Comments on: Monday Midday Links: It Is All Gloom and Doom (today at least)

By: Wednesday Links Round Up: S&S Layoffs | Dear Author: Romance Novel Reviews, Industry News, and Commentary

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 14:36:20 +0000

[...] Misc Confirmation of the layoffs of three Simon & Schuster editors has been made. (We had some concerns about layoffs on Monday). News of the Star Trek editor had leaked out last week with a suggestion that there were others in [...]

By: XandraG

XandraG — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 19:09:19 +0000

Of course, Disney could always try attracting those male fans by not making just about every live-action movie be a 110-minute long “man-gets-nailed-in-crotch-by-smartass-kid” event. You tend to lose your audience when they’re occupied with sympathetic flinching.

By: Ann Bruce

Ann Bruce — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 13:30:20 +0000

@NKKingston: Disney wants to bring in the male fan base, which is a very lucrative market (e.g. have you seen the box office take for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen?). Frankly, Disney sucks in that area. I fall in line somewhat with this market more than any other and if Disney didn't have Pixar and the occasional Bruckheimer flick, I wouldn't be watching anything from them. Anyway, they already own the family and tween girl markets. For Disney, this is an excellent business move. Personally, I'm less than thrilled with the buyout because Disney might go the way of FOX and force all Marvel movies to be under 110 minutes (gotta increase the number of showings and give people less time to realize the movie sucks! *cough*Wolverine*cough*) and to fall under the PG rating...and Disney doesn't sell their movies through Columbia House.

By: NKKingston

NKKingston — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 10:09:29 +0000

Honestly? I’m not all doom and gloom about Disney/Marvel, though the extent of Disney’s power is a little worrying. But Marvel comics that, maybe, possibly, don’t consist entirely of gore, angst and heavily sexualised women? Or am I the only one who misses family friendly sequential art?

re: 23 books. That’s just over four books a year. I do know people who buy less than that, but not many. However, a bit of mental maths, and I suspect that I probably only buy that many new books a year. Secondhand I hoard like crazy, because I’m a sucker for out-of-print books. So I guess I’m actually on the enviromentally friendly side of the equation, even though I try and get through at least one book a week, and most of what I want isn’t even available for eReaders.

re: Amazon/Wal-mart. Considering Amazon’s share of the web these days, I’m actually kinda glad amazon.co.uk doesn’t offer everything .com appears to. It’s weird enough when it’s supermarkets branching out into clothes and DVDs and so on, but the idea of buying nappies from a bookseller baffles me.

By: Amy

Amy — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 05:34:55 +0000

Where was the superhero to prevent that deal? Goodbye Marvel, t’was nice knowing you.

By: Kristina Cook

Kristina Cook — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 04:36:11 +0000

@Doug Knipe [SciFiGuy]:

We kinda already do–there’s a Marvel-themed ‘land’ at Universal Studios Orlando/Islands of Adventure theme park (there are rides based on Spiderman, Hulk, Fantastic 4, etc.). I wonder how that will work now that Disney owns them??

By: Edie

Edie — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 02:22:23 +0000

The marvel news brings me close to tears.
buh humbug

By: Mark Coker

Mark Coker — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 01:17:52 +0000

Hi Jane, thanks for the mention of our relationship with B&N. To support B&N, as well as other retail partners, we're creating the Premium Catalog you mention, which represents a subset of books that match the mechanical requirements of retailers. More info here, where we list our filtering criteria. I'm sure our criteria will evolve over time.

By: Doug Knipe [SciFiGuy]

Doug Knipe [SciFiGuy] — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 01:06:59 +0000

I guess it won’t be long until we have a Marvel Theme Park. Thanks for the link.

By: SandyW

SandyW — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 21:28:51 +0000

Disney bought Marvel Comics for $4 billion.

Sigh. No good can come of this.

By: RStewie

RStewie — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 21:16:21 +0000

Disney/Marvel: full of FAIL and SUCK. I’m SO not happy about that. I hate how Disney craps all over things when they get involved. I hope Marvel can continue somewhat (or completely!!!1!) autonomously.

Also:

Apple's new music container

I don’t know if that’s an “official” term for it, or something, but I’m LOLing.

And WalMart is welcome to try to make my life easier by selling and shipping my essentials to me for cheaper. Especially since the closest is a 20 min drive into the ghetto for me.

By: jmc

jmc — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 19:24:29 +0000

I appreciate the Clean Tech link. But I also have to laugh because the idea of buying 23 books or fewer over a five year period is…inconceivable. I probably buy that many paper and ebooks over the course of 3 or 4 months.

By: joanne

joanne — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 19:06:15 +0000

Lori Drew's conviction for cyberbullying was nullified by judicial dismissal of the suit.

Not a very satisfying conclusion but probably the only viable one. There is no law in this land that can stop some people from being inhumane. Just a sad, sad story.

By: Moriah Jovan

Moriah Jovan — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 18:35:19 +0000

that digital books will be available at some point through Wal-Mart.

Screened for objectionable content, I’m sure.

By: FD

FD — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 18:32:17 +0000

Hey, speaking of Murdochs, did you see that James Murdoch is of the opinion that the BBC is a 'threat to the plurality and independence of news provision' ? I laughed until I cried. Link to Independent article