Sea change time

This is it: the last entry that's going to be posted at the old Omnibus site. From now on, you'll find the blog at http://news.bookweb.org/omnibus, and the RSS feed at http://news.bookweb.org/omnibus/feed. Update your bookmarks and readers as needed.

(Also, I need to get better at titling these posts now that they appear on the BTW front page. This has never been one of my great skills, so I'm open to suggestions.)

Onto the good stuff!

Speaking of feeds, add this one to your reader now. (And welcome to blogland, Melissa and Laura!): "We are two people who happen to work together at a company that has provided paper for the book publishing industry since the 1800s, and who happen to have the same level of passion (obsession?) with reading on paper."

Here's someone who clearly hasn't been reading enough Mike Shatzkin: "Of course I’m familiar with the notion of a supply chain when applied to, say, Napoleon’s Grande Armée, but what does it have to do with book publishing?"

And on that topic, Mr. Shatzkin's being frightening again: "And while the tragedy of what is happening in the Gulf is far more consequential to everybody on the planet than what is happening to our bookstores, we are appoximately as powerless to prevent an eco-system disaster of the first magnitude in both cases."

Still not a fan of Foursquare and company, but some ideas for those who are exploring the retail opportunities: "The New York Nets hid free pairs of virtual game tickets throughout New York City sports related check in spots, like sports bars, parks and gyms. The virtual tickets could be exchanged for real tickets to a specific game, which 15% of people did."

The perfect combination: funny, passionate, and timely. (Forget the sitcom; I want to see Shatner reading @BPGlobalPR aloud): "Just a few hours ago, we made our first official $10,000 donation to healthygulf.org from the money we’ve made selling free “bp cares” t-shirts in one week."

I'm trying to cut back on being judgmental, but I love this: "You never, ever hear or read about someone insinuating people who watch American Idol (or Glee or Lost or Dr. Who) 'have the time.' Nobody ever talks about people who go see a new movie every other week 'having the time.' No, time is only of the essence when it comes to reading books."

For those trying to cut back on "under 40" references: "Ward Six is proud to announce its TEN OVER 80: WRITERS TO GO BACK AND READ list."

A needed reminder: "If you happen to be comfortable in bookstores or libraries -- if you've been to them many times before and know what to expect, what you want and where to find it, or if you know whom and how to ask and feel entitled to bother the staff with your questions -- it can be difficult to appreciate how intimidating these institutions of print culture can seem to someone who has little or no acquaintance with them...The people who work and shop in such stores may not mean to be unwelcoming, but the same thing that makes these places so inviting to the initiated -- the innate clubbishness of human nature -- can scare away novices."

Posted at 02:51PM Jun 08, 2010 by Sarah Rettger in General  | 

Actual news, plus a quote roundup

First things first: Omnibus is moving to a new home. If you've already dropped by Bookselling This Week, you've probably seen the shiny new site we've got now. (And if the shiny doesn't impress you enough, let me say that the back end changes make it all so very worth it.)

And the new BTW site is on a much bigger server, so we decided to move Omnibus over there, where it can share a platform with its less frivolous sibling. (Kind of like how NPR.org hosts serious news and Monkey See, no? Except in this case I get to be both Nina Totenberg and Linda Holmes.)

From now on, therefore, Omnibus can be found at http://news.bookweb.org/omnibus. I'll post identical content at both the old and new sites for the next few weeks, but once we get the RSS feed working over there, you're on your own.

One other bit of business: As next week is BEA, and I'll be covering the show for BTW (being Nina Totenberg, in other words), no Omnibus update next Friday.

But I'll make up for it with a decent list of quotes today.

Never heard of the groundwood-vs-free-sheet debate? You haven't been following Permanence Matters:

"My concern is that the physical book's competitive edge over ebooks is that it's an object. Quality needs to increase, not decrease. Because if hardcovers deteriorate to the extent that they are disposable, I have one less argument for their existence."

If I could wear this shirt without appearing anti-tech, I'd be all over it - I'm a sucker for Nixon puns:

"I am not a book." (see also)

On a related note, a clear winner for quote-of-the-week (bonus points awarded for interrobang use):

"When did the Kindle become a baby seal?!" (For the q-o-w runner-up, read this opening paragraph.)

