While understandably focusing on newspapers, a New York Times article outlines how, with its expected introduction of the Tablet, "Apple may be giving the media industry a kind of time machine--a chance to undo mistakes of the past."

The paper continued: "People who have seen the tablet say Apple will market it not just as a way to read news, books and other material, but also a way for companies to charge for all that content. By marrying its famously slick software and slender designs with the iTunes payment system, Apple could help create a way for media companies to alter the economics and consumer attitudes of the digital era."

The "cost," of course, is letting Apple dictate the process--although in contrast to Amazon's policy, so far Apple is letting publishers set prices--and not having direct contact with readers.

---

In related news, TechCrunch asserts there is "a good chance there will be a Barnes & Noble bookstore built into the Apple Tablet, either as one of the showcase apps which launches with the device, powering a new book section in iTunes, or integrated directly into the Tablet's e-reader. . . . While Apple can run around cutting deals with the larger publishers, a built-in Barnes & Noble bookstore could include up to a million titles in one fell swoop, just like on B&N's own Nook reader. Barnes & Noble already offers an eReader app for the iPhone (iTunes link) which lets you download and read electronic books on the smaller device. That app could be paving the way for an eReader or book store on the Tablet."

---

FiledBy, the online directory of authors, illustrators, photographers, editors, translators and other book contributors, has added 50 new category websites that include more than 3,000 BISAC code subcategories. Typical categories include business and economics, technology and engineering, gardening and more.

The emphasis at FiledBy since its launch last April has been expanding the author websites--now more than 6,200 authors, illustrators and others have registered and begun using their FiledBy website. With the new category websites, that and other information is available in an additional way.

---

As part of the consolidation last May of its digital and print publishing services into one entity, Ingram Content Group, some 57 people were laid off on Friday at Ingram's facilities in La Vergne, Tenn., where its headquarters are, the Tennessean reported.

The layoffs in La Vergne represent about 3% of the 1,830 workers there. Ingram Content Group, which includes Ingram Book, Ingram Digital and Lightning Source, has more than 3,000 employees overall.

---

Congratulations to Greenlight Bookstore, Brooklyn, N.Y., which over the weekend raised $4,515 for Haiti relief, which will be split between the Red Cross and Partners in Health. The store donated 10% of its sales, which was matched by co-owner Rebecca Fitting and an anonymous donor.

---

Yesterday HarperCollins officially launched inkpop, which it called "the first interactive writing platform for teens backed by a major U.S. publisher." Created by HarperTeen, the site combines community publishing, user-generated content and social networking to connect "rising stars" in teen literature with readers and publishing professionals.

Since its soft launch late last year, inkpop has garnered more than 10,000 members and nearly 11,000 submissions, including novels, poems, essays and short stories. The visitors are teens ages 13 and older and come from 109 countries and territories. An international group of HarperCollins editors and authors review the site's top five monthly selections, providing feedback to the young authors while considering their work for publication.

In a statement, Susan Katz, president and publisher of HarperCollins Children's Books, said, "As with all of our online consumer programs, the concept of community-building is aligned with our ongoing corporate digital marketing efforts to cultivate a two-way dialogue with our readers."

---

On Monday, a leaking roof caused by melting snow and heavy rain flooded the Clarkson University bookstore, Potsdam, N.Y., reported, appropriately, by the Watertown Daily Times. The store, managed by Barnes & Noble College, is closed at least until Thursday.

---

Book trailer of the day: Flawless by Scott Selby and Greg Campbell (Sterling), a February title about the largest diamond heist in the world, which took place in the Diamond District in Antwerp, Belgium, a real-life Ocean's Eleven. Selby is a lawyer and diamond expert; Campbell is a journalist and author of Blood Diamonds, the basis of the Leonardo DiCaprio movie.

---

A mixtape for the stacks: Flavorwire.com featured the 10 Best Songs About Libraries and Librarians.

---

Lisa Stefanacci, owner of Book Works, Del Mar, Calif., for the past four years; and Milane Christiansen, who founded the bookshop in 1976, spoke with the San Diego Union-Tribune, which wrote that the "two very book-smart women sat at their store's iconic wood table and explained why 34-year-old Book Works will never, can never, be muscled out of bound print and paper."

The paper described Stefanacci as "defiantly bullish on the future of what she likes to call a 'curated bookstore,' a passionate marriage of emporium and museum."

