If you are looking for a little perspective on the Potter keg that is going to explode on July 21st when the last book in the series is released have a look at Lenore Skenazy's piece in the New York Sun, "For Harry Potter Fans, Time to Enjoy Unkown."She does a nice job of putting the phenomenon in historical context.Here are a few Potter puffs:-It is the most successful series in the history of publishing.-The forthcoming finale Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows has the largest first printing in publishing history.- A first edition of the first Potter book sold...
POD Talk
Print on Demand has arrived on main street. There has been a tremendous amount of publicity surrounding the recent installation of the Espresso Machine at the NYPL.For a nice primer on the print on demand issue check out Peter Brantley's post "Where lies the Print on Demand" over at O'Reilly Radar.He reproduces a highly informative thread of "a debate on POD business models."All you booksellers out there need to keep your seat belt on for this is going to shake the book tree as hard as the advent of online bookselling did.Book Patrol post from December 06 - Books: Espresso...
Censorship at Home and Abroad
This was one of last weeks Daily Number at the Pew Research Center for the People & The Press .The headline: 46% support public school library book banning.The good news is that this is the "lowest level of support in 20 years."What are these "dangerous ideas" that people want to keep from their kids?Isn't the act of keeping our kids from these ideas just as dangerous?Then we have Google going full throttle with their campaign to fight censorship. Their guns are aimed at Washington, D.C. in the hope of getting Government support in their fight for the free flow of...
The Hunt Is On In the U.K.
The public libraries of the United Kingdom are on a treasure hunt.The goal:To find the coolest item in their collection that has yet to be digitized and enter it into a contest being run by the British Library.The contest is sponsored by the British Library with financial support coming from Microsoft.If a particular library doesn't feel they have anything worthy they can they include "local partners such as museums, archives, churches or stately homes" to come up with their submission.Finalists will be "invited to a high-profile awards ceremony at the British Library."There will be one winner for each part of...
The "Overly Attached Syndrome"
That's the diagnosis given to many book lovers by Alina Tugend in her piece New Ways to Do It Make Giving Away Books a Bit Less Painful that appears in the New York Times today."Getting rid of books creates tension for many, although it is often one of the first things people have to do when downsizing or simply trying to organize their lives." says Tugned.For some, including the author, giving away or selling their books at the appropriate time is a liberating experience. There is little remorse. For others, the disposing of books from their library is one of...