Our Canadian cousins have been having a fun week. (And can anyone explain this to me - if The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest isn't big enough for a one-day laydown up north, then what is?):

"In the words of Indigo’s Star Wars counterpart, M. le Vader, 'I am altering the deal. Pray that I do not alter it further…'"

Got ideas? Send 'em along:

"So if I were organizing Tools of Change, I’d want to scan the horizon for technologies that could have an impact and ask 'how?' Because I’m organizing Digital Book World, I’m looking at trade publishing’s commercial environment and operations for the impact of technology and asking 'what should we do?'"

Roger Ebert issues a challenge:

"We should start a Campaign for Real Movies. These also would not be carbonated by CGI or 3D. They would be carefully created by artists, from original recipes, i.e., screenplays. Each movie would be different. There would be no effort to force them into conformity with commercial formulas."

Posted at 05:08PM May 22, 2010 by Sarah Rettger in General  | 

What character are you going to write to?

What local bookstores do best:

"His goal was to assemble the world's most complete collection of printed materials related to the expedition. In 1998, Roger achieved his goal and moved his library to Lewis and Clark College."

Sounds reasonable (especially if you click through to see Marie's cover):

"Ereading isn't my favorite format but I enjoy it and it works for me in certain circumstances. For me, paper books will always be my favorite. The best part is, it doesn't have to be one or other other. I do, however, love my ereader cover unreservedly. I bought it from Elizabeth David Design at www.etsy.com."

There has got to be a way to apply this to bookstores:

"A new smoothie cart across from the Museum of Natural History in New York City will be powered by bicycles, says the NY Post. If you pedal the blender yourself you can get $1 off."

Also of interest:

"East Austin Progress Coffee has a box stationed up front by the cash register. I noticed others in line attending to the box, withdrawing their card, handing it to the cashier and then refilling it...Your card resides here, so it’s, well, your card, in your box, in your store!"

Nice one, Harper:

"On the occasion of the book’s publication, and in celebration of the art of the letter as a form of fiction, Harper Perennial invites you to participate in its Letters With Character campaign, and to write a letter to a fictional character...The best, most interesting, strangest, and most moving letters will be collected on LettersWithCharacter.blogspot.com."

Posted at 03:16PM May 14, 2010 by Sarah Rettger in General  | 

Should we change the CEO's title to Rebel Commander?

Heidi Durrow (you remember her from Wi5, right?) has kicked off her fourth annual Mixed Experience History Month with all sorts of stories that you won't find in a typical textbook:

"Robert Smalls (1839-1915), a mulatto conscripted into the Confederate Army, became a war hero at age 23 when he hijacked a Confederate Army ammunitions transport ship and turned it over to the Union Navy."

Geoffrey Jennings wins for quip of the week. (Of course, he would have gotten bonus points if he'd said it on Tuesday):

"The rebel alliance disagrees."

I was thinking of writing up a "what booksellers should know about QR codes" article soon, but Josie's covered most of the high points:

"Can’t bother to read the back of the book? Just download the barcode and you’ve got a multi-media bonanza awaiting you on your phone."

Data point:

"Why the sudden generosity? Well, it could have something to do with the company's recent foray into 'free' and the story of that unpronounceable volcano."

Barry Ritholtz does a pretty good job explaining economic news. But when he brings in a children's book as a metaphor for bailouts? Awesome:

"It reminds me of the children’s book, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, he’s going to ask for a glass of milk, etc… The austere measures that other countries will have to take too risks a slowdown in the euro region at the same time China tries to reign in their growth."

Sure, there are all sorts of practical aspects to Gov 2.0, but there's no reason to skimp on stuff like this:

"It's bookmark-worthy for history buffs and Beltway nerds who love old government posters, military history and military-commissioned Dr. Seuss drawings."

Bookseller Seth Marko has a new project:

"Most people I know don't think I can go the whole 117 days. I have to. I can't let this book defeat me." (via)

You know our thoughts about The Site That Shall Not Be Named around these parts. So keep that in mind when I tell you that this book is one you might want to pay attention to:

"I had already made a book trailer and study guide for the book, it had been adopted by local schools and public library systems…in a way, it was a no-brainer, although AmazonEncore’s been very smart about selecting books that have the potential to connect with multiple reading communities."

