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 ]
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The number of bookstores in Sweden is declining, but those still in business are now getting out of the red, benefitting from poor online competition. The post Swedish Bookselling Stabilizes, as Amazon Stays Away appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2015-10-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Deutscher Buchhandlungspreis: that’s not a name that rolls off the tongue smoothly, even for a German. Ever since the first German Booksellers Prize was announced in February of this year, I have been wondering why an event that honours a worthy cause and celebrates one of the pillars of the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-10-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Stay in the loop with events from The Bookseller Children's Conference with our live updates. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-09-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The indie revival continues this week with the announcement of a new design bookstore on New York City’s Lower East Side and the grand opening of Phoenix Books in Rutland, Vt., Phoenix’s third store. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-09-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The release of Morrisey’s first novel today (24th September) has sparked a strong reaction on social media after the work received two damning reviews by The Guardian. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-09-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bricks-and-mortar booksellers have a “fantastic opportunity to seize the moment”, with year-to-date print sales up for the first time in eight years. Figures from Nielsen Bookscan show sales of print books for the first 36 weeks of 2015 are up by 4.6% (worth £739.5m) when compared to the same... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-09-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Nicola Solomon, chief executive of the Society of Authors (pictured), and Orna Ross, founder of the Alliance of Independent Authors, are among more than 30 speakers lined up to speak to authors and publishers at The Bookseller’s first ever Author Day, launched as part of suite of events in the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-09-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Despite some gloomy predictions, the academic book remains in good health. Most academics in the humanities and social sciences are committed to it as essential to the health of their disciplines: a means of expressing complex arguments and communicating the best scholarship. But there are... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-09-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Here's our review of "Now That I'm a Ghost, I'm Gay," which---let's be real---is an amazing title. The post We Review the Self-Published ‘Now That I’m a Ghost, I’m Gay’ appeared first on WIRED. Continue reading at Wired
[ Wired | 2015-09-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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It’s fair play in New York City this weekend with no fewer than three book fairs/festivals. Across the country Kepler’s is marking its 60th, while new stores continue to open, including a kiosk in Indianapolis dedicated to black authors. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-09-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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For the Malaysian bookselling and publishing communities, the first quarter of the year leading up to the 6% goods and services tax (GST) implementation on April 1 was tumultuous and disruptive. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-09-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The summer was one of rediscovered classics, movie tie-ins, and backlist at indie bookstores across the country. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-09-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sales at independent bookstores got a boost from breakout bestsellers and the adult coloring book boom. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-09-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Hennessey + Ingalls prepares to move to downtown LA after years in Hollywood and Santa Monica; Paris’s Shakespeare & Co. readies its first café; and another indie is about to replace a former Borders Express. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-09-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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New York City continues to add more bookstores, with one slated to open on the Lower East Side early next year. Twice Told Tales will open in McPherson, Kans., and The Booksellers is opening in Dayton, Oh., this coming week. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-09-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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What’s in store at the annual booksellers associations’ gatherings, which kick off the week of September 14. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-09-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In 1995, the year Amazon opened the virtual doors to its online bookstore, the company posted revenue of $511,000—a total that jumped to $15.7 million in 1996 and skyrocketed to $147.7 million in 1997. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-09-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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If we add an alert to one review, what about the others? Readers have different sensitivities; who is to say which details may spoil a book for any one of them?Readers hate spoilers, and one of the sacred duties of the literary editor is to make sure they don’t happen – or if they do, that... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2015-08-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Initial reviews for David Lagercrantz’s The Girl in the Spider’s Web (MacLehouse), the fourth novel in the late Stieg Larsson’s Millennium series, have been largely favourable, with the Telegraph giving the book four stars and the Guardian saying “Lagercrantz has constructed an elegant... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-08-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bookshops are gearing up for a mini Super Thursday today (27th August) following the release of two big hitting titles – the fourth installment of the Millennium series, The Girl in the Spider’s Web (MacLehose Press), and Terry Pratchett’s last book The Shepherd’s Crown (Doubleday Children’s). Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-08-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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