"There are people who don't want books to change ever," she said. "And then there are people who think the future is nothing but technology. But then there is a large group of people who are in between, like us, who understand that you have to adapt--and that's what I've been doing.

"I haven't thought that we're going to close because nobody needs an old bookstore anymore. We have to move ahead into the future in a way that's going to keep us and our customers happy but is also going to satisfy what the new world is craving in terms of digital technology."

---

Anarchy reigned last Sunday at the Los Angeles Anarchist Book Fair. One young man told the Los Angeles Times "he had looked through some cool books. The reading had him itching for action, he said, for real change. He wondered whether he should head to Latin America, where anarchist groups like the Mexican Zapatistas are active. The problem with America, he said, is that people don't protest. 'We don't fight here,' he said. 'We hold book fairs.' "

---

Are men's self-help books "lousy?" The Telegraph reported that Ian Walton, owner of specialist publisher Need2Know, thinks so, observing that "men tended to get bogged down in jargon whereas women made their points more clearly.... These blokes who send us manuscripts just don't get it; they tend to write in a technical, non-user friendly way so we barely even look at them now. Men aren't good enough. In my opinion they are lousy authors--they certainly don't write as well as women."

---

"I think the small bookseller has an advantage in that he can cater to the particularly interested reader," Indian bookseller Ram Advani told Tehelka magazine. "My job is to recognize readers and their particular interests.... You come across a man who is so shabbily dressed you wonder what he is doing in the shop but the way he looks at a book, the way he browses tells me that the man is serious. If a man is waiting to meet his girlfriend he looks at a book differently and sometimes the most unlikely character will show an interest in a subject like gender studies say. These are the joys. There is not a day when I don't learn something new from these people who come into my bookshop."

---

Book packager and publisher Weldon Owen Publishing is becoming the official publisher of Williams-Sonoma branded book titles to the trade in North America, which will be distributed by Simon & Schuster.

"Given our long and successful experience creating and packaging books for Williams-Sonoma, we believe now is the right time to take on the publishing, marketing and distribution of these quality cookbooks to the trade," Weldon Owen CEO Terry Newell said in a statement. With S&S, he continued, "We expect to build on the success and credibility of the Williams-Sonoma brand with more consumers."

Weldon Owen creates books also for Gymboree, Pottery Barn Kellogg, Danny Meyer's Union Square Hospitality Group, Bonnier's Saveur and Parenting magazines, among others.

In a related move, effective March 2, Simon & Schuster will handle all sales, distribution and fulfillment of Weldon Owen's new food and drink titles and backlist in the U.S. and Canada.

"We have had a terrific experience publishing the Williams-Sonoma line of cookbooks at Free Press, and are now delighted that we will be able to continue our relationship with Weldon Owen on a broader sales and distribution basis," Michael Selleck, executive v-p, sales and marketing of S&S, said. "They are truly a high-quality line of books based on some of the world's most recognizable brands, and we look forward to helping to grow their business in traditional bookselling and specialty outlets."

In the third quarter ended December 26, revenue at Indigo Books & Music rose 3.1%, to $340.2 million (about US$322.5 million), and net earnings rose 29%, to $34.5 million (US$32.7 million). Sales at Indigo and Chapters superstores open at least a year rose 3.4%, while sales at Coles and Indigo Spirit small-format stores open at least a year fell 1.6%. Sales at chapters.indigo.ca dropped 2.7%, to $29.3 million (US$27.8 million).

In a statement, Indigo CEO Heather Reisman said, "We are very pleased to report these earnings, particularly in the current environment. The results reflect the impact of our ongoing efforts to improve store experience, productivity and customer loyalty. We are equally pleased with top line sales--achieved notwithstanding being against last year's massive success of the Stephenie Meyer Twilight Series. Our small format and online channels are particularly impacted by blockbuster releases."

During the quarter, Indigo transferred all the assets of its digital reading initiative, formerly called Shortcovers, to a new company Kobo, which has raised funding from Indigo, Borders, Instant Fame and REDGroup Retail (Shelf Awareness, December 15, 2009). Indigo owns 58% of Kobo.

Reisman, who is chair of Kobo, said, "Indigo and Kobo are very well positioned to play a major role in the emerging e-book revolution both in Canada and globally."

