What are your thoughts on book pricing? We all know that Amazon has been selling at a loss, but now Wal-Mart and Target are joining the fray, selling big titles at pre-order discounts below $9. This isn’t even considering the e-book pricing dilemma… what happens when Amazon doesn’t want to lose money anymore? Do they up prices for the consumer or make demands of the publishers?
I don’t have any answers to these questions… but I’d love to hear your thoughts! Leave me comments!!!
-Kristina
I know, I know… we’re slacking on our posts. But fall is a busy time in publishing! Right now I’m up to my eyeballs in author interviews, website design, and ad copy. But last week I did make time to go to a screening of Where The Wild Things Are and wrote it up for Pomp and Circumstance.
See my review here, and get hooked on Pomp. Rrrraaawwwrrr!
-Kristina
Butterfly, Cara Barer
Cara Barer (I’d be willing to stake a bet that she’s been nicknamed “Care Bear” at some point in her life… do you think she loves it or hates it?) is today’s featured book artist. Perhaps it’s cheating to use her right after Robert The… I found them from the same article from The Quarterly Conversation. But I like her work so much I just couldn’t resist.
Although her website claims she is a photographer (which she certainly is)… She’s a photographer who sculpts books, then takes pictures of them. Her statment shares how she stumbled upon the idea to give these books a new form (she discovered a copy of the Yellow Pages transformed on the street by weather). Her own description (from her statement) says, “With the discarded books that I have acquired, I am attempting to blur the line between objects, sculpture, and photography. This project has become a journey that continues to evolve.”
Please take a look at her site (photos can be found under “Portfolio”). My favorite series is 2006-2007, perhaps because there is more color included. But all of her work is beautiful! Here are a couple of my favorites:
Fairy Tale, Cara Barer
I love the suggestion in the title. What do you see? I see a gateway in a tree to a secret world. Or perhaps a princess’s hair.
Wave and Fog, Cara Barer
Another great title. Did anyone grow up in the foggy northwest? Reminds me of San Fran in the early morning hours.
-Kristina
Sarah Palin's Goin' Rogue!
Ok, ok… only in pre-orders, but still.
Going Rogue (HAHAHAHAHAAAAA), Palin’s memoir, was completed within four months… I’m sure she had a ghost writer, but I still can’t imagine the in-depth work copyeditors were saddled with. I hope someone gave them a raise. It’s now slated to release in November. That’s next month, people. Should I buy it? ….
This is via GalleyCat from Oct. 1, but today’s Amazon list still shows she’s at the top.
-Kristina
There’s been a lot of talk about Amazon settlement with the Michigan high school student. Essentially what happened was this:
Justin Gawronski was working on a homework assignment about 1984, which Amazon remotely deleted from Kindles earlier this year (along with Animal Farm). When the book was deleted, Justin lost all of the notes he had taken on his Kindle along with it.
Amazon is paying $150,000 to settle the suit, although my understanding is that most of it will go to charity. (via TechFlash)
What do you think his teachers said when he used this as an excuse?!?
-Kristina
Carrie Kania
Carrie Kania, publisher of HarperPerennial and It Books, was honored by Variety in their Women’s Impact Report for 2009. She joins Beyonce, Tina Fey, Rachel Maddow, and a whole host of others on this list. Hooray for Carrie and thanks, NYU, for bringing such an awesomely knowledgable teacher to our classrooms!
I had the benefit of taking Intro to Book Publishing with Carrie. Her class was one of the most streamlined and informational classes I’ve had so far. There wasn’t a moment that I felt that the information was something I already knew or didn’t need to know. She’s honest about the business and genuinely wants to see us succeed.
So, if you see Carrie in the halls tell her congratulations!
-Kristina
As Emily said in a previous post, professional organizations are often hard to find and distinguish between. I think it’s important to take the time to join as many as possible and attend events, not just for the networking opportunities, but to take advantage of the up-to-date industry information you can garner from them. I realize most of our readers are working on their master’s degrees and so, perhaps, already have a lot of the most recent industry news, but once you graduate these organizations can offer a way for you to stay on top of the game (and impress your employers besides).
Digital Publishing Group
The Digital Publishing Group (follow the link to join) is sponsored by DailyLit.com. Daily Lit allows you to receive fiction by email everyday in short installments, which is amazing, but I want to focus on DPG.
