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When hardcover sales began to dwindle a few years ago, there was talk that Barnes and Noble would either sell or swallow up a major competitor.
The possibility of the sale of B&N comes as a surprise since they recently ramped up their digital book sales by opening an ebook store with more than a million titles and launching the ebook reader, The Nook, the most formidable competitor to the Kindle.
Have any idea who would buy B&N? I would not be surprised if it were Amazon. What do you think?
A “for sale” sign may soon be hanging in the window of bookstore giant Barnes & Noble Inc., the company announced today.
According to a press release issued this morning, Barnes & Noble’s Board of Directors “intends to evaluate strategic alternatives, including a possible sale of the company, in order to increase stockholder value. The Board came to this decision based on the price of Barnes & Noble shares in the marketplace, which the Board believes are now significantly undervalued.” >more
In an unprecedented move, the Wiley Literary Agency struck a deal with Amazon to publish 20 classic titles as ebooks on the Kindle. According to reports, this is the first time a literary agency moved into the publishing business.
Will this be a tren
d as agencies struggle to survive in the dwindling print market? It might be. An agency would sign on an author, retain electronic publishing rights and then sell print rights to traditional publishers.
Agency revenues would increase considerably for ebooks, especially with the current structure where agencies only receive 15% of the author’s royalties.
However, the big question is will traditional publishers go along with this scenario or refuse to publish an author unless they retain electronic rights?
Will this be beneficial to authors?
Read Stephen Windwalker’s column for more information on this emerging development.
Read the report from The New York Times.
Now that Borders has entered the ebook revolution, we will also see lower ebook prices and market pressure to lower the cost of ebook readers.
From The Wall Street Journal – July 8, 2010
By JEFFREY A. TRACHTENBERG
Intent on catching up in the fast-evolving e-book arena, retailer Borders Group Inc. is launching an e-bookstore with titles provided by Kobo Inc., the Canadian e-book retailer in which it has an investment stake.
The nation’s second-largest bookstore chain in sales, Borders, based in Ann Arbor, Mich., acquired the stake in December and said Kobo would provide e-books for sale on Borders.com.
For consumers, the entrance of Borders into the e-book marketplace may mean lower prices on some titles. More>
Some interesting questions from a potential author –
Author: Do I have a better chance going the traditional route (agency, etc), than with Outer Banks Publishing, in order to get the book to the big screen?
Outer Banks: No. The content is what will get you there whether you self-publish, publish with a small publisher or large one. However, there are agents out there who specialize in film placement and they have connections in Hollywood and in the film industry if you can get one to represent you.
Author: Would my book make its way into the main stream bookstores if I went with Outer Banks?
Outer Banks: It would depend on sales and demand. Keep in mind a book is a product like any other product and if people love it, they will demand it and it will sell. People will ask for it in bookstores and the bookstores will have to keep it on their shelves.
Let’s say you landed a major publisher, one of the big 6 in New York. They would place two copies in all the major book stores given the state of book sales today. Two things could happen: it sells and the bookstore orders more copies or it sits there until the 90-day consignment period is over and the bookstore either discounts it or sends it back to the publisher.
With roughly 100,000 books in a given big box bookstore (Borders, Barnes and Noble, Books-a-Million) how is your book going to stand out? Having your book in a bookstore does not guarantee sales or exposure anymore. Before the Internet and Amazon, bookstores were the only place to get books. Now most books in print as well as ebooks are sold online.
The current book selling trend is this: ebooks are outselling printed books. Dan Brown‘s The Lost Symbol, presold more copies as an ebook than print titles. Bookstores are ultimately forced to stock less.
But don’t fear, bookstores will always be around just like the printed book, but they may be a lot smaller. If they want to stay large, they will have to reinvent themselves, perhaps into a literary center where authors, writers, and readers can meet and have open discussions, debates or writing sessions.
From NPR by the NPR Staff – June 4, 2010
Bestselling author John Grisham has written another legal thriller — and this one is for kids.
Grisham has 24 books under his belt, many of which were turned into movies, including The Pelican Brief and A Time To Kill. But he says writing for a young audience created a special challenge, mostly because he didn’t want to underestimate their abilities.
“It’s not necessarily any easier than adult fiction,” Grisham tells NPR‘s Michele Norris. “It’s easier in that it’s shorter; the plot is not nearly as complicated.
“But the biggest challenge I found was the ability to try to tell the story without talking down to kids. Because I think that’s what a lot of writers do and they don’t like it. Kids don’t like it. They want you to treat them as your equal and tell them the story.” more>
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From The Writer’s Edge blog:
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As writers who have completed books, many of us believe we have written the great American Novel or a nonfiction book that will change the world. And we may have, but the hardest part of being an author is convincing others of your feat. Not that you’ve written a book, but that your book is revolutionary.The Writer’s Edge, May 2010
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It was only a matter of time. Did you think Amazon would sit back and let Apple steal its thunder from the Kindle? I predict based on the following New York Times blog post, that we will see an iPad-like device from Amazon by the end of this year or early next year. What do you think?
From The New York Times blog, Bits, May 17, 2010, 3:42 pm
By NICK BILTON
Since Apple announced its plans for the iPad, Amazon has shared few details about how it would respond to the competition for its Kindle. But over the last few weeks, it has offered some more clues.
