Beginning with today's edition, the bestseller list published every Thursday in USA Today will include Amazon Kindle book sales in its overall rankings.
    
"With the addition of sales figures from Kindle, we have created a more robust list which reflects the new platforms consumers and readers are using to purchase books," said Susan Weiss, managing editor of the "Life" section.

In a statement, USA Today noted that its list is "based on retail sales data collected each week that include more than 2.5 million volumes from about 7,000 physical retail outlets in addition to books sold online."

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"Celebrating a Soon-to-Be Bookstore" was the headline for an update by Jessica Stockton Bagnulo, owner with Rebecca Fitting of Greenlight Bookstore, in the New York Times's blog, the Local.

"Our Greenlight Bookstore Preview Party was really kind of a big 'thank you," Jessica wrote, "to the Fort Greene Association folks who have helped us connect to the neighborhood, the Community Lenders who have helped us to raise start-up capital, the small business professionals who have worked with us for little or no fee, and the book industry professionals who have given us invaluable guidance. Wine and snacks (home-made by Rebecca and me) were served, but the real treat was meeting fellow Greenlight supporters, and of course imagining the bookstore that is taking shape.

"As the evening wore on, we proposed a toast: to the powerful community that is helping to create Greenlight Bookstore, with the hope that we will be able to give back all that they have given to us, and more."

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Amazon and the University of Michigan will join forces to "to offer reprints of 400,000 rare, out-of-print and out-of-copyright books from its library. Seattle-based Amazon's BookSurge unit will print the books on demand in soft cover editions at prices from $10 to $45," according to the Associated Press (via BusinessWeek).

Rick Fitzgerald, a spokesman for the university, called the decision "basically an outgrowth of the digitization process," referring to the school's partnership with Google to digitize its collection.

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Peter and Suzan Smyth, co-owners of Hand It Back Book Smyth, Middleton, Mass., "never realized they had so many friends" until people began helping run the business after Peter was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer earlier this year. Wicked Local Middleton reported that, "without the help of volunteers while the two traveled to doctors and hospitals where Peter has undergone radiation, surgery and chemotherapy since January, the store would have had to remain closed most of the time."
 
"We are so grateful for all the people who come forward," Suzan said. "We are so blessed."

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In a career plot development worthy of the creator of planet Tralfamadore himself, the New York Times reported that Delacorte Press will release 14 previously unpublished short stories by the late Kurt Vonnegut as a series of single-story e-books. The stories will be published "in advance of Look at the Birdie, a new hardcover collection of Mr. Vonnegut's short fiction that Delacorte will release on October 20."

The first story, "Hello Red," will be available August 25; the second, "The Petrified Ants," on September 29; and the rest October 20.

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Book trailer of the day: My Dog Ate My Nobel Prize: The Fabricated Memoirs of Jeff Martin by Jeff Martin.

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Giovanni's Room, Philadelphia, Pa., the oldest independent gay bookstore in the country, "must have one of its brick walls taken down and rebuilt from the ground up. Store owner Ed Hermance says the wall is structurally unsound and the job will cost $50,000," according to the Associated Press (via Philly.com), which noted that the bookshop "is looking for volunteers and organizers to help with author events and community activities to raise funds. Hermance says the store will be open during the construction and needs its customers' continued patronage to stay alive."

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In literary real estate news:

The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported that a house where Langston Hughes lived while he was attending high school "was sold at a sheriff's auction in February . . . Wells Fargo Bank foreclosed on the East 86th Street house and subsequently took title. The sale price: $16,667, according to the county auditor's website."

In England, John Keats's London home is reopening "after major restoration work backed by a £424,000 (US$ 697,357) Heritage Lottery grant, which has recreated the rooms the poet knew--some charming, some hideous," according to the Guardian.

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Poets & Writers magazine showcased Victoria Reichelt's Bookshelf Paintings, "inspired by the idea that bookshelves offer a glimpse into their owner’s personal life and interests."

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Effective August 3, Bruce Nichols will join the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Adult & Reference Group as senior v-p, publisher. He was formerly publisher of Collins and Collins Reference and earlier as v-p, executive editor, at the Free Press, where he worked for 15 years.

President Gary Gentel noted that "in a happy historical coincidence, it turns out Bruce's grandfather, Stephen W. Grant, spent his entire career at Houghton Mifflin, from 1931-1973, serving as the company's president from 1963-1973."

