Amos Kennedy, Jr. – Now Available in pocket size

Posted by trav in On the Web      1 comment

Mar
30

I was looking online to purchase a copy of the Proceed and be Bold! featuring Amos Kennedy, Jr. by Brown Finch Films, when I saw these and had to share…

They are offering hand-painted-made-as-they-are-ordered Amos Kennedy toys…

Now that would look GREAT on my shelf next to bobble-head Vulcan!

The 5% Sweet Spot

Posted by trav in Book Talk, Events, New Releases, Publishers, Upcoming Titles      No comments

Mar
23

Chris Anderson says his new book Free! Why $0.00 Is the Future of Business will be unleashed – free- upon the world on July 6th. As popular as his first book The Long Tail was, I’m sure I’m not the only anxious to read his latest thoughts.

In the interview he had with Guy Kawaski, Anderson does say that he expects the free version of his book to spur print sales. Something many in the industry are watching, I know. How does a publisher make money at giving their products away for free? While I’m sure the book will contain nothing as useful or solid as the formula filled The Art and Science of Book Publishing, Anderson says

“If you can convert 5 percent of users to paid, you can cover your costs. Anything above that, and it becomes extremely popular.”

I haven’t started crunching the numbers yet, but that seems to assume a very slim overhead. But it gives us a starting point. Something for the industry to aim for or pass. We’ll see. Five percent it is.

One of these days I am going to have to make it to SXSW…. but until then, thank the internet gods for blogs and twitter.

Jonathan Benton Going Out of Business

Posted by trav in Birmingham, Bookstores, News      1 comment

Mar
18

I just read over on Gasp! that Mountain Brook bookseller Jonathan Benton’s is going out of business. March 31st will be the last day the doors are open. The owners and operators blamed all the online book sites and such. The Jonathan Benton site has been down for months, but this is such a shame. It’ll be sad to see that empty space in the Mountain Brook Village shopping Center.

The number of non-mega-chain stores is dwindling here in Birmingham…

Virtual Tours of Birmingham Libraries

Posted by trav in Birmingham, library, On the Web      3 comments

Mar
9

I just noticed this button at the bottom of the Birmingham Public Library site, which links to a webpage full of mini-video tours of the central downtown branch and five of the Birmingham branches.It’s powered by Alabama360.com, so you have the ability to zoom, pause, pan and tilt.

Some of the older tours are powered by MapWing which pinpoints still images rather than allowing you to pan through a panoramic shot.

The Linn Henley Research Library tours don’t do the murals justice. It’s just one of those things best seen in person.

A Bookseller’s Blog

Posted by trav in Bookstores, On the Web, Publishers      1 comment

Mar
9

There is a great post over at Rich Rennicks’ blog The Word Hoarder, where he posits ideas and questions about how publishers and bookstores operate. I’ve read through it twice and have yet to comment. There’s just so much there. I’ll keep checing on it and hope to comment soon.

But I wanted to post the link because this is a discussion that many in the publishing industry should be having.

Buy a book just for the cover?

Posted by trav in Book Covers, Book Design, Book Talk, On the Web      1 comment

Mar
5

The folks over at the Abebooks blog have published their picks for 30 Books Worth Buying For the Cover Alone. Only seven of the 30 use photographs. So illustration seems to be the way to go if you want to get noticed in the cover design crowd (of course, these are all fiction titles).

I REALLY like these two:

But have to wonder about this choice:

The image just seems to literal and obvious to be chosen as worth “buying for the cover alone”.

Bibliomaniac’s on Film

Posted by trav in Book Collecting, Book Talk, On the Web      No comments

Mar
3

Book Patrol shared this video, from CBS, where a few bilbliomaniac’s, in France, were followed around and asked about their obsessions. At times it makes me want to throw everything to the wind and become a book scout. I wonder how I would fair with just Birmingham and Atlanta to farm?

Font Forest

Posted by trav in library, Type      No comments

Mar
3

Now, this is something I’d like to see in person… and add a few to my own house. I can’t imagine a better library addition, other than more books, that is.

Book Collecting Contest

Posted by trav in Events, library      No comments

Mar
2

The 3rd Annual Student Book Collecting Contest, over in Tuscaloosa, is under way. Both graduate students and undergraduate students have until March 27th to catalog and submit their entries. There is an essay to write and it turns out that 80% of the book collection, er, must be books… hmmm. Seems they are allowing some cd’s and dvd’s to be included… anyway… there are cash prizes with the 1st Place winner getting $500 and a chance to compete in Fine Books & Collections annual competition.

Awards are April 16th at Gorgas Library and might just be worth the drive from Birmingham, if the collectors show enough creativity and fun with their book collections.

Amazon listening?

Posted by trav in Digital Publishing, E-Books, Technology      No comments

Mar
2

Last year Amazon spent a lot of time throwing its weight around, trying to squash and curtail the activities of smaller publishers and booksellers on its site. But just last week, they have shown that they are capable of listening and working with consumers… when they see a threat to there own product line anyway.

The new Kindle has a text-to-speech feature which allows a reader to become listener as an automaton voice recites the text, which didn’t seem like a big deal to me. But agents and lawyers saw it differently, claiming it infringes on their ability to sell rights to the book for the audio-book format. At first, Amazon said ‘no’. But evidently they have had a chnage of heart and will give publishers the chance to opt-in/out to this feature. Which is really how things should be done, across the board these days. It’s 2009 and there is no reason why a content owner shouldn’t be given a choice of how their content will be made available.

I’m not much of a fan of the K2. It seems to be the device they should have put out there as the first one. And maybe they agree? The rumor mill is already cranking out “Kindle 3 by the end of the year” stories and some look to have merit. Which if they are truw, will put the Kindle in a place to remain competitive.