There are books out there about naked mole rats, so I think this is work-related, don't you?:

"This naked mole-rat colony occupies a labyrinth of transparent tubes that mimics the underground tunnels and burrows in Africa, where mole-rats live. The web cam is focused on a busy intersection of two tunnels."

The Shrinking Violets are once again sharing their indie love:

"And we couldn't bear to pass up an opportunity to repost photos of them, link to their stores, and sing their praises."

There are no Penguincubators currently on eBay. (Yes, I checked.) But if anyone wants to sell one, I'll take it:

"In the Penguincubator we see several desires converge: affordable books, non-traditional distribution, awareness of context, and a quiet radicalism."

A sales rep finds a practical use for his iPad:

"But after the iPad announcement I got to thinking, what if I had an iPad filled with an entire season's worth of blads and F&Gs and sample page spreads? What if I had PDF versions of all those sales materials instead of all the tote bags?"

Posted at 04:13PM May 07, 2010 by Sarah Rettger in General  | 

Guess what word doesn't appear in this post

This prompts a question: Why are there no Twain impersonators on Twitter? You'd think the people who have done such a great job with Dickens, Johnson, and Poe would have a field day with Mark Twain:

"Scott recently sat in his backyard drinking iced tea. The sun was setting. His three dogs ran underfoot. He said he wasn't interested in changing his act, in spitting out 100-year-old Twain quotes. He wanted to capture Twain's sensibility about modern events." (via)

It's not just Forks:

"These days, on Fridays and Sundays, the guides offer a 'New Moon' tour, which includes a bloody finale in a jail, with its own prize-winning troupe of inmate actors. As Boelen explains: 'Our visitors want vampires, but we give them Volterra. That's our trick. We show them our Roman amphitheater, the Etruscan graves and the Renaissance palace -- and maybe something out of all of that will stay with them.'" (via)

Away from the intersection of books and hard-nosed commerce:

"The independent bookseller in an apron tends to see the books he or she sells, and the other independent, underpaid, modestly accomplished and unaccountably enthusiastic, possibly even prideful souls who sell books, as all of a piece with culture and the like...we tend to feel even the potential loss of another independent bookstore as another gap in the barricade."

Sometimes it's necessary to say the basic stuff plainly - as Brian does: "

Publishing didn’t always look like this, and it’s okay that it [will] look different in the future."

But there are times when metaphor works:

"The perennials need pruning and the annuals need pulling up and discarding so you can plant a new crop every year. Just like most books, they only last a season or so. A lot more books are annuals than they are perennials. Many, of course, are simply weeds."

Makes sense, as long as the "analyzed" step doesn't disappear:

"If someone today had the Pentagon Papers, or the modern equivalent, would he still go to the press, as Daniel Ellsberg did nearly 40 years ago and wait for the documents to be analyzed and published?...Mr. Ellsberg knows his answer. 'As of today, I wouldn't have waited that long,' he said in an interview last week. 'I would have gotten a scanner and put them on the Internet.'"

I'm not a big fan of mission statements,  but this one I can go for:

"At its best, I believe publishing is a community service – not a non-profit one, either – and our job is to represent ideas we believe in, and to connect great writers to readers."

The word that's not here? S-A-V-E. And its conjugations, declensions, and variations. I've reached a quota of "what will save publishing and related industries?" stories, and I'm declaring a moratorium on the verb -- in that context -- as far as my authority extends. (Yeah, I know. A few pixels, at most. Work with me here.)

I have no problem with analyzing the industry's possible futures, or trying to figure out how to shape that change to the advantage of the largest number of players. But there's a difference between "what will publishing look like in a decade?" and "how can we save publishing?," and it's the sense of agency. You know how Microsoft Word's grammar check chides you for using passive voice? Same kind of thing.

Posted at 10:14AM Apr 26, 2010 by Sarah Rettger in General  | 

Amelia Bedelia on Twitter? What could go wrong?

Greenwillow tries to teach its characters to use Twitter. The result:

My inner copyeditor is in love:

Analyzing the economics of small business:

It's always nice when my Google Alerts introduce me to a new blog I should be reading:

Nick Harkaway's take on the paradox of publishing:

Daniel has spoken, so I guess it's official:

Posted at 12:12PM Apr 16, 2010 by Sarah Rettger in General  | 

Resilience, Ned Ludd, and an amazing Lego display

Combine these retold fairy tales with the shelf talker tips from this week's BTW, and you're good to go: "The Ugly Duckling: Swan suffering from case of mistaken identity learns that it's more important to be pretty than loved."