Consortium Book Sales & Distribution is adding the following five publishers as clients, effective with the fall 2009 season:

• Busted Flush Press, Houston, Texas, which was created by David Thompson of Murder by the Book, the Houston mystery bookstore. The press, named after Travis McGee's houseboat in John D. MacDonald's thrillers, publishes reprints, original short story anthologies and full-length original works. The press's first two anthologies, Damn Near Dead edited by Duane Swierczynski and A Hell of a Woman edited by Edgar Award-winner Megan Abbott, resulted in nominations for two Edgar, three Anthony, one Shamus and two Derringer awards. This September Busted Flush Press will release its first full-length original novel, Tower by Ken Bruen and Reed Farrel Coleman.
• Exterminating Angel Press in Oregon aims to publish books, regardless of subject, that challenge "the dominant cultural story." The press's motto is: "Creative solutions for practical idealists." Among its first titles are The Supergirls, a history of superheroines, and Correcting Jesus, an analysis of the original story of Christianity and how it has changed over the centuries. The press is named after Luis Buñuel's classic film The Exterminating Angel.
• Kube Publishing, Leicestershire, England, was established in 2007 and builds on its Islamic Foundation imprint. Kube Publishing seeks to reflect the Muslim experience through history, biography, memoir, politics, current affairs and poetry. Its first titles include The Muslim 100, a view of Islam through iconic figures in history; What Every Christian Should Know About Islam, which explores the commonalities of Judaism, Christianity and Islam; and a selection of Muslim children's books, including Muslim Nursery Rhymes, that explores growing up in a multicultural environment.
• Polhemus Press, Brooklyn, N.Y., is a boutique publisher of literary and commercial fiction, nonfiction, and cookbooks that was founded last year. The press's debut novel, The Recipe Club: A Tale of Food and Friendship, comes out in October.
• Tyrus Books, Madison, Wis., was founded by Ben LeRoy, formerly of Bleak House Books, and intends to continue Bleak House's tradition of publishing engaging, high-quality crime and dark literary fiction. The press's first three books are Silver Lake by Peter Gadol (September); Between the Dark and the Daylight edited by Ed Gorman (October); and Double Exposure by Michael Lister (September).

Tonight on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart: Sally Jenkins, author of The State of Jones (Doubleday, $27.50, 9780385525930/0385525931).

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Tonight on the Colbert Report: Zev Chafets, author of Cooperstown Confidential: Heroes, Rogues, and the Inside Story of the Baseball Hall of Fame (Bloomsbury USA, $25, 9781596915459/1596915455).

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Tonight on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson: Ben Mezrich, author of The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal (Doubleday, $25, 9780385529372/0385529376).

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Tomorrow on NPR's On Point: Helene Cooper, author of The House at Sugar Beach: In Search of a Lost African Childhood (Simon & Schuster, $15, 9780743266253/0743266250).

Book TV airs on C-Span 2 from 8 a.m. Saturday to 8 a.m. Monday and focuses on political and historical books as well as the book industry. The following are highlights for this coming weekend. For more information, go to Book TV's website.

Saturday, July 25

11 a.m. From the 2009 American Library Association Conference, a panel discussion on the "Best of the Best from the University Presses." (Re-airs Sunday at 2 a.m.)

5 p.m. For an event hosted by Politics & Prose Bookstore in Washington, D.C., Elizabeth Norman and Michael Norman discuss their book, Tears in the Darkness: The Story of the Bataan Death March and Its Aftermath (FSG, $30, 9780374272609/0374272603). (Re-airs Sunday at 1 a.m. and Monday at 6 a.m.)

6 p.m. Encore Booknotes. For a segment that first aired in 1997, Frank McCourt, author of Angela's Ashes: A Memoir (Scribner, $16, 9780684842677/068484267X), spoke about his childhood in an impoverished section of Limerick, Ireland.

8 p.m. At an event hosted by the Strand Bookstore, New York, N.Y., Greg Grandin, author of Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford's Forgotten Jungle City (Metropolitan Books, $27.50, 9780805082364/0805082360), recounts the creation of a factory town in the Amazon in 1927 to produce rubber. (Re-airs Monday at 5 a.m.)

9 p.m. Kevin Mattson discusses his book, What the Heck Are You Up To, Mr. President?: Jimmy Carter, America's 'Malaise,' and the Speech that Should Have Changed the Country (Bloomsbury USA, $25, 9781596915213/1596915218). (Re-airs Sunday at 10 a.m.)

