Sony released their new e-reader yesterday. They say the new non-backlit technology “rivals the printed page”. At $350 a pop, it better surpass it.
Do blog-books bomb?
Gawker has compiled a pretty exaustive list of blogger book deals. It’s pretty interesting. Even with “less than stellar sales”, it’s amazing how many publishers keep coming back to the trough. They must just have money to burn.
I’m a huge fan of blogs and books. But I tend to think that blogs fill a niche need for readers and that these readers are satisfied with that, so they don’t buy the book. Plus, I think publishers let their eyes glaze over when their marketing people tell them how many hits a blog gets and they think that number translates directly into potential sales. So they do a sub-par job with the book “to get it out while it’s still relevant” and put a less than stellar book on the market.
Just my two cents.
Oh yeah, happy Banned Book Week! And here’s Google’s Banned Book initiative.
Reading about reading
NY Times‘ William Grimes posts an article about reading and crafting stories.
Don’t forget…
This weekend’s Book TV schedule is up.
I see that Sunday at Noon (EST) Chomsky (who is not dead) will be on talking about his 2003 Hegemony or Survival book that rocketed from obscurity to No.3 on Amazon after being mentioned at a United Nations meeting. Now you can see what all the hub-bub is about.