Amazon's expectations for its upcoming tablet keep getting higher.
DigiTimes cited information obtained from "upstream component suppliers for non-iPad tablet PCs" in noting that Amazon's demand for touch panels is "likely to reach two million units for the August-September period" and shipments of tablet PCs to Amazon "are expected to reach 1 to 1.2 million units by a conservative estimate in the third quarter."
"Welcome to the subsidized tablet,"
ZDNet observed. "Amazon can offer cheap Kindles because it can make up sales on e-book sales. The Kindle with Special Offers has ads and can go even lower on price. An Amazon tablet will use the same playbook."
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Entertainment Weekly's Shelf Life blog answered "
10 burning fan questions" about George R.R. Martin's novel
A Dance with Dragons, which will be released tomorrow. Question number one: "Can I read
Dance with Dragons if I have only watched the HBO series
Game of Thrones?"
Answer: "No. Please don't do that to yourself. You will be totally confused and will have missed out on a ton of great storytelling. If fact, stop reading this post before you're spoiled on which characters are still alive."
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The Erie Book Store, Erie, Pa., is closing at the end of August when the store's lease expires, according to the
Erie Times-News. The 90-year-old bookstore that sells new, used and rare books is owned by Kathleen Cantrell, who bought it from her father in 1979.
"I would like to have more free time," Cantrell told the paper. "I love running the store, but I don't want to do it as many hours. I would like less stress and more free time to visit grandchildren."
Cantrell there had been much interest in buying the store, "but no firm offers," and she had explored alternatives to closing. "A group on Facebook launched an effort to save the store," the paper wrote. "There was even talk about forming a cooperative to run the business."
Despite her store's closing, Cantrell said that she believes "in the next few years we are going to see a resurgence of independent bookstores, precisely because of the advent of e-books and online commerce. The big-box stores are focusing on e-commerce. They are finding it difficult to justify the existence of their huge brick-and-mortar stores. If they close those physical sites, that would be a wonderful opportunity for smaller independents."
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A group of publishing rock stars commented in an article in the
New York Times on the strong sales of rock star memoirs in the past few years. Among the authors of popular songs of self: Keith Richards, Patti Smith, Steven Tyler, Sammy Hagar and Ozzy Osbourne.
"There is a generation of titans who are now looking back and realizing that their tales have yet to be told." --Michael Pietsch, publisher of Little, Brown
"For the guys now who are in their 60s, they're seeing big paydays, for one. It's also their legacy. They want to get it down before they're gone." --Daniel Halpern, president and publisher of Ecco
"With the music people, there's always going to be a tough climb up. There's temptations or stuff to get through once you're really successful. Then the band falls apart. The whole arc of the story is going to be riveting." --Stacy Creamer, publisher of Touchstone
"There is an unusual number. And that's because there's been some very successful ones and people want to copycat." --agent Ed Victor
"It appears that the entire Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is now sitting in front of the computer." --HarperCollins editor David Hirshey
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Cool idea of the day: as part of the celebrations for Penguin Classics' 65th anniversary, the company is holding a contest through the end of the month whose prizes are three limited-edition skateboard decks featuring artwork from Penguin Classics. To enter, fans upload a photo of a skateboard and a Penguin Classic onto the contest's Facebook page. Photos are voted on by Penguin Facebook fans. Check it out here.
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Reacting to Philip Roth's comment that he no longer reads fiction (Shelf Awareness, June 28, 2011), Jack Covert, president and founder of 800-CEO-READ, wrote on the company's blog:
"The more I have thought about it, the more it makes sense to me. We all read because it provides context, whether it's to a problem we're trying to solve at work or to the larger life we're living outside it. And I have largely left fiction, as well. As I get older, the psychological and emotional context that fiction provides doesn't seem as urgent to me as the larger narratives of history. Whereas I once enjoyed a good page-turning, I-don't-want-it-to-end novel, I am much more likely to dive into a good piece of non-fiction these days, the history and biography categories Roth mentions being at the top of the list."
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New Hampshire Magazine's "best of New Hampshire 2011" includes nods to:
The best independent bookstore, Water Street Bookstore, Exeter, "the largest independent bookstore on the Seacoast and has a strong emphasis on local authors."
Best local chain independent bookstore, Toadstool Bookshops in Keene, Milford and Peterborough, "a beloved local chain of 'fascinating' independent bookstores."
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Georgia Voice readers have named Outwrite Bookstore & Coffeehouse, Atlanta, both the best bookstore and best coffee house of the year. In addition, owner Philip Rafshoon was cited as "best business person."
Rafshoon opened Outwrite in 1993, the Voice wrote, "and the store has served as a community hub ever since. Besides yummy food and drinks and a full stock of LGBT and other reading material, the store hosts multiple author readings ranging from local voices to national names."
In the best bookstore category, Brushstrokes placed second and Charis Books & More, "the South's oldest feminist bookstore," placed third.
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Effective September 1, Skyhorse Publishing will now be distributed in the U.K. and the European Union by Constable Robinson. Skyhorse includes Arcade Publishing, Allworth Publishing, Sports Publishing and Sky Pony Press.
"As omnivores, contemporary readers have become adept at switching from high to low culture at the click of a mouse, moving from codex to e-book to audio. This is the shape of the future: a bonanza of print on many platforms. All that remains to be settled--the $64,000 question--is: what should be the economic terms of trade? How do we reconcile the gospel of 'free' with an obligation to reward the artist?
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For the record, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, based on the second half of J.K. Rowling's final Harry Potter book, opens this Friday, July 15. Daniel Radcliffe stars as the famous boy wizard in the series climax. Part 2 is in 3-D!
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, based on the book by Lisa See, also opens July 15. The tale shifts between two intimate friends in 19th-century China and their descendants in modern Shanghai. 
My Afternoons with Margueritte, based on the novel by Marie-Sabine Roger, opens July 15. Gérard Depardieu stars as a simple working man whose friendship with an old woman (Gisèle Casadesus) leads him to a love of literature.
As Shigeru Mizuki's World War II graphic novel masterpiece approaches 40 years old, Drawn & Quarterly has released the first American translation in a gorgeous production that reads from back to front, from right to left, in true Japanese style and captures a side of the war in the South Pacific you've never seen.