize Long List, which has now been dubbed the awkward sounding “Man Booker Dozen.” (There are 13 titles on the list, which of course purposefully makes this the Man Baker’s Dozen). On a list that features stalwarts such as A.S. Byatt and William Trevor, both …
German Buch News: Books are #3 in Online Shopping Popularity
By Siobhan O’Leary A recent survey conducted by Bitkom (the German Association for Information Technology, Telecommunications and New Media), published in the Boersenblatt, reveals that books are the third most popular products purchased online. Plane and train tickets were first, while concert tickets came in second. According to Bitkom, 35% of those surveyed have purchased a book online. Music landed …
Bonus Material: Book Buzz from the Social Media-o-Sphere
By Hannah Johnson Welcome to Book Buzz, our look at the publishing news that is circulating on the blogosphere, Twitter, Facebook and other social media. First on the radar over the last few days is, of course, the Kindle. Rumors are flying that Apple is on the offensive against Amazon and plans to launch its own. Some readers wonder whether …
Top US/UK Trade Talk: Penguin’s Profit Slides; BISG Seeks Exec. Dir.
By Edward Nawotka The biggest news of the day by far has been Penguin’s earnings report: The strengthening of the dollar against the pound turned a ” 6% sales decline in the first six months of 2009 into an 11% increase,” wrote Jim Milliot in PW. The UK’s Bookseller explained that “Penguin Group’s results for the first half of 2009 …
German Buch News: Why Free isn’t Frei
By Siobhan O’Leary The Handelsblatt blog calls the idea of “free” online content a myth, or better still, an easy excuse. The post describes time as the scarcest of our resources and that consumers pay for their seemingly free content by offering up what little time they have. What if all newspapers, magazines, etc., were to protect their content behind …
Top US/UK Trade Talk: Comic-Con, Random vs. UK Agents
By Edward Nawotka San Diego Comic-Con International dominated the blogs and the Web over the weekend. We’ll have a report out in a few days. In the meantime it’s worthwhile checking out PW’s coverage, where Calvin Reid noted that the first day of the show was “strangely subdued, despite being packed with fans,” and “the biggest announcements focused on digital …
German Buch News: E-book Prices; Suhrkamp’s American Editor
By Siobhan O’Leary The launch of B&N’s e-book store has sparked renewed debate about e-book pricing in Germany. Head of Libreka Ronald Schild told buchreport that the price debate will really get started at the end of the year, when German publishers are expected to release far more bestsellers as e-books. German e-books are typically priced around the same as …
German Buch News: More on Amazon v. Orwell; Bookface.de
By Siobhan O’Leary The German trades are full of talk about the Amazon Orwell deletion. Among the most notable is the short opinion piece by Boersenblatt editor Holger Heimann which compared the deletion to a bookseller sneaking into someone apartment to reclaim books that have already been purchased. “Disaster is inevitable. A precedent has been set,” he wrote. Buchreport.de highlights …
Top US/UK Trade Talk: Searching for Superheroes; Earnings Reports
By Edward Nawotka The Wall Street Journal looked at the shifting focus of movie producers at this weekend’s Comic-Con. They are moving away from mainstream superheroes (who are all accounted for) and looking toward the fringes for new, unheard of talent. PW focused on earnings reports: Lagardere Publishing was up 11% in the first half of 2009, to just over …
Top US/UK Trade Talk: B&N E-reader to Use GSM; U of M’s 400,000 POD Titles
By Edward Nawotka Plastic Logic’s forthcoming e-reader for Barnes & Noble make headlines on both sides of the Atlantic for the revelation that it will incorporate both Wi-Fi and 3G GSM wireless ability, something that would allow it to roam globally. The Bookseller notes that although the company originated in Cambridge, England, it has not yet announced a UK partner. …