By Edward Nawotka Today’s lead story looks at the increasing importance of overseas book buyers to the remainder book market. There’s no exact formula for the amount of time it takes for a title to be released, returned and remaindered, but most authors would agree that the window publishers allow a book to gain traction in the marketplace before it’s …
Kindle Books Outsell Hardcover Books on Amazon.com
By Hannah Johnson The Kindle and other e-reading devices have gotten lots of news coverage recently as retailers continue to drop the price of devices in order to gain a larger share of the growing e-book market. The Kindle is now priced at $189 (down from $259), and both the Kobo Reader from Borders and the Nook from Barnes & …
Do Publishers Inadvertently Dictate the Demographics of Readers?
By Edward Nawotka Our lead article today looks at statistics from BookSwim.com which identify high-income suburban women — the proverbial soccer moms — and library users as key demographics of readers. This falls roughly in line with the results from earlier National Endowment for the Arts earlier studies that cited the same two groups as the most avid readers of …
World Cup Takes 23% Bite Out of German Book Sales
By Siobhan O’Leary As Team Germany gears up for its make-or-break match with Ghana, Buchreport has released disappointing sales figures for last Friday, when Germany played (and was defeated by) Serbia. Book sales were down a whopping 23% over the same day last year, though the same dramatic effect has not been felt on the days when Germany hasn’t played. …
Is the Focus on Devices and Not Readers a Big Mistake?
By Edward Nawotka The publishing media cloud has been obsessed with the introduction of new reading devices. For example, just yesterday, a flurry of posts announced the news of price drops for the Kindle and the Nook (Yes, naturally, we too reported on it). As our lead story today outlines, this same enthusiasm for gadgets seems to have infected publishing …
German Book Sales Stall, Drop 5.5% So Far in 2010
By Siobhan O’Leary Much as the weather was unseasonably cold in Germany in May, book sales experienced a bit of a chill in comparison to last year. Due in part to the fact that there was one fewer shopping day this year and that the May 1st holiday fell on a Saturday — meaning stores were closed on a typically …
Selling Books from Town to Town: On the Road with the Itinerant Book Show
By Deborah Emin If you had told me two years ago that people outside of New York City would be interested in hearing stories about how the publishing industry is changing and developing, I would have laughed at you. As I drive across the country from my office at Sullivan Street Press in New York and stop at places like …
Should Publishers Consider a Return to Door-to-door Sales?
By Edward Nawotka Publishers seem to know precious little about their customers. But as discussed in our lead story today, there is one way to get to know them: meet them face to face. It’s labor intensive, has low returns, but done in a limited fashion might offer dividends in the long run. And, it’s not as outrageous as an …
E-books are a Cul-de-sac: Why Publishing Needs to Rethink Its Digital Strategy
By Eoin Purcell DUBLIN: It is a mark of the publishing industry’s poor strategic abilities that e-books have become an all consuming obsession. I believe that, ultimately, e-books are merely a cul-de-sac. Given that sales of e-books tripled in 2009 — and continue to boom — this may seem ever so slightly irrational, but hear me out. Much as we …
What’s Hot in Romance? E-books, Baby!
By Lori James PALM HARBOR, FL: Digital publishing is a popular topic at the moment, and it should be. During a time when our overall world-wide economy is struggling, digital sales are up, way up. The top selling genre? Romance. At AllRomance.com we’re carefully watching this rapidly shifting market. With over 30,000 romance titles, and close to $3 million in …