10 p.m. After Words. Stefan Kanfer interviews Harry Stein about his book, I Can't Believe I'm Sitting Next to a Republican: A Survival Guide for Conservatives Marooned Among the Angry, Smug, and Terminally Self-Righteous (Encounter Books, $25.95, 9781594032530/159403253X). (Re-airs Sunday at 9 p.m., and Monday at 12 a.m. and 3 a.m.)
       
Sunday, July 26

8 p.m. Chris Anderson, author of Free: The Future of a Radical Price (Hyperion, $26.99, 9781401322908/1401322905), talks about what he considers the next business revolution: making more money by initially providing products for free. (Re-airs Monday at 7 a.m.)

Zachary Gordon has been cast in the title role for Diary of a Wimpy Kid, adapted from Jeff Kinney's bestselling illustrated novels. According to the Hollywood Reporter, "Chloe Moretz is in negotiations for the female lead" and Rachel Harris will play Gordon's mother.

"An open casting call for extras is being conducted in Vancouver, where the movie begins principal photography Aug. 12. Wimpy Kid is set for an April 2 release," THR added.

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James Mangold will direct Three Little Words, an adaptation of Ashley Rhodes-Courter's memoir "about her traumatic childhood in foster care," Variety reported.

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The film version of Crazy Heart, Thomas Cobb's novel about an aging country singer, has found a distributor. According to Variety, Fox Searchlight "paid a low seven-figure minimum guarantee for worldwide rights to the indie drama, set for release in the spring." The film stars Jeff Bridges, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Colin Farrell and Robert Duvall. The soundtrack includes original music by T Bone Burnett.

The Midnight Charter by David Whitley (Roaring Brook, $17.99, 9781596433816/1596433817, 336 pp., ages 11-14, September 2009)

Welcome to Agora, where the Age of Enlightenment has gone terribly wrong. Debut author David Whitley constructs a haunting walled world in which each district is named for an astrological sign. As the Plague runs rampant through the Piscean slums, two powerful astrologers fight for the top slot in the eyes of their countrymen. One is Lord Ruthven, head of the powerful Libran Society and Lord Chief Justice of Agora. The other is Count Stelli, a miserly gentleman who rarely goes out and who reads the stars from his tower high above the Gemini District ("the seat of learning"). Count Stelli's grandson, Dr. Theophilus, runs his practice out of the Count's cellar. Lily, the Count's 12-year-old servant, leaves his food at the Observatory door and lets in his mysterious visitors. But one day, the doctor does the forbidden: he harbors in the cellar a patient who has survived the Plague. Not yet 12, Mark was sold to the physician by his own father. He and Lily become fast friends. Lily teaches him to read and explains to Mark the significance of his title day, the day he turns 12, "one grand cycle of the stars." It's "the day you own yourself," Lily says. "The day you can make a choice." But the choices are few: from their title day forward, the children must make their own way, trading their services to survive. When Count Stelli discovers his grandson's transgression, he throws the doctor out of the house. Mark, who wants to avoid the harshness of the world, and Lily, who's never seen it, make a trade: Mark will serve Count Stelli, and Lily will serve the doctor.

Whitley threads together a thrilling pageturner with the two young heroes' lives intertwining in surprising and illuminating ways. Lily follows the path of a healer, while Mark's star begins to ascend. When their lives intersect on Agora Day, "the first day of . . . a new year, [t]he day of the Grand Festival," and also the day that Mark must pronounce his first astrological prediction, the consequences set off a ripple of riveting interconnected events. Whitley contrasts the heady consequences of power with the pull of one's own moral compass. At one point, Mark tells Lily, "This might look like the high life to you, but it's still a fight to survive. I've just got more to lose than I used to." The author introduces magnetic secondary characters who also influence Mark and Lily's course: Signora Sozinho, whose voice once held Agora spellbound, but whose jealous husband divorced her and took her voice; Mrs. Devine, who pays the poor to extract their emotions, which she then bottles and sells; the redheaded Mr. Laudate ("Laud"), who warns Mark of the Count's ill intentions; and the irresistibly unctuous Mr. Snutworth, manservant to the Honorable Mr. Prendergast, one of Count Stelli's late-night visitors. The title Midnight Charter speaks of an Antagonist and Protagonist who will determine the fate of Agora, but Whitley brilliantly follows Mark and Lily as two young people trying to find their own true North, losing their way at times but keeping their faith in each other and doing their best to stay the course.--Jennifer M. Brown

"I saw you walking down the street the other day and it looked like you were reading on an e-reader," more than one customer has said to me, or, catching sight of it behind the counter, "Is that one of those e-book things?" Pause. Sometimes I think I see worry in their faces. Just what is going on in this crazy world when a bookstore manager reads e-books in public? Am I deserting the world of the book?

