Poof. For the first time since 1998, there are no Harry Potter titles on the New York Times bestseller list, the Times noted. The Harry pileup on the hardcover fiction list led to several changes of the paper's bestsellers, including the creation of a separate children's list.
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The Guardian surveys the effect of POD on publishing, focusing on Faber and Faber's new Faber Finds imprint, which relies on POD "to make available a large number of titles which until now have been out of print."
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Jackson Street Books, Seattle, Wash., is closing at the end of May, owner Tammy and Dan Domike, said in their newsletter. They have sold their home and are moving to the Washington coast, where they will continue to sell books online through abebooks.com and biblio.com and possibly "an alternative website."
The pair founded the store, which has offered new and used books, "emphasizing good literature, progressive politics, and, of course, books about baseball," in 2004. In the newsletter, they said that the "most obvious" reason for closing is that "we just haven't had the sales we need to sustain ourselves and make a living. In fact, we probably should have closed earlier than this, but we kept thinking we would turn the corner and start making a little bit of money. Alas, it never happened."
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Books-A-Million has signed leases to open two more stores.
In
Murfreesboro, Tenn., near Nashville, BAM will open in the
Stones River Mall, which is located on Old Fort Parkway off Interstate
24. This will be the company's 16th store in Tennessee.
The company is
also opening a store in Cleveland, Ohio, in the Westgate Shopping
Center, on Center Ridge Road and West 210th Street. This will be BAM's
sixth store in Ohio.
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NACS's Campus Marketplace outlines a new pilot program that involves the Caravan Project and 14 college stores. In the first part of the program, the stores will have marketing and education materials by June so they can "experiment with delivering Caravan books for the fall" and suggest and make modifications, as needed. In the second part of the pilot, in the fall some 20 stores will sell Caravan titles, which are nonfiction and available in a range of formats, including traditional book, e-book, digital download, audio and more.
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The Nuyorican Poets Café celebrated its 35th anniversary over the weekend, and NY1 News
interviewed a number of participating poets as well as fans of the
venue that "has provided a voice, a stage and a source of inspiration."
"Finding
the Nuyorican is like finding my grandmother," said Diana Gitesha
Hernandez, who has been performing there for decades. "You know, like
really getting in touch with my roots."
Added founder Miguel Algarin: "Poetry is not something you study on the page. It is something that lives and breathes with you."
"This is home," said Carlos Andres Gomez. "This is the Yankee Stadium of poetry and theater and art."
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Prepare to be shaken and stirred by a year-long celebration of the centenary of Ian Fleming's birth. According to U.S. News & World Report,
novels featuring James Bond have sold more than 100 million copies and
films based on those books have grossed almost $4.5 billion.
To
celebrate this cultural phenomenon, "Britain is pulling out all the
stops--like so many Taittinger champagne corks--with a series of
special events and memorials, including a Goldfinger golf tournament, a
gala charity concert, and the issuing of six Royal Mail stamps
featuring covers of some of the most popular Bond books."
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Juiced, Vindicated, then disregarded? Sports Illustrated
was on the scene for a booksigning by one of baseball's most legendary
and notorious steroid users, Jose Canseco, who showed up for a less
than dynamic event at a Costco in Van Nuys, Calif.:
"Canseco,
wearing a black biker jacket and jeans and hiding behind a tilted gray
cap and sunglasses, is holding a pen, ready to sign a table full of his
books. Most of the customers, however, seem more interested in the
items around him--the discounted computer screens in front of him, the
family portrait set to his left and the tub of Red Vines behind him."
Canseco's
next project? He's apparently planning a novel about cloning. "It's
going to be a dark sci-fi story," he said. "It's certainly where we're
heading in baseball."
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Effective May 19, Sue Dasse is joining Hastings Entertainment as v-p of stores. She was formerly v-p of store operations, Catherines Plus Sizes, and earlier was v-p of store operations at Waldenbooks and senior v-p of stores for Borders Specialty Retail.
In a statement, Hastings chairman and CEO John H. Marmaduke said that Dasse "brings a wealth of experience, love of books, and a passion for retailing that will add value to our associates and stores."
BINC.0408.T2.SPRINGFUNDRAISER.jpg)
At the Los Angeles Times Festival of the Book a weekend ago, four contributors to the Mystery Writers of America anthology The Blue Religion, flanked Lita Weissman, district marketing manager at Borders in Southern California. From l. to r.: Michael Connelly, Paula Woods, Weissman, Peter Robinson and T. Jefferson Parker.
