Bookstores counter Cyber Monday with 'Cider Monday'
Shelf Awareness reports on the growing "Cider Monday" movement by indie booksellers in response to the big online shopping day known as Cyber Monday. In this low key but fun event, stores offer their...
View ArticleBarnes & Noble scales back ambitions as sales decline below expectations--again
Barnes & Noble Inc., which posted a wider loss last quarter and sent its shares tumbling, is scaling back ambitions to become more than a bookseller. The retailer had hoped that toys, games and...
View ArticleWilliam H. Gass, Acclaimed Postmodern Author, Dies at 93
William H. Gass, a proudly postmodern author who valued form and language more than literary conventions like plot and character and who had a broad influence on other experimental writers of the...
View ArticleJournalist Simeon Booker dies aged 99
The great Simeon Booker, one of the bravest journalists of our time, faced dangers far worse than a petulant president's social media feed. Booker refused to be cowed--and ultimately helped change the...
View ArticleNovelist and short story writer John Boyne claims "women are better novelists...
In an opinion piece in the Irish Times, John Boyne writes: So I'm going to make a claim now that will probably get me kicked out of the Fraternity of Underappreciated Male Authors (FUMA) and...
View ArticleMerriam-Webster names "feminism" its word of the year.
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Year for 2017 is feminism. The word was a top lookup throughout the year, with several spikes that corresponded to various news reports and events.
View ArticleGolden Globe nominees based on books.
Signature (a Random House website) looks at the many 2018 Golden Globes nominees based on books: It is officially that time of the year awards season is upon us. As usual, the Hollywood Foreign Press...
View ArticleBook World, the fourth-largest bookstore chain in the USA, to close.
Book World, the fourth-largest bookstore chain in the USA is closing. Founded in 1976, Book World sold hardcovers, paperbacks and sometimes tobacco in malls, downtowns and vacation areas across the...
View ArticleThe pretensions of book thieves...
Electric Lit asks indie bookstores which books are most frequently stolen and why - and finds a link between pretentiousness and book theft. For example, this comment from Lexi Beach, owner of the...
View ArticleSue Grafton dies aged 77.
Sue Grafton, author of the alphabetically titled detective series that began in 1982 with "A Is for Alibi," died of cancer on Thursday night in Santa Barbara, Calif. She was 77. With the publication of...
View ArticleChristmas week sales jump 7% over 2016
While holiday unit sales of print books got off to a slow start Thanksgiving weekend, they ended on a strong note. Print unit sales increased 7% in the week ended Dec. 24, 2017, over the comparable...
View ArticleEleanor Oliphant and Reservoir 13 among category winners of Costa Book Awards
The category award winners for the UK's Costa awards have been presented. The overall winner will be named January 30. First novel: Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, by Gail Honeyman Novel:...
View ArticleFred Bass, Who Made the Strand Bookstore a Mecca, Dies at 89
Fred Bass, who transformed his father's small used-book store, the Strand, into a mammoth Manhattan emporium with the slogan "18 Miles of Books," died on Wednesday at his home in Manhattan. He was 89.
View ArticleJacqueline Woodson named National Ambassador for Young People?s Literature
On Thursday, Jacqueline Woodson was named as the new National Ambassador for Young People's Literature, a position that was created in 2008 by the Library of Congress, the Children's Book Council and...
View ArticlePre-Orders for Michael Wolff's 'Fire and Fury: Inside the White House' skyrocket
The new year has already proven unpleasant for President Trump, who has been shaken by a forthcoming tell-all about his White House. Michael Wolff's "Fire and Fury: Inside the White House", which is...
View ArticleBefore Sue Grafton was a star...
The New York Times offers inspiration to many authors, with a short article pointing out that crime novelist Sue Grafton (who died in late December) did not break into the bestseller lists until her...
View ArticleFire & Fury sells out as publisher Holt re-orders as fast as possible. Two...
Intense demand for Fire & Fury has caught its publisher, Henry Holt, off guard as the Macmillan imprint scrambles to get copies into the marketplace. Gauging a book's traction in the marketplace...
View ArticleVending machines that dispense short stories rather than snacks
While many have lamented the lost art of reading in our social media-driven world, few have actually tried to do anything about it. Short Édition is the exception. In 2011, the Grenoble, France-based...
View ArticleAuthor of "Hillbilly Elegy" considering running for Senate.
J.D. Vance, who gained national recognition for his 2016 book, "Hillbilly Elegy," is seriously considering running in Ohio's key senate race, an adviser to Vance told CNN on Wednesday. This comes after...
View ArticleMargaret Atwood faces feminist backlash on social media over #MeToo
Canadian author Margaret Atwood is facing a social media backlash after voicing concerns about the #MeToo movement and calling for due process in the case of a former university professor accused of...
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