I won a Sony Reader 505 in a contest (thanks, Unbridled Books!) about a month ago, and the experience has been half eye-opening, half boring. You can read about it here, but in this column, I want to go into depth about the most eye-opening part of the experience for me: the many great conversations I've had with customers about it, about e-books, about books in general, and ultimately, about the future of books, reading, authors and bookstores.

We're surrounded by book news constantly, so it's easy to forget that 95% of the people who walk in your store know almost nothing about e-books. They might have seen an article in Newsweek (or, just as likely, on newsweek.com) or have a gadget-head friend who bought a Kindle. If they live in New York, they've probably seen ads for the Kindle on the subway. Most of what they're hearing is from technology writers (very positive, if a bit hesitant, towards e-readers) and advertising from the companies themselves (nothing but positive). Odds are that your bookstore is one of the first places a person might have a real conversation about e-reading. Here are a few tips based on the many conversations I've been having:

Basic: What is the difference between the e-readers?

For now, there are basically two e-readers, the Amazon Kindle and the Sony Reader. The most important difference is that while the Sony Reader can read a number of formats and you can buy e-books from a number of places to read on it, you can buy books for the Kindle only on Amazon. Some people I've talked to who own Kindles did not realize this when they bought them and say they might not have purchased them had they known. To me, the Kindle is comparable to iPod if Apple required you to listen only to music that you bought in the iTunes store--and you could listen to them only on your iPod.

There are more differences than that, of course. Here are a few articles--in the Christian Science Monitor, Speed Reader and Wired--that go into more detail. There are also a few other cheaper devices that have just made their debuts or are about to, and most smartphones (iPhone, G1, Palm Pre, etc.) have the capability to display books. But I've noticed that the Kindle and the Sony Reader are the focus of most of these conversations, which usually segues into:

Intermediate: How do I buy e-books? Should I buy an e-reader?

People are usually surprised to hear that if they buy a Sony Reader, they can continue to support independent bookstores by buying e-books online. If you have an e-commerce site run by the ABA, you sell e-books. (It's a sweet deal for you, too--no need to order or ship anything, the customer downloads the book and you get a cut.) I've found the majority of people have no idea that independent bookstores and e-reading are compatible. This is not only a great opportunity to change your customers' minds about you and e-books, it's also a good time to show off your website!

However, right now, I tell customers not to buy an e-reader--simply because the technology isn't as good as it should be to justify the price, even for the newer and cheaper brands. They're going to get much better and much cheaper in the next five years. Early adapters won't care, but I think most people would rather spend the $300 and more on something else in the meantime, maybe even a couple dozen trade paperbacks.

Advanced: DRM, pricing and the future of reading

E-book owners and those who know a lot about e-books often talk about DRM, or digital rights management, which is the mechanism most publishers use to keep their e-books from being pirated. People understand that publishers want to protect their books, but the way it's implemented irritates e-book readers. (DRM could be the focus of a separate article. If you agree, e-mail me.) The Wikipedia article about DRM is probably the best source online about it.

Another conversation I've had a few times is about how much e-books costs. It might seem cheap to us and to publishers, but it feels different on the other side of the counter. Even though $9.99 (the somewhat standard price Amazon has been setting) seems little compared to physical books' prices and even though I'm aware that most of the cost of a book is the creation of it rather than the printing, most e-books are ugly, and as we learned last week, you don't even necessary own them, and $9.99 feels steep. Most people don't think about how many people you have to pay to get one finished book. Why would they? So it's an interesting conversation to have.

And, of course, the future of reading. I've talked about it with my customers way more lately than I ever had before, and I've loved that my store has been the place where we've talked about it.

I doubt you'll always have this conversation: some people will bring up e-books to tell you that they can never picture reading them and about 80% mention the smell of books as a primary factor in their decision. Resist the urge to leap the counter and hug them (so far, I have just barely done so). Most other people are just curious. They just want to know a bit more. Make your store the best place for them to do so.

--Stephanie Anderson, who may be reached at Stephanie AT wordbrooklyn DOT com.