What we like to hear: "For me, part of the fun of this Great American Book Tour – the title of my next book, incidentally, a memoir of my book tour, coming out in a year, is getting out of Vermont and New England, my literary 'comfort zone,' and trying my luck with events, readings, and signings in the rest of America...if touring writers are willing to get off the beaten track, the usual 8-city circuit, they'll find world-class bookstores in the unlikeliest places."

From the Department of Fortuitous Coincidences (which, incidentally, sounds like an office somewhere in the inner reaches of the Ministry of Magic), I came across this post just as I was ranting about having to flip pages on the iPad: "Baron cites research suggesting that for some people, pagination is preferable to scrolling."

Enjoying The Irresistible Henry House? Here's some background: "It was believed to be an ideal situation as the school would assist the child and the child would give valuable lessons to the students."

And something for those who liked Loving Frank and The Women - Fallingwater in Legos: "Building process spread over total of almost 7 months, and the structure is made out of more than 15000 bricks (just an approximate guess)." (via)

Guys Lit Wire is organizing its second book drive: "If you love books then you know what they can do and you can understand how significant they can be to these particular kids."

Related: "Nelson began his career driving a bookmobile on the reservation's rural roads. He also is credited with building an American Indian collection that includes 11,000 books, oral history tapes and land-claim records dating to 1675." (via)

Chris Morrow responds to Clay Shirky: "So the question I keep asking is how can we build resilience into our businesses, our societies, our world? One way is to build systems that are simple – as in local instead of global, distributed instead of centralized, and small instead of humongous. We can do this with new technology and new methods and new ideas, but on the foundation of human scale development that has brought us this far."

Mike Shatzkin scares me sometimes: "Having half the market reachable without print-run risk or inventory storage; having half the customers connecting with their reading through online paths that make them at least theoretically identifiable; and having a quarter of those customers reading through a medium that enables interactivity will make all the changes we've seen so far in trade publishing appear trivial."

Nick Carr, on the other hand, makes me laugh: "If Ned Ludd had been a blogger..."

Posted at 01:50PM Apr 09, 2010 by Sarah Rettger in General  | 

Unicorn weekend edition

As you watch the agency price model play out, take the opportunity to revisit Leegin v. Kay's Kloset, the Supreme Court decision that held that manufacturers can set minimum retail prices: "The Court has abandoned the rule of per se illegality for other vertical restraints a manufacturer imposes on its distributors."

I have a feeling lots of residents of Bookland will be looking for The Collapse of Complex Societies after reading this post: "ATT, like most organizations, could not be good at the thing it was good at and good at the opposite thing at the same time. The web hosting business, because it followed the 'Simplicity first, quality later' model, didn’t just present a new market, it required new cultural imperatives."

I thought about quoting the most recent post to introduce LOLerature -- but I simply cannot get behind "Team St. John." Go check out the site anyway.

While I've never gotten the smell-of-books thing, Matt Benyon Rees has the most engaging musing on the sensory aspect of reading I've seen in a while: "So forgive me if I go home from the Palestinian john and give my library the same attention." (via)

You'll indulge some blog-nepotism for a moment, won't you? I'm now the sister of a book blogger: "Macbeth and Julius Caesar are masterfully written political thrillers, rife with some of the language's most beautiful poetry, raising questions about the nature and dangers of power. But what in them speaks to the experience of a sixteen-year-old?"

New motto: "The Twittersphere is an odd and uncanny place. It’s something like having fairies at the bottom of your garden."

Northshire Books has just done some useful market research. Read the comments to take advantage of it: "What prevents you from buying a hardcover book? Is it the weight of these tomes, the solidity that make them burdensome for travel or eventual storage, that forces you to wait for the paperback edition? Is it the price that brings a shiver of guilt and the thought that you don’t deserve a hardcover edition when the paperback will be out eventually?"

Why bookstores matter, from a perspective we don't often discuss: "Sometimes they need help finding it, and in these moments I’ve seen some of the most courageous efforts I can imagine; they will ask for help finding a book that discusses the darkest secret of their souls. To make it all the more courageous, they are asking a stranger...So often, a bookseller is the first person to hear of these things, simply because we are there at the crucial moment."

