Friday News: 52 Books in 52 Weeks; Amazon’s numbers are in; USA Today’s year in review; Iron Maiden’s anti-piracy strategy; and Alice Walker’s awesome best-of list
Publishing NewsAlice Walker / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / piracy. Best of list4 Comments
2014 Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks – It’s time for the 52 books in 52 weeks challenge. I’ll be lucky to read a book a month at the rate I’m going, but this is certainly a reasonable expectation for book lovers. This year there are several mini challenges, including one called “Read Around the World” and one dedicated to Nobel Prize winners:
“Read Around the World: You can read books set in and/or written by an author of a different country each week. You can hang out in one country, exploring their history and culture or strike out across the world, mixing and mingling. It’s entirely up to you how fast and how far and how many books you want to read. Have fun exploring! “ Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks
AMAZON: Here’s The Finally Tally For All The Insane Shopping Everyone Did This Holiday Season – Despite the typographical errors in this article (starting with the title, which is, I think, supposed to read “final tally,” there’s a lot of worthwhile information here, including the fact that more than a million people joined the Amazon Prime program before Christmas, many of which may be trial members (that two week free shipping thing, or whatever), but still an impressive number. I got lured into the Prime program through a trial offer, too, and I’ve never regretted it. Also, the Kindle Owner’s Lending Library almost doubled in 2013, from 250,000 books to in excess of 475,000 books. And more than half of customers shopping from a mobile device. Business Insider
Close the chapter for 2013: Year in review in books – I’m not sure Barnes & Noble should be the measure of success for anything right now, and this piece is interesting in the context of the Amazon numbers this year, but for those of us who think there should be a healthy market for both print and digital, it’s nice to see that both seem viable at the moment. Also, how many people really believe Rowling didn’t want the Galbraith secret spilled?
“After several years of explosive growth, e-book sales are flattening out, dampening speculation that print books are dying. At Barnes & Noble, physical bookstores did better than the chain’s e-reader, Nook. Publishers Weekly saluted the “resurgence of independent bookstores” by giving its Person of the Year award to American Booksellers Association CEO Oren Teicher and his board.” USA Today
Iron Maiden makes millions of dollars by playing live for pirates – Iron Maiden, who is subject to piracy like any other mega-successful rock band, has a brilliant strategy for dealing with said piracy: instead of cracking down on offenders, the band plays concerts in countries known for piracy and sells tons of tickets and merchandise to fans there, thus making money and winning fan loyalty at the same time. Imagine that. The Verge
Alice Walker’s Conspiracy-Filled Best of 2013 List Is the Best List of 2013 – Normally I would simply link to the list in question, but I enjoyed reading both Walker’s original and Philip Bump’s summary. Both are engaging in their own way, and there’s much in Walker’s piece to contemplate and discuss. I especially appreciate the attention paid to reptilianism, because it provides an interesting context to some of the trends in publishing we’ve seen this year:
“As far as celebrity year-end lists go, this is almost certainly the most unique offering. And when it comes to explications of reptilianism, its hard to imagine they come in much more eloquent form. Though, you know, its still an advocacy of reptilians.”The Wire
That Alice Walker list. Um. Interesting.
I believe Ms. Rowling wanted to keep the secret, and a lot of other writers I know believe it too. She didn’t need more money — she’s already one of the richest women on the planet. She doesn’t need more fame or attention — if she’s feeling a desperate need to be fawned over and adulated, all she has to do is make a public appearance. If she wanted to let her fame sell a bazillion copies of the book, she’d have just published it under her own name. When the secret was revealed by that idiot, she was snarked and dumped on by hordes of people — wow, yeah, obviously that’s exactly what she planned.
Except not. Because what she really wanted was the freedom to write and publish what she wanted, outside of the glare of public scrutiny and ridiculously high expectations. I hope she tries it again, with more safeguards in place, and if she does, I wish her well in keeping the secret for a good, long time.
Angie
Thank you for highlighting 52 Books in 52 Weeks. Made my day! So glad you decided to join in and look forward to hearing about your reads.
I’ve had Amazon Prime for several years and have gotten my moneys worth out of it. Between Amazon and Barnes and Noble, I keep UPS pretty busy as well.
Cheers!