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Friday May 22, 2009

Next stop: BEA

Why summer reading is broken, a report from the front lines:

"Having worked a bookstore I know for a fact there are a lot of kids (and their parents, mostly) scrambling to find copies of the required book that first week of school because then, and only then, are kids frantic enough to care about reading it."

I'm rather fond of my latest job function (the Perle Mesta of the ABA Bookseller Lounge), but I could go for adding this:

"The job of digital concierge grows in significance as more and more material is introduced to the market via the web."

Insert your geographic location here:

"I think if we continue on the path we've started, offering excellent customer service, a great selection, and being the go-to place for literary events in North Brooklyn, we will be OK. At least I hope so. ;-)"

What happens when Canadians head south:

"I know, I know. Everybody who lives near me is saying "live oak? What are our plain old oaks then? Dead Oaks?", but it turns out that they are called Live Oaks because they don't lose their leaves in the winter. (Or what passes for a winter here.) They are the most graceful and beautiful thing. I love them."

RSS alert:

"This blog, Crossover, focuses on a rare breed of book--the adult book teens love, the teen book adults appreciate, and (very, very occasionally) that Middle Grade book adults read. I'm interested in reviewing books that transcend these age boundaries and understanding why these books are different."

Try this backlist promotion:

"Long story short, I was embarrassed at how few of the 50 books I had read, and have committed, this summer, to reading 4 classics I've never read before. Want to join me?"

That bottleneck? It starts with "book" and ends with "store," which is why we need to be part of this shift:

"Could it be that reading is suffering not from a lack of interest but from a bottleneck in its distribution? As digital reading devices proliferate—and other companies emerge to offer alternatives—books and booklike pieces of writing might even have more leverage on our culture."

Posted at 04:00PM May 22, 2009 by Sarah Rettger in General |

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