This image accompanies bookseller John Schulman's article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, The Next Page: The Book Is Dead? Its Sellers Are Dying?I couldn't quite make out who the artist is, but will post the credit once I find out.The article itself is worth reading as well. Schulman urges us "to remember what bookstores can provide that the Internet cannot,"and uses numerous cinematic examples to remind us of all that can happen at the bookshop.He also believes:that as the years go by there will be "Internet backlash," most readers will return to the shops. It will be like "Night of the...
Haven’t Books Always Made Great Gifts?
The book as gift mantra is loud and clear this holiday season.BooksAreGreatGifts.com is a new website put together by the American Association of Publishers to encourage books as the ultimate holiday gift. The site features video spots by tons of best-selling and award-winning authors and celebrities from all the leading publishers.The campaign is "An industry-wide effort... established in response to the economic downturn and changing climate in retail-driven markets as a way of stimulating traffic to retail and online booksellers."Here are some of the reasons to give books as gifts that the site offers:"They have shelf life longer than a...
It’s Official : Amazon’s Acquisiton of AbeBooks is Now Complete
Publisher's Weekly is reporting that Amazon's previously announced acquisition of AbeBooks has been completed.A new era of online bookselling has begun.Previously on Book PatrolAbeAzon. Amazon's Acquisition of AbeBooks : The Day AfterBrendan Sherar, CEO of Biblio.com, Weighs InA Response From Brian Elliott, CEO of AlibrisAn Interview With AbeBooks CEO, Dr. Hannes Blum
Knock, Knock : The Subscription Book Business
click to enlargeIn nineteenth century America door-to-door bookselling was a big thing. As the country grew westward and new technologies provided cheaper production and transportation opportunities subscription bookselling became a major component of the publishing world. The book became a commodity. By some estimates by the end of the nineteenth century 70% of all books sold were sold by subscription.Agents Wanted : Subscription Publishing in America, an online exhibit at University of Pennsylvania, provides a great introduction to this part of publishing history. It features items from the seminal collection of canvassing books by Michael Zinman.From Lynne Farrington's introduction:Subscription publishers...
Courting the Antiquarians
In spite of all the doom and gloom surrounding the life and future of the book the book business still rakes in around $90 billion a year worldwide.Two of the healthiest and fastest growing areas of the trade are online bookselling in general and the selling of used, out-of-print and antiquarian books in particular.In a recent blog post from the Frankfurt Book Fair Edward Nawotka, book columnist for Bloomberg News and Southern Correspondent for Publishers Weekly, had this to say about the future of books:"One immediate consequence of Obama's victory was the boost in sales for newspapers. So now we...