Posted at 07:49AM Apr 05, 2010 by Sarah Rettger in General  | 

When Axe Cops books are flying off the shelves, remember who told you about it

I am so delighted @fullcircleokc shared this site: "That was the day he became Axe Cop."

So why don't we run into this problem marketing other forms of media?: "I guess this mostly points out how tough it is and always has been to market books since the relationship between consumer and product is so personal, it’s almost impossible to create some sort of mass message that’s going to get traction."

Some of the commenters want a recount: "HarperCollins wins first annual boxie award for Best Box. Runners up include Ingram and Random House."

In case you needed another reason to endorse nonsense in the bookstore: "Until I began to think about these issues with boy readers I hadn’t considered how one teacher’s allowance for nonsense in the classroom might have saved me from becoming a nonreader."

New skills for booksellers: "Before the universe began dropping bookbinding equipment on my head, I decided to pay attention to the message...I felt a little bit like I did in wood shop class in junior high, fascinated by the materials and equipment, but a bit shy to step up and demand my share of time with the equipment. But this wasn’t 7th grade with a room full of 7th grade boys. This was an opportunity to be led, one on one, by a gentle man eager to pass on his knowledge."

How to deal with in-house gender imbalances: "In the past Greenwillow has celebrated Man Day by plastering the halls with “Manly posters” (see below), listening to Manly songs (mainly tunes from old Westerns, the Monty Python “Lumberjack” song, and a certain Martin Mull tune entitled “Men, Men, Men”). Some of us even dressed up, Mad Men–style, for the occasion."

On Disneyfication and not: "My own sense of what a fairy tale is is linked to my own sense of what a child is, and that has been part of an experiment we call the 20th-century middle-class democracy."

How finance guys see things: "Amazon’s super useful crowd sourced reviews were a great innovation. From their own selfish perspective, AMZN should be more protective of that. They should carefully consider how Yahoo allowed their comment streams (for just about every property) to become polluted with touts and spam and trolls and haters to the point where it is no longer useful. Then Bezos might want to notice the long slider in YHOO’s stock price over the same period. Coincidence? I doubt it."

What surprises me is this is the hardcover figure. (Paperback was 1,105,469): "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. Dial (104,284)." (see also paperback and children's numbers)

Okay, I think this word-of-the-week thing is going to become a regular feature. (Side note: check out Maria's Bookshop's videos for more linguistic fun!) This week: apomediation: "Apomediation is guidance generated and available from peripheral mediators who have no or limited power to affect the ultimate decision or access to the service, resource, or information."

Posted at 02:16PM Mar 26, 2010 by Sarah Rettger in General  | 

The business case for the Babysitters Club, and other news from the world of books

Because we still haven't mastered the growing-money-on-trees trick: "If you sell too cheaply you are going to have to compromise somewhere else. And we thought, 'Well, you can't compromise service, you can't compromise information, you can't compromise your display because that's all about making it a special place for your customer.' So our customers, I think, appreciate that."

You never know what aspect of customer service will do the trick: "[Harvard Book Store] cashier kindly gave me a free pen on Tues bc I was having a rough day. Today I went there to buy books instead of Amazon."

The only SXSWi-related link you'll find in this post: "It's easy to think that 'public' and 'private' are binaries...What people experience when they talk about privacy is more complicated than what can be instantiated in a byte."

For those of us of a certain age: "Ms. Martin imparts two more important messages that modern readers need to hear: Teen girls are capable of handling far more responsibility than we give them credit for, and they, like the rest of us, can choose to make their own way in the world."

If both regular March Madness and the Tournament of Books aren't your thing, check out SLJ's Battle of the Books: "Argh! This is a horribly evil match."

That accounting textbook I never managed to get through? Might have been a page-turner if Don Linn (ably assisted by Nick Harkaway) had written it: "Thinking about long term capital needs isn't as sexy as talking about technology and content, but capital markets are ruthlessly efficient in sorting out winners and losers, survivors and dinosaurs. Unless we can attract capital to this industry (and not only to the Big Six) we will have very little control of our future."

Your vocabulary word for the week (well, mine, at least): "There's a category of information that slowly changes throughout the course of a lifetime. Sam Arbesman calls them mesofacts."

Posted at 11:10AM Mar 19, 2010 by Sarah Rettger in General  |