Apple has sold more than a million iPads in its first month, and users have downloaded 12 million apps and 1.5 million e-books. MarketWatch reported that sales of the device "have already outstripped initial Wall Street estimates and the company cannot fully meet all the demand.... Most analysts had been expecting Apple to sell between 1 million and 2 million iPad units for the quarter ending in June."
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Kindle and iPad owners continue to purchase more traditional books than e-books, according to a survey by the Codex Group, a book-market consultancy. The Wall Street Journal reported that "Kindle owners bought only 37% of their books in the Kindle format and 50% of their books in print, while iPad owners bought 46% of their books in either Apple's iBookstore or in the Kindle store, which also allows books to be read on the iPad."
The long-term forecast is a bit more cloudy, since the survey results "support the idea that the devices are boosting Amazon's--and now Apple's--share of the book market," the Journal wrote.
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Macworld has tested the iPad against everything else, so why not put it to the ultimate challenge: "The iPad clearly threatens gadgets like netbook computers and smartphones. But just how does it fare against that marvel of tried-and-true technology, the book? Pretty well, in fact. Though it's not without flaws, the experience of reading on the iPad is positive enough to earn the device yet another solid passing grade on its report card of features."
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Customers will form "an old-fashioned bucket brigade of books" to help Clinton Book Shop, Clinton, N.J., move to its new location next Sunday. MyCentralJersey.com reported that manager Rob Dougherty and owner Harvey Finkel have signed up about 53 volunteers thus far and hope for as many as 125 helpers "to create a chain of people between the two locations, passing buckets of books from the old shop to the new shop, not unlike the original fire department might have done with water buckets during a fire during the late 19th century."
"It's pretty much right on target," said Dougherty, who expects the new store to reopen May 11. "The counters are done, shelving is up and the new children's space is finished."
"The building is coming full circle," Finkel added. "The new space, rich in history, will have the look and feel of what we are proud to be--a small town, independent book shop in New Jersey's most beautiful town."
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William Harris has opened Just Imagine, a shop featuring books and toys, in Chelsea, Mich., at a location previously occupied by Resale Bliss and Cranesbill Books, the Chelsea Standard reported.
"I think it's important to have an independent book store in the community and I think it's an important part of the downtown business community," Harris said. "I definitely think an independent book store can work in Chelsea. We're close enough to the central hub of downtown and I think we can draw people in to visit."
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NYU Local recommended a visit to Housing Works Bookstore Café in New York City, where "people don't usually go to look for a specific book. Rather, it's perfect for browsing your favorite genre or just looking for a new read. You'll be delighted by all the treasures and weirdos you can find."
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Free Comic Book Day crimefighter's update: In Adelaide, Australia, Spider-Man (or rather, a comic bookshop owner in disguise) apprehended a shoplifter attempting to steal an X-Men omnibus, the Guardian reported.
"We had about 40 people dressed up as their favorite superheroes to celebrate International Free Comic Day, so he didn't have much of a choice but to hand the X-Men omnibus back after a little bit of a scuffle," said Michael Baulderstone, owner of Adelaide Comic Centre. "One of the funniest things about the incident was that I called for people to stand near the door and it just so happened we had people dressed as Jedi knights there blocking the exit, the Flash was there at some point too."
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In a slightly altered take on the shop local credo, Alison Fryer, manager of the Cookbook Store, told the Toronto Star that the "core thing book retailers need to remember sometimes is that we're not only competing with other bookstores, we're competing with other retailers. I want the customer to spend their hard-earned, disposable dollars on my store. I don't want them to buy new shoes, a piece of clothing. I'd rather they buy books."
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A belated happy birthday to girl detective Nancy Drew, who turned 80 last week. Entertainment Weekly's Shelf Life blog noted that "her influence is global. Nancy Drew books are published in 25 languages, and have sold 200 million copies worldwide."
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Anne Frank is "definitely not a household name" in the Arab world, Radio Netherlands Worldwide reported, noting that the 50th anniversary of the Anne Frank House "will pass practically without notice in the Middle East. Although the diary of the Jewish girl who went into hiding in a house on an Amsterdam canal during World War Two has been translated into Arabic and Farsi, it cannot be sold everywhere in the region."
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Book video of the day: Lost
Soul: Burning Sky by Jordan Weisman (Running Press), the first
book in a trilogy about a young boy who must help save the world before
the end of the Mayan calendar.
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Jessica Krakoski is joining the Cave Henricks Communications staff
this month and will relocate to the media relations and consulting
firm's Austin, Tex., headquarters in August.
She was most
recently a publicist at Basic Books and earlier was a publicist at Simon
Spotlight Entertainment.
"I think what the electronic bookselling model has revealed is that yes, the book can function as almost the ideal commodity.... The quintessential mass-marketed item. But what gets lost in the process, is everything that surrounds the book materially. I think it's an opportunity for us to think of a book as not a thing in and of itself, but as part of a larger process.... The act of actually browsing in a bookshop is just as valuable, or bumping into somebody and having a conversation about the books, or seeing two books together that you wouldn’t necessarily think of, and that creates a different relationship in your mind."
At a launch party last week at the Paley Center for the Media in Los Angeles for The Days of Our Lives: The True Story of One Family's Dream and the Untold History of Days of Our Lives by Ken Corday (Sourcebooks): (from l.) Alison Sweeney, who plays Sami Brady on Days of Our Lives; DOL executive producer Corday; and Kristian Alfonso, who plays Hope Brady.
Winners of the 
By now you must be good at plotting the overall arc for a storyline. Do you have all three Kane Chronicles mapped out?