It’s a sad fact of life, but publishing is a business. Not only that, it’s a cutthroat business. So is bookselling.
With profit margins shrinking and the sudden surge in e-book sales, the entire industry is in an uproar, and nowhere more so than in good, old brick-and-mortar bookshops. Frankly, aside from a recent visit to the Mecca of Books (a thoroughly unsatisfactory visit, too, I might add), I can’t remember the last time I was in an actual bookstore.
Well, it just became a shooting war.
Stephanie Burgis, author of the beloved Kat books for young readers, recently posted about major developments between Simon & Schuster and Barnes & Noble (lots of ampersands there…sorry). She refers us to articles posted in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal (both of which are worth a read), but here’s the bottom line:
Barnes & Noble has reduced [Simon & Schuster] book orders greatly, to almost nothing in the case of some lesser-known writers.
This, in my opinion, is the death-knell for B&N. If they don’t back off of this stance, I give them five years, at most.
It’s been a long, tough week. I’ve been on-call at work, and the emphasis has been on “call.” But my stint ends this afternoon, and I’ll have the weekend to rest, relax, maybe spend some time in the garden.
Fritz Lang’s 1931 film “
It’s pissing down rain in Seattle. The lecherous wind tugs and young women’s skirts as they tick-tock their high-heeled way to work, and the few who bothered with umbrellas wish they’d left them at home. The sky is locked down in gunmetal grey and the sun is a dim memory, consumed by the overhead drear. It’s already been a long work-week for me, having put in three days’ worth before the end of Day Two, and I haven’t slept well for worrying about my family, still roiling from our matriarch’s recent death.
Kurt R.A. Giambastiani 