During the quarter, Indigo opened a new superstore in Laval, Quebec. It also expanded children's departments in stores in four cities, "continuing its strategy to make Indigo the ultimate family friendly destination."

Sad news seems to come in threes.

The Mystery Company, Carmel, Ind., is closing "in the next week or so," according to co-owner Jim Huang's blog. (He would like to sell the inventory and business in whole or part if possible.) On February 15, Huang becomes general manager of the Kenyon Bookstore at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio. Huang noted that he felt pressure to make the move in part because his wife's very solid job is unlikely to last long because her company is downsizing by 5,500 employees and outsourcing her kind of job.

"Business here has been rough for a while, especially since gas prices spiked in the summer of 2008," Huang wrote. "Up 'til then, sales weren't great, but at least they were slowly growing. Almost overnight, though, that incremental growth evaporated and we started seeing our numbers turn negative. We'd hoped to see a boost from our involvement in Bouchercon 2009; the convention was a great success and we did sell a lot of books at the convention. But the costs of our participation--in terms of both time and money--were overwhelming, and we've seen no residual effects on our sales--no additional walk-in business, no additional internet/telephone orders, nothing. (That's been kind of a shock to us.) Finally, we hoped for a good holiday season, but our sales between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year were once again disappointing--our second straight poor holiday season."

Huang added that he will continue to do "the occasional mystery publishing project through my company the Crum Creek Press. (We have some cool stuff in the works.) I'm still expecting to be able to attend at least two mystery conventions this year. And, of course, we do sell mysteries at the Kenyon Bookstore."

The Mystery Company was founded nearly seven years ago.

---

The Open Book, Greenville, S.C., is closing, according to Greenvilleonline. Founded in 1971 by Tom Gower, who was helped by many family members, the store at one point had five branches. In 1993, the stores were consolidated into one 29,000-sq.-ft. store in a building now owned by Margaret and Duff Bruce, one of Gower's children and her husband.

The Bruces attributed the closing to "a combination of factors beyond large chain bookstores, some of which are also feeling pressure," including big-box retailers and online booksellers "who discount books to below cost."

The Bruces said they had been concerned for two years and considered shrinking the store. "But we were just tired," Margaret Bruce said. "We've been doing this a long time." Last summer they decided to close after Christmas.

---

Because of a "perfect storm of circumstances, some predictable and some personal," the owners of the Wild, Noblesville, Ind., which was founded in 2005, are putting the store up for sale. If no buyer is found, the store will close by the end of February.

Still, owners Jane, Ernie and Fritz Mills said that "the reality is that it became more than we had ever dreamed and one of our most personally gratifying experiences yet." They noted a long list of accomplishments of the past five years, which include:

• Having read more than 1,500 stories together;
• Hatched seven healthy baby chicks;
• Graduated more than 120 students from ukulele class;
• Given $30,000 in discounts to local teachers and schools;
• Raised more than $20,000 for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation;
• Displayed the art of at least 200 young artists;
• Donated thousands of books to children in Appalachia;
• Hosted visits by snakes, trained dogs, potbellied pigs and dancing chickens.

Today on WETA's Book Studio: David Sax, author of Save the Deli: In Search of Perfect Pastrami, Crusty Rye, and the Heart of Jewish Delicatessen (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $26, 9780151013845/0151013845).

---

Tomorrow on the Diane Rehm Show, the Readers' Review segment focuses on The Glass Room by Simon Mawer (Other Press, $14.95, 9781590513965/1590513967), which features a house based on the Tugendhat House in the Czech Republic designed by Mies van der Rohe. Panelists are Leslie Maitland, former New York Times reporter; Bernard Lambeck, attorney and grandson of the Greta Tugendhat, the house's original owner; and Susan Piedmont-Palladino, architect, curator at the National Building Museum and professor of architecture at Virginia Tech's College of Architecture and Urban Studies.

---

Tonight on the Colbert Report: Arthur Benjamin, author of Secrets of Mental Math: The Mathemagician's Guide to Lightning Calculation and Amazing Math Tricks (Three Rivers Press, $13, 9780307338402/0307338401).

On her blog, A Moment of Jen, bestselling author Jennifer Weiner is rallying fans to petition ABC about picking up her pilot for "a series called Jane and Dick, which is 'about a smart, funny female attorney who’s turned her father’s law firm into a version of career Utopia--an all-female, kid-friendly law firm where the formerly mommy-tracked lawyers can have it all," Entertainment Weekly's Shelf Life blog reported, noting that her co-writer is Michael Reisz, who has written for Boston Legal.

