In a story with the headline "Publishing Displays Its Split Personality"--which uses as its starting point Houghton Mifflin Harcourt's decision to freeze acquisitions and Hachette's bonus of an extra week pay for all employees--the New York Times spends many long column inches to come to an enlightening comment in the penultimate paragraph: "Some industry observers pointed out that it was difficult to draw grand conclusions from the recent news at Houghton or Hachette, other than to point out that extremes are a norm in the business, even at times of global financial stress."
In between there is some news: Jeremy Dickens, president of Education Media, owner of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, said that the company has not put the trade division, representing about 5.5% of total revenues, up for sale, but that "if there's a transaction that makes sense for all our stakeholders, we'll consider it."
The story also looks at the usual issues: difficult sales for newer authors, some sales trouble for established authors, the continued efficacy of the traditional publishing model of nurturing new authors and building up backlist, the blockbuster mentality, how much Harcourt's decision to forgo new manuscripts for a time relates to its indebted private equity ownership and more.
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Robert Sindelar, managing partner of Third Place Books, Lake
Forest Park, Wash., discussed "The Economy and the Holidays: Stories
From the Storefront" on public radio station KUOW's Weekday program.
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The Book Basket, Gardendale, Ala., will close December 20 after 24 years in business, according to the North Jefferson News. "It was really a public service," said owner Billy Ray Fortner, who cited health reasons for his decision.
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Several sharp-eyed readers made us glad that we had qualified our picture yesterday of President-elect Barack Obama holding a copy of Lincoln: The Biography of a Writer by Fred Kaplan. In fact, it was not the first time after the election that he was pictured clutching a book: on November 7, Obama was depicted holding a copy of Derek Walcott's Collected Poems 1948-1984 (FSG).
Poet and bookseller Marie Gauthier happily wrote: "While I'm pleased that our new President-elect is a book-lover, I can't help but be thrilled to point out the very first book he's spotted toting around is a poetry book!" The London Telegraph has a story and picture.