To capitalize on the popularity of Stephenie Meyer, Sarah Dessen and others, Borders Group is launching teen departments in most of its superstores that will stock graphic novels, fantasy and YA novels, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Called Borders Ink shops, the departments have opened in several Borders stores in Michigan and should open in most Borders stores by the end of August. The space for the departments "has often been carved from areas that previously sold music and DVDs, whose popularity has faded with bookstore shoppers," the Journal said.
Besides books, the departments have related sidelines such as items related to the Twilight series.
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The National Association of College Stores has begun a campaign to "bust myths about college stores." The four myths:
- Buying textbooks from an online retailer is always more convenient.
- Buying textbooks online is always safe.
- Most students spend nearly $1,000 each year on textbooks.
- The college store makes a huge profit on textbooks.
NACS is providing stores with marketing kits that include posters and material that can be shared with campus publications and used on store websites and social networking pages. Each week the association is focusing on one myth.
Among NACS's points about "myth #1":
By purchasing books from college stores either in person or through the store's website, students "pay no added shipping costs; receive books on time with no worries about shipping delays or purchases lost in the mail; can be confident that they are purchasing the correct book, by the correct author, and the correct edition, volume, etc. (this can be confusing online); can buy all course materials at one stop, saving time and the stress of trying to find each book, study guide, and other supplies from multiple web sites; can easily tap their financial aid; and can easily return books to their college store if a class is dropped."
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Cool website of the day: a new one for Our Noise: The Story of Merge Records, The Indie Label That Got Big and Stayed Small by John Cook, Mac McCaughan and Laura Ballance, which will be published by Algonquin September 15. Interspersed scrapbook style with photos, remembrances and basic information are some great videos.
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At bigthink.com, Norton editor Alane Salierno Mason, one of the founders of Words Without Borders, "diagnoses literature in translation."
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"It's summer, not dumber," observed the Globe & Mail,
which presented a beach reads list by noting: "You may hunker down with
Dan Brown, lollygag with Ludlum or bring Binchy to the beach, and such
pleasures are considerable, but seasonal fare, some of our 21 summer
readers find, can be meaty as well."
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Obituary note: Author Gordon Burn, "whose work explored the boundaries between fact and fiction," died last Friday, the Guardian reported. He was 61.
"Gordon's
subject of choice was often trauma, spectacle and dysfunction," said
Lee Brackstone, his editor at Faber. "He was drawn to the dark side of
celebrity . . . his literature and impulse always represented to me an
attempt to find comfort, meaning and compassion in the most appalling
or baffling of events."
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The blog Cynical-C featured Vladimir Nabokov answering questions about Lolita on NBC's Close Up in the mid-1950s (via Boing Boing).
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Book Wish Foundation, a nonprofit organization that supports literacy in Africa, has founded Bibliotarian.org, a comparison shopping website for books whose proceeds are given to charity. Bibliotarian.org displays the lowest new and used prices, including shipping costs, from booksellers such as Amazon, AbeBooks, Alibris and Half.com. Users can designate from nearly a million 501(c)(3) public charities to receive up to half of the bookseller affiliate revenue generated by their purchases through the site. The remainder goes to the Foundation, also a 501(c)(3). Bibliotarian.org also locates books available for swapping from BookMooch and PaperBackSwap, two large book-swapping websites.
Book Wish Foundation president Logan Kleinwaks noted the organization would like to have a link to IndieBound, "but their affiliate program has no way for us to track which charity our user selected." He encouraged interested booksellers to contact him at logan@bibliotarian.org if they want such a link.
Through August 15, visitors to Bibliotarian.org can enter a sweepstakes to win a Sony Reader.
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Natalie White has been promoted to director of advertising at Simon & Schuster. She previously was associate director of advertising and promotion. She has been with the company eight years and will continue to work with the adult, children's and audio divisions.
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Megan Halpern is joining Melville House as publicist. She was formerly an associate publicist at Picador.
Melville House co-publisher Dennis Loy Johnson said that the publisher is "particularly excited about [Halpern's] experience with digital publicity and online marketing initiatives. She'll be a key player in the development and launch of our digital imprint."