Dedicated to ”educating, inspiring, and empowering publishing professionals to take advantage of the digital space,” DPG holds lunchtime events monthly. I had the pleasure of attending the “Why Mobile Matters” meeting with O’Reilly VP of Digital Initiatives, Andrew Savikas. He shared a lot of interesting statistics about how the mobile trend (the use of cell and smart phones) is expansive, even in areas with few distribution opportunities. He also talked about how mobile publishing (for BOOKS!) is an area that O’Reilly has found profitable. Granted, the books they are publishing as apps lend themselves to mobile (Like iPhone: The Missing Manual by David Pogue… click to read more about the app). These books even incorporate hyperlinks that take users immediately to the internet. Although, I can’t seem to find it in the app store. Anyone with an iPhone… your assistance is appreciated! Let me know if you see it.
In short, I learned a lot and used what I learned to suggest a new strategy at work. Now I’m working on pulling together a plan to show my boss!
Although their lunch meetings are an hour (and don’t include travel time), the meetings are held in midtown–usually at Random House or NewsCorp. Because of the nature of my job, I’m sure my boss would be glad to grant me and extra 15-20 minutes to find out about new digital strategies. While I was at the meeting I found that the room (about 50 or so industry professionals) contained more people from my company than I could count on two hands. The group itself boasts 254 members!
I would say this group is well worth joining and, unlike the YPG, you don’t have to be employed! So all you students out there, get on it and add it to your resume! For more information, click herefor the DailyLit blog archives for DPG.
-Kristina
Illustration copyright 2006 by Roger Roth
Welcome to Banned Book Week, everybody! A reminder that freedom of speech is something we should cherish. The issue of banned books is nothing new. We’ve all heard about many of the various historical and contemporary titles that have been challenged and removed from schools, libraries, bookstores, and even the “glitch” that removed LGBT titles from Amazon.
I’m not here today to bring up titles or reasons or even talk about the importance of making all books easily available to anyone who cares to read them. I just want to share this cool map that highlights all of the books that have been officially challenged across the nation from 2007 to 2009. If you click on the blue tabs you can read a brief summary of the challenge.
It’s really cool, check it out. And feel free to leave your thoughts here about the value of keeping books from being banned. Or the value of banning them, if you’re of that yolk.
-Kristina
For your viewing pleasure, and in honor of Banned Book Week (Sept. 26-Oct. 3), some images of banned book art and displays:
Censored Book/Livre Censure'
The above is by Barton Lidice Benes. Click on the image and read how he came up with this idea. Kind of interesting.
Freak Show (that's my title, not theirs)
The above is from last year, a display from Twin Hickory library in Glen Allen, Virginia (via Extreme Craft).
Reach Inside
Not especially revolutionary, but I especially like the invitation to reach inside. The above is a display from the media center at The League Academy (Greenville, South Carolina).
And, finally, how’d you like to see this while driving?
Beware of the Book
This is posted by someone named Guy LeCharles Gonzalez, and if you click on the picture above you can read his opinion that the printed book is not dead or dying.
Remember people, no matter how you’re reading, KEEP READING!
-Kristina
Bella's Truck... worth the trek?
You know, for claiming to want to stab my eyes out every time I think about Twilight, I write about it an awful lot. The truth of the matter is that I’m embarrassed that I got sucked into the series and hated the last book. Which is why I have such a sour taste in my mouth about the series. But, to be honest, the characters are engaging and the romance is, well, romantic. (Except in Book 2, when Edward disappears and it’s all about Jacob. I mean, seriously… who wants a werewolf boyfriend? Lame.)
Anyway, here’s the newest news about Twilight, from the New York Times. Apparently, Forks, Washington (yes, there’s actually a Forks, population ~3,000) has received a surge of tourism that has saved many of the small town’s businesses. (Think hotels with new Twilight-themed rooms, and flower shops with Twilight-themed t-shirts and apples.) Even the national park has had an increase in visitors. (They should secretly place a man-sized sparkling dummy out there and really freak those “Twihards” out… and what’s with that word? It just makes me uncomfortable. Twihards.)
Now, although I’ve admitted that the series isn’t the worst thing ever (only close to the worst thing) there’s something about making a trip to see FORKS, WASHINGTON that seems inordinately stupid. Especially for adults. Come on people… isn’t there something better you could be doing with your time? (No offense to anyone who’s ever traveled to a place simply because they’re obsessed with a book or movie… I’m talking about the Harry Potter road trip that’s gonna happen in the spring, people…)
What are your thoughts? Worth it to go to Forks in order to take a picture of Bella’s red truck?
-Kristina
Emily Lyman
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