Notes: Downloadable-Only Audios; New Association Head
Downloadable-only audiobooks continue to grow in popularity and some of the hottest titles, so to speak, are erotica, today's New York Times
reported. At Audible.com, seven of the top 10 downloadable-only titles
are erotica. "We started it not necessarily because we wanted to be in
the erotica business, but because it seemed like a niche that wasn't
being filled," publisher Beth Anderson told the paper. Erotica titles
are increasingly geared to women, as, for example, the Herotica series
by Susie Bright.
Downloadable audiobooks are often a third less expensive than CD
versions and represented 9% of audiobook sales in 2005, according to
the Audio Publishers Association. In mainstream genres, the decision to
publish in downloadable-only or downloadable and CD is based on
projected hardcover sales; sometimes a
downloadable-only title is later published in CD, too, when the book
breaks
out or has significant publicity breaks.
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Jim Sheppard has been named executive director of the Used Textbook
Association, which was formed last year "to advocate the role and value
of used textbooks in the marketplace and in turn, increase the supply
of used textbooks available to students" (Shelf Awareness,
October 31, 2006). Sheppard recently retired after a 27-year career at
Michigan State University and was director of the MSU Union, with
responsibility over the bookstore as well as other operations.
In addition, the association appointed Tom Ebert, New Jersey Books, as
vice president. He replaces Dan Schuppan of MBS Textbook Exchange,
owned by Barnes & Noble. Schuppan resigned as vice president and a
board member last November.
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The Waldenbooks in Main Place Mall, Buffalo, N.Y., is closing later
this month, and is the last seller of "new books and periodicals"
downtown, according to the Buffalo News.
The store had been open nearly 40 years. Another Walden in nearby
Blasdell will close when a Borders opens this spring at Quaker Crossing in Orchard
Park.
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The Palisadian-Post,
Pacific Palisades, Calif., celebrated Katie O'Laughlin's decision to
renew for three years the lease on Village Books, her 1,000-sq.-ft.
store that
marks its 10th anniversary this summer. (A lease renewal may seem not so significant,
but Pacific Palisades is quite the high-rent district!) She commented: "I'm anxious as
to
what the future holds, but I still love doing this and I'm going to
give it my best shot."
The store received a great review from Los Angeles Times film critic
Kenneth Turan, a local resident, who told the paper, "I can't imagine
life in the Palisades without Village Books. It's such a blessing to
have this kind of sophisticated and friendly store right in the heart
of the Village. They have become real experts at getting books quickly
if they don't have it on the shelf."
O'Laughlin recently added a Web site
and has revised her loyalty program by instituting a six-month expiration
date on the credit slips. She told the paper that the biggest
competition is "still the Internet, more than Barnes & Noble and
Borders. Also, you see books being sold everywhere--Target, Costco,
grocery stores, specialty stores, Restoration Hardware--and they all
nick away at our sales. People say, 'Your store seems busy,' but you
have to sell a lot of $10 to $30 books just to break even."
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On the occasion of the publication next week of the last of the Traveling Pants novels--Forever in Blue: The Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood (Delacorte, $18.99, 9780385729369)-- today's New York Times
tours the Manhattan townhouse that author Ann Brashares shares with her
husband, painter Jacob Collins, and their three children.
The piles of money from the series--which has seven million copies in
print in North America--came after the couple had bought and renovated
the house. "I remember thinking: I wish I'd know the book would
succeed, because I would have tiled our bathroom," she said.
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