The rise of the e-book

According to the latest figures from the American Publishers Assn., book sales in May decreased by 1.8%, while there was a 24.3% increase in e-book sales. Audio books suffered the most, dropping 38%. Books still command the biggest share of the market by far, but how long is this going to continue? As Confuscius would say, we live in interesting times.

http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/bookselling/ebook_sales_grow_in_may_audio_not_so_much_89042.asp

Obama and Harry Potter

Blog queen Pam Coughlan -- "mother-reader," who satirizes herself as having "the heart of a mother, the soul of a reader, the mouth of a smartass" -- was fortunate enough to be within shaking hands distance of Barack Obama at an event in Virginia. As she excitedly reports, the speech was great (with much about equal opportunities for hardworking women) but one particular question was electric. A woman asked him how he felt about reading. He was a bit surprised, confessing he'd never had that question before, and waffled for a little bit about his two books, and how he wrote them himself, along with his speeches. It was important to know how to write in order to get a job, he said, as no one ever got a job on the basis of his texting skills. Then, however, he suddenly launched himself into one of those little insights into Obama-the-man that make him seem so unusually accessible. He had read all the Harry Potter books to his daughters, he revealed. And, if a man who is running for prez. can do that, surely every dad can find the time to share the pleasure of books with his children.

http://www.motherreader.com/2008/07/obama-on-reading-harry-potter.html

http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/laurinmanning/gGxDJD

The Stephanie Meyer phenomenon

This week USA Today marvels over its latest bestseller list:

http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2008-07-09-book-buzz_N.htm


Two self-help titles -- Randy Pausch's touching study, The Last Lecture, based on the last lecture given by a professor who was battling pancreatic cancer, and Eckhart Tolle's Earth, which was an Oprah Winfrey pick -- have hung onto the two top spots, but the rest of the top ten is dominated by Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series.

I have to admit that I was so intrigued by the storyline of the first in the series, Twilight, that I went into Whitcoulls, found the one copy they held, and hid it behind the others to buy later, as I was heading to a function where I did not want to be encumbered by a parcel. When I returned, it was to find that someone else had fossicked it out and carried it away, much to my disgust.

Originally pushed as a book for teens, Twilight is about a girl who arrives as a newbie at a high school in a remote, forest-surrounded back-of-beyond sort of town. That sounds hackneyed -- but she then proceeds to fall for a stunningly handsome guy . . . who turns out to be a vampire. He daren't touch her, fearing that he would be overcome by a lust for her blood, and so it becomes a story of love that can never be consummated.

With a theme like that, it's no wonder the book has taken off with an adult audience, too. Currently, Meyer is being touted as the next J K Rowling. For her candid, interesting and rather Rowling-like story of how she wrote the book and got it published, read the relevant page on her website:
http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/twilight.html

Twilight will be released as a major motion picture later this year, I believe.

Wearing fireman's boots, bookseller weeps

The Vineyard Gazette features a heartbreaking story from Julia Wells, describing the emotional agony of the woman still most associated with the iconic bookstore Bunch of Grapes in Vineyard Haven. Desperate to see the damage for herself, Ann Nelson borrowed fireman's boots and jacket, and explored the blackened ruins. As she surveyed blackened shelves and melted ceilings, tears ran down her cheeks.

http://www.mvgazette.com/article.php?17211

Jack London's Sea Wolf

The University of British Columbia Press has just released a biography of Captain Alex MacLean, who was the inspiration for the title character, Wolf Larsen, in Jack London's classic bestseller, The Sea-Wolf. The author is Don MacGillivray, a professor of history at Cape Breton University.

Originally from Cape Breton, MacLean sailed to the Pacific at the age of 21, and worked as a seaman and sealer for the next 35 years, creating a legend and becoming a folk hero.

http://www.ubcpress.ca:80/search/title_book.asp?BookID=299172292

More unrest in the world of print on demand

The Small Publishers Association of North America has voted to support the class action antitrust lawsuit, BookLocker.com, Inc. vs. Amazon.com, Inc. In late March, the news broke that Amazon had begun a new policy requiring print on demand (POD) publishers using Amazon's distribution services to print their books using Amazon's subsidiary BookSurge, and despite public outcry, Amazon has stuck to it. This led BookLocker.com, Inc., a POD publisher, to initiate a class action antitrust lawsuit.

Read all about it at:
www.spannet.org/amazonantitrust-home.htm

Washington Post names outsider as top editor

New publisher of the Washington Post, Katharine Weymouth, is busily putting her stamp on one of the world's great newspapers. Her latest move is to name Marcus W. Brauchli, formerly of the Wall Street Journal, executive editor.

Brauchli, 47, replaces Leonard Downie, 66. I told you that editors are getting younger.

Weymouth herself is just 42.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/08/business/media/08-cndbrauchli.html?_r=1&8au&emc=au&oref=slogin

Update on Bunch of Grapes Bookstore, and a story about Bill Clinton

The news is even worse - there appears to be no chance of saving the bookstore building, as fire as well as smoke and water damaged the second floor as well. No decisions are being made until the insurance people have seen it -but it appears to be a total loss.

I am personally very saddened to see the demise of this Martha's Vineyard icon. I have given several presentations on the upper floor of the historic building, including one memorable one where the slide projector malfunctioned. It spat out slides like cartridges from a Gatling gun, battering staff and guests alike, much to their bemusement.

It is also the setting of a story about Bill Clinton when he was president, which is probably apocryphal, but also rather sweet. As the whole world knows, Martha's Vineyard was a favorite vacation spot for the family; as perhaps the whole world does not know, the Bunch of Grapes was a favorite place to browse for books. The problem was that the store had to be closed once the family was inside, for security reasons. The people trapped with them didn't mind, and were perfectly cooperative on one occasion when the word was passed around that Bill would prefer to be ignored, so he could sift through the book shelves like an ordinary guy. People walked around him as if he was not there; no eye contact was made, and not a word to him was said. After some moments of this, however, the poor fellow became uneasy. He glanced around with a puzzled frown, then strode up to a customer, and flashed the trademark grin. "Don't you know who I am?" he inquired (or words to that effect), and shoved out his hand to shake.

Such is the stuff of which politicians are made.

Whether the anecdote (which I have heard many times) is true or not, the Bunch of Grapes was the perfect place for something so sublime to happen.

Bunch of Grapes

Bad news from Vineyard Haven, where one of my favorite bookstores graces the main street of this picturesque town on the island of Martha's Vineyard.

There was a bad fire in the basement of a small restaurant that shared a wall with the Bunch of Grapes Bookstore. News reports say that the firemen spent six hours putting out the fire. The upper floor of the bookstore is relatively undamaged but there is serious fire, water, and smoke damage to the first floor and basement. The bookstore is closed until further notice.

A terrible way to celebrate the Fourth.

Read about it on the front page of the Vineyard Gazette:

http://www.mvgazette.com/

A book with that latte

The latest from Spy Mouse is that Blackwell bookstores are installing an 'espresso' machine, which will download, print and bind (securely) on demand. They hope to develop less cumbersome machines which can be installed elsewhere.

The print machines will be leased from US company On Demand, who describe the gadget as "an AtM for books." Is this your chance to insert a flash drive with that amazing manuscript you have been laboring on for years, and watch a finished book chug out? No. There is a database of books to choose from, including almost half a million out-of-print titles. Most will be sourced from -- guess what -- Lightning Source International.

The story is in today's Guardian which you can access online.

http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,,2286818,00.html