"Modern Home" color lithograph, 1879 from The Complete Home: An Encyclopaedia of Domestic Life and Affairs In her 1879 book The Complete Home: An Encyclopaedia of Domestic Life and Affairs Julia McNair Wright had this to say about having books in the home:It has long been my opinion that one of the chief ways of making a home happy, thriving and useful in its influence, is to supply it well with books and papers. Having carefully observed and contrasted homes well furnished with reading matter, and homes where literature is unknown, I find that intelligence, family affection, thrift, economy, business...
IndieBound or Bust
That's the title of Jim Milliot's piece for Publisher's Weekly on the unveiling of the American Booksellers Association (ABA) new marketing “movement/revolution” initiative, IndieBound.The good news is that it replaces Book Sense which has failed miserably in helping independents remain competitive in the fast changing world of bookselling. The bad news is that IndieBound won't fare much better.What is IndieBound? Here is their Declaration:When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for individuals to denounce the corporate bands which threaten to homogenize our cities and our souls, we must celebrate the powers that make us unique and declare...
Violence Against Books : Is There an Acceptable Form?
"Violence against books is understood by all parties involved as being comparable to violence against people and/or ideas and that violence against a book can quickly lead to other forms of conflict." Cordell Waldron, Iconic Books blog.But what if the violence is not motivated by politics or religion but by commerce?Earlier this month word got out that a U.S. soldier used a Quran for target practice.Here's the video of the AP story and the apology by Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Hammond, commander of U.S. forces in Baghdad. To think that this was an isolated incident would be a bit of a...
A Holistic Approach
On Reading Ahead, the blog of the National Book Foundation, Executive Director Harold Augenbraun offers us this nugget regarding the state of reading in this country.If literary reading is on the decline, one way to stem that decline is to create a holistic approach along a spectrum of age-appropriate activities and to allow flexibility, which the balkanized literary culture will most likely not be able to do because of varied cultural, political, and social ideologies that have very little to do with inculcating a love of reading. If we leave the creation of readers to ideologues—and I use that word...
In Defence of Amazon : Their New POD Strategy as Opportunity.
Much has been written about Amazon's new strategy of offering print on demand titles sold on their website exclusively through their POD company, Book Surge. Cries of monopoly and unfair business practices have permeated the discourse but there are I believe, potential opportunities for publishers and authors within this new paradigm.Just as the arrival of Amazon changed the bookselling landscape forever their new POD strategy is sure to alter the publishing landscape in similar ways and how the publishers respond will ultimately determine their chance of survival. Will we lose as many publishers as we have book stores?I see nothing...