Sales at Barnes & Noble stores open at least a year rose 9.7% in the nine weeks ended January 1 and B&N bookstores had the largest retail sales day ever on Thursday, December 23, the company announced. B&N attributed the gain in large part to the Nook line. The company will offer more holiday sales information this Thursday.
In a story about the sales boosts, the Wall Street Journal said B&N is "on track to post its first increase in comparable-store sales in more than three years, suggesting that the largest U.S. bookseller's efforts to transform itself and prove there's still a market for the traditional book industry may be working."
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Kirkus Reviews has begun reviewing interactive children's book apps. Its first group of 25 reviews includes five starred reviews. This will be an ongoing category for the publication.
The five stars went to:
Alice by Lewis Carroll, illustrated by Loud Crow Interactive, developed by Atomic Antelope (Version 2.0, October 2010)
Bartleby by Octopus Kite (Henrik and Denise Van Ryzin), illustrated by Henrik Van Ryzin, developed by Monster Costume (Version 1.0, September 2010)
Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss, developed by Oceanhouse Media (Version 1.08, September 27, 2010)
Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter, developed by Loud Crow Interactive (Version 1.2, December 5, 2010)
Teddy's Day by Bruno Hachler, illustrated by Birte Muller, developed by Auryn (Version 1.0.3, November 15, 2010)
The apps are being reviewed by Omar Gallaga, technology culture writer for the Austin American-Statesman and a regular contributor to NPR's All Tech Considered. Gallaga commented: "The quality of story apps for children runs the gamut from terrible to brilliant and we're hoping to help parents navigate the crowded jungle of the App Store to find the best apps worth buying."
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The
iPad and Kindle may be coexisting peacefully and profitably, according
to a recent survey of approximately 1,000 consumers by JP Morgan's
Internet team, which revealed that 40% of iPad owners also own a Kindle.
TechCrunch's
Erick Schonfeld observed that the number "sounds a little high to me,
although it does describe everyone I know who owns an iPad. According to
the same survey, another 23% of iPad owners plan on buying a Kindle in
the next 12 months."
He also noted that "bookworms are a niche
audience, but a lucrative one. About half of the people surveyed read
between zero and ten books a year. But 16% read more than 25 books a
year. The big takeaway here is that the iPad and the Kindle are
perceived as different types of products, and rightly so."
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The Gutenberg Girls
offered helpful advice for those puzzled readers who received a
retro-technology gift during this holiday season--"How To Operate the
New Paper Book You Received for Christmas":
- Pick up book. Place in lap.
- Open book.
- Read the words.
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(Very funny) book trailer of the day: Charles Jessold, Considered as a Murderer by Wesley Stace (Picador), which features comedian Eugene Mirman interviewing Stace.
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In honor of that great literary event--the publication today of A Shore Thing by Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi (Gallery, $24, 9781451623741)--PopEater.com compares Snooki's prose with that of Hemingway, Faulkner, Steinbeck and Joan Didion. Our favorite example concerns love.
Steinbeck: "Try to understand men. If you understand each other you will be kind to each other. Knowing a man well never leads to hate and almost always leads to love."
Polizzi: "Yum. Johnny Hulk tasted like fresh gorilla."
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Can a Book Save Your Life? Electric Literature tested a few works at the Westside Pistol & Rifle Range in New York City and discovered that Joshua Cohen's Witz may be the closest thing to a bullet-proof bestseller.
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In choosing his top 10 books about books for the Guardian,
John Sutherland "gives his analysis of the critics who find the hard
answers to simple questions, and offers some improving ideas for new
year's reading."
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In an open letter December 31, Susan E. Walker marked the end of her tenure as executive director of the Midwest Booksellers Association, which began in 1987. "While it's hard to depart from my position, from all of you in the MBA region, and from the Midwest as well, I'm not retiring and not saying goodbye completely," she wrote. "I'll still be working in the book industry, and I look forward to new opportunities to connect with many of you to sell more books!"
Her last day in the MBA office is this Friday, January 7. She'll be at the Winter Institute, then moves to North Carolina around February 1. "Once settled in N.C., I'll be pursuing various new book-related projects--and I think I'll even have time to read the many books I've been wanting to get to for ages!"
Walker may be reached at 1022 South Street, Cornelius, N.C. 28031; on Facebook, at 612-382-5868 and at susan.walker.books@gmail.com.
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Skyhorse Publishing, which in 2010 bought the assets of Arcade Publishing and bought Allworth Press, ended the year with another acquisition: the assets of Sports Publishing, which the company is re-launching this fall as a new imprint with 40 updated and revised titles. Sports Publishing had declared bankruptcy in 2008; the purchase does not include the company's liabilities. Skyhorse bought more than 700 titles, among them books by swimmer Michael Phelps, basketball broadcaster Dick Vitale and football coach Marv Levy.
Also this fall Skyhorse is launching Sky Pony Press, which will publish 15-20 children's titles in its first season. Jean Reynolds, former publisher and founder of Millbrook Press, will act as consulting editor.
Skyhorse grew 60% last year and predicts net sales of more than $11 million this year.
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Between today and January 10, Kaplan Publishing is staging its second free e-book promotion, this time allowing consumers to download more than 130 e-books, including legal, medical, nursing, general educational and test prep books. The titles can be found on FreeKaplaneBooks.com. The aim "to help the multitude of new owners with e-book reading devices."
Kaplan president and publisher Maureen McMahon noted that the earlier promotion--held for two weeks in August--led to more than 500,000 downloads of free Kaplan e-books.
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Some people in the business took pity on ailing Borders (see story above), if with tongue in cheek. Evil Wylie, aka Andrew Shaffer, an author and founder of greeting card maker Order of St. Nick, suggested that authors band together to write a charity anthology to benefit Borders. The working title: Writers Without Borders: Requiem for a Bookstore. Contributed pieces should mention a Borders bookstore.
Shaffer commented: "Although chain bookstores get a lot of bad press, Borders is an important part of many communities. Borders and Barnes & Noble are the only bookstores selling new books where I live [along the Iowa and Illinois border]. The closest independent bookstore is fifty miles away."