Lab 126, the division of Amazon responsible for building the Kindle, has been on a hiring binge, with dozens of new job listings on its Web site. Some are positions for testing and readying new products. And this suggests that the company might be preparing a new device. More >>
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The launch of new ebook stores and new ebook reading devices is a trend we will see well into 2011 as the ebook market heats up even further and becomes a supernova.
This article is reprinted from Tainted Green.
The e-book market keeps growing everyday with new hardware offerings from small startups or or big companies like Apple and Google selling the latest reads. Borders is hoping to get in on the fun with their new eBook Store and affordable e-reader called Kobo.
Many people haven’t purchased an e-reader simply because of the price. Buying a discounted bestseller at the nearest megamart is a lot easier on a budget than paying $259.00 for a Kindle. That’s why Kobo’s $149.99 price tag may finally convince weary consumers to purchase the device.
Apple has just released a statement announcing that it has officially sold one million iPads in 28 days, less than half the number of days it took it to sell that many iPhones.
Read the rest of the story here >
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Observations from the Publisher
Amazon’s decision to sell the Kindle in Target was the last puzzle piece in their marketing strategy to successfully compete against Barnes and Noble’s Nook, Sony’s ebook reader and other readers available in stores. Now the playing field for the major ebook readers has been flattened.
What will ensue on an explosive level is a battle for market share and the only strategy left is an ebook price war and lower device prices. The major publishers who thought they had won the ebook pricing war with the iPad will be whining again as the price of ebooks will fall as the major ebook distributors with devices vie for market share.
The collateral benefit of the war will be a win for consumers because the price of these devices will also drop as the price of ebooks eventually stabilizes to the market’s acceptable level.
After speculation and rumor, Target has at last confirmed that it will sell Amazon’s Kindle in its bricks and mortar stores. It will cost the same $260 as Amazon would charge you, but you at least get to try before you buy, and you don’t have to wait for the mailman to show up.
And this is likely the whole point. The e-reader market has shifted from early adopters to the mainstream, and if you want to interest people like my mother in buying a brand-new kind of device, you’ll have to put it in their hands first. Us gadget freaks may be happy to pre-order $500 devices without even seeing them, but we’re the weirdos here.
The Kindle will be available in “select” Target stores from this Sunday. In reality, this means the flagship store in Minneapolis plus another 102 stores in South Florida. Putting the Kindle in real stores will also showcase it against the iPad (although not in the same store of course – iPad is currently in Best Buy only, which also sells the Nook), which is going to prove the main rival for the Kindle.
It’s an unusual move by Amazon, though, especially as it pioneered the idea of trustworthy online shopping. It’s also proof that the online retailer is willing to take a cut in profits to push its hardware, despite the availability of Kindle software on most modern platforms.
Target Stores to Sell Kindle [Businesswire]
See Also:
Photo:Charlie Sorrel
Read More http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/04/official-target-to-stock-kindle-from-sunday/#ixzz0m2cJ1YRy
If you vote for Trump and his MAGA GOP members you may indirectly start World War III.
If Trump and his MAGA GOP take control of our Congress, they will cut off support for Ukraine. They already cut support on the advice of Trump when the Congress was ready to approve the spending bill with support for Ukraine.
What will happen next?
said Larry Jacobs, director of the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance at the University of Minnesota. “This is supposed to be the party of conservative principles, of tradition, of respect for customs and rules that make society governable.
“The idea that the law does not apply to Republicans is something that has now become part of the mainstream of the Republican party. We see it in terms of the approach to elections. We see it in terms of the treatment of immigrants. Some of the actions with regard to abortion may approach that level. The Republican party appears to consider the law and the constitution to be optional and to have lost legitimacy.”
From The Guardian
Republicans’ lawless leaders at odds with midterm law and order message | Republicans | The Guardian
If you vote Republican you are supporting:
– 19 GOP red states have pending laws suppressing voter’s ability to vote. Historically, dictators and Fascists have suppressed votes to stay in power.
– The GOP has come out in support of QAnon, The Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys
– You may lose a loved one, a relative or a friend in a train crash, a bridge collapse or a plane crash as Republicans strip funds from President Biden’s infrastructure bill.
– The Texas abortion ban if left to stand will be passed in several other GOP states. Idaho will pass an anti-abortion law based on the Texas law. 16 states have “trigger” abortion ban laws.
by the US Supreme Court.
https://cnn.it/3RaW1zm
https://nyti.ms/3IcANNo
With the recent Supreme Court banning EPA authority from polluters
https://bit.ly/3IfQ1Bf
on Gun Purchases – will never get passed.
Watch Jimmy Kimmel’s emotional plea to improve gun purchase background checks
https://cnn.it/3AnRweO
– will never go up leaving 18 states still paying $7.25 an hour.
– the last thing America needs are conservative leaders, especially some Republicans who want to keep America from progressing. The last thing America needs is backward-thinking leaders in the 21st Century.
– Republicans have turned to cheating to stay in power or to get back into power…and nothing is getting done by them for the American people.
The enforcement or advocacy of strict obedience to authority at the expense of personal freedom.
and everything America stands for: Truth, Justice and Liberty for all? Look what is happening in Ukraine.
*Of course, not all Republicans are like those described above. Here is a list of those who should stay in office.
House of Representatives – those who voted to impeach the former president
Senate – The Republicans who voted to convict the former president after impeachment:
YOUR VOTE COUNTS. It’s a lie to think otherwise.
Paid for by Jake Stone for American Democracy
VOTE like your freedom depended on it…because it does.
Books of the NY Times
