A heart-warming love letter to books and bookshops, by an amenable fellow turned antisocial old misanthrope“I was in here two years ago and you had a book by Roger Penrose. Do you know what happened to it?” Shaun Bythell – owner of the Book Shop in Wigtown, Galloway – has 100,000 books in stock, sells 20,000 a year, and has handled nearly 1m second-hand books since he bought the shop in 2001. Unsurprisingly, the Roger Penrose volume had not stuck in his mind.Before he entered the book trade at the tender age of 31, he was “amenable and friendly”. Now, after many years of fielding bizarre questions, constant haggling over prices (why is it “acceptable to try to screw the profit out of struggling small businesses” but not supermarkets?), and struggling to survive despite Amazon’s “icy grip” on bookselling, he has been forced to embrace the stereotype of the “impatient, intolerant, antisocial proprietor”. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2019-08-24 10:58:38 UTC ]
Many people may have forgotten that before it became a tech and ecommerce behemoth, Amazon started as an online bookseller in 1994. Nearly three decades later, Amazon is celebrating the roots of its business with a major campaign for its books division. The goal of the campaign, titled "That... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2022-07-25 13:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Gail See, a Minneapolis-area bookseller for many years and a leader in Minnesota's literary community, who served as president of the ABA board from 1984-1986, has died at age 94. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-07-19 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
In his grouchy, funny memoir, “A Factotum in the Book Trade,” Marius Kociejowski writes about what a good bookstore should feel like, famous customers he’s served and more. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2022-07-18 18:02:04 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Challenges: First half of 2022, the German market has a sales shortfall of 11.1 percent in the local book trade compared to 2019. The post The German Book Market in 2021: Turnover Up 3.5 Percent appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2022-07-07 21:04:45 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Four writers and one bookseller gathered over Zoom to make a list devoted to fiction in which the city is more than mere setting. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2022-06-22 09:08:54 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Kate Clanchy’s memoir about teaching won the Orwell prize. Then, a year later, it became the centre of a storm that would engulf the lives of the author, her critics and dozens of people in the book trade. So what happened?At the end of March, a book that had been condemned to die came back to... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2022-06-18 08:00:13 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Executive directors at regional bookseller associations across the country believe that conditions are right for big turnouts at their in-person fall shows. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-06-17 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Linda Sunshine established comics reprint imprints at both Harmony Books and Fireside in the 1970s that produced some of the earliest hardcover and trade paperback comics collections in the book trade. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-06-15 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The American Booksellers Association is launching a Virtual Children’s Institute on July 13; the daylong digital event includes online education sessions, bookseller idea exchanges, and keynote speeches. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-05-19 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
From her early career as a jack-of-all-marketing-trades to her present position representing adult titles for Penguin and for PRH distribution clients, Bay Area sales rep Wendy Pearl has had a front-row seat to the book trade. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-05-13 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
In 1995, I left the Elliott Bay Book Company in Seattle to teach English in Vietnam. Around that time, my friend and fellow bookseller Janet Brown traveled to Thailand to teach as well. There was no email then, and overseas phone calls were a luxury. So we wrote to one another, meditating on the... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2022-04-28 11:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Some sad news coming out of the Boston area today: the Children’s Book Shop in Brookline Village, Mass., will close its doors after 45 years. Dear Customers: We are sad to report that The Children’s Book Shop will close its doors on April 30, 2022. We have provided good books, great service and... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-04-18 16:28:49 UTC ]
More news stories like this
On April 30, the Children’s Book Shop in Brookline Village, Mass., will close its doors after 45 years. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-04-18 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Barnes & Noble finally has a direct answer to Amazon's purchase of Audible. The bookseller has launched a B&N Audiobooks service in the US that lets you either buy recordings or pay $15 per month for a subscription that offers one recurring monthly credit. You'll have access to more than... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2022-04-07 16:21:47 UTC ]
More news stories like this
In which a bookseller appreciates the return of old rhythms from a pre-pandemic past. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-02-17 13:30:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
A brief but happy update: The Bookseller has reported that Samir Mansour Bookshop, the largest bookstore in Gaza, will reopen next week after being destroyed by an Israeli airstrike last May. The reopening was made possible by a GoFundMe campaign led by human rights lawyers Mahvish Rukhsana and... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-02-07 16:07:29 UTC ]
More news stories like this
More than 100 writers, artists, comedians and musicians will voice James Joyce’s seminal novel in celebration of its publication a century agoOne hundred years ago, in February 1922, Sylvia Beach, owner of the Paris bookshop Shakespeare and Company, published James Joyce’s Ulysses, in full, for... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2022-01-20 09:30:55 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The coronavirus pandemic may continue to cloud people’s lives, but it has generated a silver lining for the French book business. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2022-01-10 14:15:46 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Whether you're talking to a bookseller or watching a TikTok, you may be getting a rec from someone who hasn't read the book. And that's okay. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2022-01-05 11:37:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
UK publishers and the book trade donated more than one million books to readers in 24 countries last year, according to charity Book Aid International. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2022-01-04 21:12:55 UTC ]
More news stories like this