I offer a modestly qualified reader's opinion regarding where, why, and how authors fail in writing books. The published volumes that I have used as examples are readily available in the open market, although I have excluded specific information.1. Author revenge. The author trashed noted personages, engaged in petty gossip, and exalted his own importance.2. Target practice. The author generated an intriguing topic and title, but managed to veer off-course by elevating minor details.3. Unintelligible construction. Sentences, paragraphs, and chapters were complete, organized, and elegant. Nothing made sense individually or in the conglomerate.4. Laundry list. This author described inventions, but...
BOOKSELLING ECONOMICS Wieneck 2
(add intro)In an earlier post, Michael Lieberman writes of book buyer satisfaction surveys here: http:// ww.bookpatrol.net/2008/03/vendor-satisfaction-and-online.html and bemoans the fact that booksellers have no similar surveys. However, start hereIn today's current market, the book business has tilted in favor of book buyers. As such, web venues are principally interested in keeping purchasers of books gratified. Hence, questionnaires on the book business are geared toward buyer satisfaction. How many sellers are available for each book or each buyer? For any bookseller who leaves the arena, there are countless others -- many neophytes -- who race to fill the void.Further, many existing...
AbeBooks to Buy Chrislands
AbeBooks will announce shortly that have acquired Chrislands.Chrislands is a company that provides low-cost websites to online booksellers. For as little as $19.99 a month and a $200 set up fee they can get you enjoying all the benefits of e-commerce.Apparently, as with all of AbeBooks past acquisitions, they will continue to exist independently of the mothership.No telling how this fits into Abe's overall strategy.
And the Envelope Please: Designs for the George W. Bush Presidential Library
Design submitted by Colt 45. Click to enlarge for best viewThe Chronicle of Higher Education asked readers to submit there designs for the future George W. Bush Presidential Library. The only stipulation: The design must fit on the back of an envelope.The response:"About 120 people sent in sketches that were good, bad, serious, humorous, abstract, or really angry. Their designs took the form of toilets, bunkers, crosses, and W's, some crudely drawn and some very elegant."The Chronicle Review has just posted a sampling of the designs and a video:The actual library will be built at Southern Methodist University, in a...
The Record Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is America's crown jewel of printed material. It is one of our country's greatest assets. Now the opportunity exists for our country to acquire a recorded library of similar magnitude.69 year old Paul Mawhinney has amassed one of the greatest, if not the greatest, collection of recorded music. His collection includes 3 million record albums and 300,000 CD's many of which are rare and out-of-print and it includes all varieties of American music from classical to hip-hop.Highlights include:-An unreleased, untitled Rolling Stones album of early singles. Originally recorded in mono, the songs were remastered in stereo...