Selected new titles appearing next week:

The Politician: An Insider's Account of John Edwards's Pursuit of the Presidency and the Scandal That Brought Him Down by Andrew Young (Thomas Dunne, $24.99, 9780312640651/031264065X) gives a firsthand view into Edwards's career and adultery scandal.

Worst Case by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge (Little, Brown, $27.99, 9780316036221/0316036226) investigates the kidnapping of a child from a wealthy New York family.

On the Brink: Inside the Race to Stop the Collapse of the Global Financial System by Henry M. Paulson (Business Plus, $28.99, 9780446561938/0446561932) is the former Secretary of the Treasury's account of the chaos that occurred at the start of the current recession.

Point Omega: A Novel by Don Delillo (Scribner, $24, 9781439169957/1439169950) chronicles meandering conversations between a filmmaker and a disillusioned planner of the Iraq War.

Sweet Little Lies: An L.A. Candy Novel by Lauren Conrad (HarperCollins, $17.99, 9780061767609/0061767603) follows a teenage girl with her own reality TV show.

The 39 Clues Book 7: The Viper's Nest by Peter Lerangis (Scholastic, $12.99, 9780545060479/0545060478) is a children's book about siblings retracing their family tree.

Vanity Fair's Presidential Profiles: Defining Portraits, Deeds, and Misdeeds of 43 Notable Americans--And What Each One Really Thought About His Predecessor by Judy Bachrach, David Friend, Kamp David, Purdum Todd and Jim Windolf, edited by Graydon Carter (Abrams, $18.95, 9780810984875/0810984873) is a comprehensive account of the country's leaders.

Good Value: Reflections on Money, Morality and an Uncertain World by Stephen Green (Atlantic Monthly, $25, 9780802119179/0802119174) explores the imperfect yet necessary aspects of globalization.

 
Part political manifesto, part history, part family memoir, Jeff Biggers's impassioned book melds these genres into a persuasive indictment of the coal mining industry's assault on our physical and cultural environment.
 
Biggers's family settled in the Eagle Creek area of southern Illinois in 1805. Two hundred years later, the last of his clan abandoned the area, evicted by the huge strip-mining operation that laid waste to what once was the vast Shawnee National Forest. Biggers estimates that while some 960,000 tons of coal were stripped from his family's land and adjoining areas, that harvest was only enough to supply America with electricity for four and one-half hours.
 
The United States still obtains approximately 40% of its energy from coal, and Biggers exposes frightful human and environmental cost of that energy. Since 1900, more than 104,000 miners have been killed in coal mines (Biggers's grandfather was nearly one of them), while over 250,000 have died of black lung–related diseases. Coal-fired electric plants belch out 40% of our carbon dioxide emissions. Biggers lays out this grim data to support his case that by any rational and comprehensive cost-benefit analysis, our persistent dependence on coal-fired electric plants borders on lunacy.
 
Not surprisingly, Biggers is an advocate of alternative energy sources (though there's nary a mention of nuclear power), but his brief account of the battle waged by the coal industry against West Virginia's Coal River Wind Project illustrates the industry's formidable countervailing power. Whether it's the influence of its lobbyists or the incessant constituent pressure to produce jobs, Big Coal has friends on both sides of the political aisle. And though the environmentally challenged Bush administration comes in for its expected share of criticism, Illinois's liberal Democratic senator, Dick Durbin, has been the most aggressive advocate for the costly ($2 billion) and technologically dubious FutureGen emission control project.
 
Biggers is quick to scoff at the term "clean coal." "Never was there an oxymoron more insidious or more dangerous to our public health," he writes. The term has "blindsided any meaningful progress toward a sustainable energy policy." He's equally critical of mining reclamation programs that "simply airbrushed the destruction of the past from the landscape."
 
Despite an occasional tendency to meander or focus on the minutiae of local history, Jeff Biggers's searching exploration of the bleak story of American coal is a cautionary tale for those who believe the path to an alternate energy future will be a smooth one.--Harvey Freedenberg
 
Shelf Talker: Rooted in his own family's history, Jeff Biggers's story is a passionate indictment of the U.S.'s powerful coal industry.