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 ]
News tagged with:
#book shop
#shaun bythell
#tender age
#book trade
#bookseller
The French government and publishers this week pledged an additional €9m in mainly interest-... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-06-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#french booksellers
#french government
Stuff is teaming up with the NZ Post Children Books Awards in an initiative to promote the importance of books and reading, and to inspire New Zealand's future writers and illustrators. Continue reading at Stuff
[ Stuff | 2013-05-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Dutch booksellers are improving their businesses by using an online self-assessment tool... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-05-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Random House has won the Publisher of the Year accolade at the Bookseller Industry Awards 2013,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-05-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#random house
#year accolade
Dubai's Rufoof e-bookseller offers 5,000 titles in Arabic and has attracted 100,000 users, 50% from Saudi Arabia, starting with free Islamic titles. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-04-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#saudi arabia
A key U.S. lawmaker has unveiled plans for a comprehensive review of the laws surrounding copyright in the United States to determine whether they are still relevant in the digital age.Bob Goodlatte, a Virginia Republican and chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said Wednesday that his... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2013-04-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#coming months
#technological change
Argosy sales manager Ronan Richmond has been awarded The Elements trophy for the Bookseller of... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-04-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Among the best, new self-published titles of March and April is The Beach at Herculaneum by Susan G. Muth, only the second title to win a BlueInk Best Book Award. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-04-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#self-published books
#self-published titles
#book award
Over the past five years, rent hikes and competition from big-box retailers and online discounters have contributed to bricks-and-mortar bookstores closing their shops and moving their operations online. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2013-03-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Hot Key Books has acquired a sequel to Looking for JJ by Anne Cassidy, which won the Booktrust... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-03-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Is it not enough to make a killing selling $5 bottles of Dasani and two-pill packs of Tylenol? Hudson Booksellers, from the folks behind those fine Hudson News airport establishments, has begun peddling ebooks and book books online. The site, which appears to be (at least partially) powered by... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2013-03-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#wide variety
#dan brown
#online store
When I wrote Why I Love Kindle back in February I said I was intending to upgrade to a Kindle Paperwhite soon. Three weeks later, timed so I can buy a Kindle copy of my own book (my publisher only supplies free paperbacks), and that’s exactly what I’ve done. The Kindle is one of those very rare... Continue reading at Betanews
[ Betanews | 2013-03-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#kindle paperwhite
This Friday, booksellers Thalia, Weltbild, Hugendubel, as well as Bertelsmann and Deutsche Telekom, promise to announce a "really big new project in ebooks and e-reading." Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-02-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#deutsche telekom
Formerly part of Borders, the Book Industry Charitable Foundation has given some $4.1 million to 2,700 individuals since 1996. Now, they're auctioning Borders' old signage. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-02-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
The BBC's flagship arts and culture programme, "The Review Show", is being cut from... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-02-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#culture programme
#review show
Waterstones is set to launch a UK “industry first” professional qualification in... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-02-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#uk industry
In a legal motion that brings to mind Sancho Panza and Don Quixote, three independent bookstores, including tiny Posman Books in Grand Central, have filed a class action suit charging Amazon.com and the Big Six publishers with monopolizing the ebook market. The complaint asks that Amazon and the... Continue reading at Crains New York
[ Crains New York | 2013-02-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#southern district
#independent sources
#simon schuster
#fiction addiction
The download first, pay-as-you-read ebook sales model from Total Boox in Israel promises a superior consumer experience by minimizing the uncertainty of book buying. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-02-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#total boox
#book buying
This months reviews of top self-published books features a witty novel about a coupon-clipping mother and her stoic daughter, and a memoir of life on the island of Malta, among several other appealing reads. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-02-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#self-published books
It’s been a year and a half since Joseph-Beth Booksellers, headquartered in Cincinnati, emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection with a new owner, after founder Neil Van Uum was outbid in an auction by Robert Langley, his landlord at the Mall at Lexington Green in Lexington, Ky. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2013-02-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#joseph-beth booksellers
#robert langley