Jul
Industry News from RWA eNotes
NPR on Book Returns
National Public Radio (NPR) produced a piece June 13 about the issue of book returns. To listen to this six-minute piece, visit www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91461568 and click the “Listen Now” button.
Simon & Schuster Signs on with LibreDigital
Simon & Schuster has joined with LibreDigital, who will provide digital distribution for the publisher’s electronic content. Ellie Hirschhorn, executive v-p and chief digital officer for Simon & Schuster, says, “Our new digital warehouse will afford us the flexibility to syndicate our content to meet the needs of a wide variety of partners, from social networks to portals to retail sites.” Publishers Weekly, June 24.
www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6572730.html?nid=2286&source=title&rid=1324272525
or: http://tinyurl.com/4rd3a3
Reader Statistics
In a poll conducted by Random House/Zogby, 86 percent of the respondents seek out books by authors they like. Fifty-two percent of people’s book purchases are swayed by cover art, and 43 percent of people go into a bookstore looking for a specific book. Read more statistics at: www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6565475.html
Publishers Weekly, June 2.
The Future of Bookstores
According to research from Next Big Thing, half of young people aged 18-24 years old think people will still be using bookstores in 20 years. Of this age group, 28 percent were favorable towards the idea of e-readers and 40 percent liked the idea of downloadable chapters of books. Although some publishers at The Bookseller’s Reading the Future conference (where the statistics were presented) were concerned, The Book People CEO Seni Glaister commented, “Content is king - always. As an industry I hope we don’t spend too much time worrying about technology and let’s protect our copyright, make sure downloads are available.” The Bookseller, June 16.
www.thebookseller.com/news/61072-young-see-threat-to-bookshops.html
Small Publishers Feel Power of Amazon’s ‘Buy’ Button: http://tinyurl.com/6ab5d7
The book factory: Authors pressured to crank them out: http://tinyurl.com/49v5nk
