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Posts with tag: books | Return to the IWJ Homepage

What Does Your Bookshelf Say About You?

Manga BookshelfPeople's bookshelves can offer fascinating insight about the owner. There are over 50,000 photographs of bookshelves on Flickr - see here. The BBC has an interesting article about what your bookshelf says about you. You can tell a lot about what a person likes if their bookshelf is focused on a particular theme or subject or if they have a particular book on the shelf. The photograph on the right shows a manga collection organized on a bookshelf by Flickr user jmurawski.

The article says Ikea's Billy bookshelf is immensly popular. 41 million of them have been sold since 1979.
Billy is a behemoth of the bookcase world. Designed by only the fourth employee for Ikea, 41 million have been sold since 1979. The factory where the bookcases are made knocks out 15 Billys a minute; 3.1 million a year.

Many households in the UK have one of these no-frills, building-block style bookcases nestled in a corner somewhere, which means there are a lot of books sitting on its simple shelves.
Book displays can also be manipulated to "present a certain front" says book blogger Peter Sandico.
"Books were immensely prestigious," says Ms Geddes-Brown. "Not only did they show how very learned you were - you could read - but they were also very expensive. At one throw, you proved your intellectual and monetary value."

Peter Sandico is a firm believer in books as an extension of the self. A book blogger, who is collecting photos of readers' shelves in his "bookcase project", he says the magic of book display is the ease with which they can be manipulated to present a certain front.

"The books we choose to display in our bookcases say a lot as to how we want others to see us," says Mr Sandico. "People who want to appear to have serious or academic reading tastes display their classics, while keeping popular novels at the back of the bookcases."
Some of the big nonfiction books that sell each year about past presidents could be one of those books people put on the shelf just for show. The article also mentions bookshelves that have a minimalist theme. That seems somewhat pointless. If you have a bookshelf it should be filled with wonderful books.

Photo by jmurawski

Posted on October 24, 2009
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Claudio Magris Win Frankfurt Booksellers Peace Prize

Claudio MagrisItalian author Claudio Magris has won the annual Frankfurt Booksellers Peace Prize worth $35,000.

The jury praised Magris for his book which involved the "cohabitation and cooperation between different cultures."

Claudio Magris is professor of German literature at the University of Trieste and a columnist for Corriere della Sera, an Italian newspaper.

Posted on June 19, 2009
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Lost in The Chamblin Bookmine

Jeff Vandermeer has blogged about the large size of the Chamblin Bookmine, a used bookstore in Jacksonville, Florida. He created a video and posted photos of the enormous bookstore.
Ann and I have traveled the world and visited many a great bookstore, but none, not even the Strand, can compare to Chamblin's, in Jacksonville, Florida. "Bookmine" is an apt title because it's the only bookstore I've ever gotten lost in-it's that big. You could literally fit anywhere from four to eight other used bookstores inside of it. (David Moles, can I get a "Hallelujah!"?)
Jeff Vandermeer also provided some great narration for his video tour of the bookstore. Take a look:



(via Boing Boing)

Posted on May 31, 2009
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Dwindling Book Sales Create Gloomy Atmosphere For Book Expo

The New York Times has an article that discusses diminishing book sale figures and less enthusiasm about the upcoming Book Expo.
Publishers sold 3.08 billion copies in 2008, down 1.5 percent from the 3.13 billion copies sold the previous year, according to Book Industry Trends 2009, an annual report that analyzes sales in the United States. Higher retail prices helped to lift net revenue just 1 percent, to $40.3 billion from $39.9 billion.

The numbers confirm a litany of dreary news that has emerged from the publishing industry since last fall, when booksellers began seeing significant declines in store traffic. The trend has not abated this year, as publishers have continued to report double-digit sales declines. Borders Group announced Tuesday that first-quarter sales dropped 12 percent.

Against this backdrop, publishers, authors, booksellers and librarians are gathering in New York for BookExpo America, the industry's annual convention, which runs through Sunday.
The 12% Q1 sales drop at Borders is depressing but it really isn't that different than what other industries are experiencing during the recession. In fact, some industries reported far worse Q1 sales figures. This should mean that book sales should return once the economy rebounds.

Posted on May 29, 2009
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Christian Book Expo Canceled For 2010

Publisher's Weekly reports that the first Christian Book Expo in Dallas was not a success due to poor attendance. The event won't be held next year.
The show won't go on in Dallas. The Christian Book Expo, an innovative consumer-focused book show, won’t be repeated next year. The board of Evangelical Christian Publishers Association, show sponsor, decided not to stage another event in 2010. Attendance at this year's show, held March 20-22 at the Dallas Convention Center, was 1,500; organizers had hoped for 10,000 to 15,000. The show left the organization with a $250,000 shortfall, according to ECPA president and CEO Mark Kuyper. "We want to clean up the debt before we consider future options," Kuyper told PW in an e-mail.
There is a great market for such an Expo, but the timing couldn't have been worse for the Expo's debut year. With the recession and massive cutbacks in consumer spending, this just wasn't the best time for a new book convention.

Posted on April 29, 2009
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HarperCollins Releasing Tolkien's Works in Ebook Format

HarperCollins has secured the electronic rights to the entire Tolkine library. A new global initiative by the publisher will make available the ebook editions of of all of Tolkien's works.

The first three titles, The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings (available in its three parts - The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King, and as a complete version) and The Children of Hurin were released yesterday. The Legend of Sigurdand Gudrun (simultaneous publication with the hardback), The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales will be released on May 5th. More titles will be available later this year.

Amanda Ridout, Managing Director, says: "HarperCollins is immensely privileged to be the publisher of JRR Tolkien - one of the most admired and loved authors of the 20th Century. This marks a new and exciting chapter when we can bring his great works in a new format to additional readers of all ages around the world."

The ebooks are compatible with all major ebook readers, including the Kindle and the Sony Ebook reader.

Posted on April 21, 2009
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Book Sales Fell 10.8% in February

Publishers Weekly reports that book sales plunged in February by 10.8%. Even so books performed better than the total retail sector which fell 11.5%.
Bookstore sales, which were bolstered somewhat in January by back-to-school buying at college stores, declined 10.8% in February, to $1.02 billion. Sales for the full retail sector fell 11.5% in the month. For the first two months of 2009, bookstore sales were down 3.2%, to $3.32 billion. Sales for all of retail tumbled 9.9%.
The bookstores are certainly feeling the impact of sales falling 10%. There have been plans to close hundreds of its Waldenbooks stores.

Posted on April 14, 2009
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Typeface Made From Stacked Books

Books as Type


Amandine Alessandra has made a great typface called "Books as Type" that is made out of stacked books. (via Boing Boing)

Posted on March 9, 2009
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Circular Bookshelf by Zhdanova Irina

Circular Bookshelf


Here's another unique way to store your books. It's a circular bookshelf designed by Zhdanova Irina. You can read more about Zhdanova's unusual bookshelf here and here. (via Neatorama)

Posted on February 23, 2009
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Top Book Trends for 2009

Publisher's Weekly publishes its 15 top trends for the upcoming year.
1. The popularity of e-books will increase, with titles formatted for Amazon's Kindle leading the way. Content for the Sony Reader will sell faster than ever, but by this time next year, Kindle-compatible books will be outselling them by more than 2 to 1. And Palm, which has historically been the bestselling format, will have had its best year-on-year increase as well. Powells.com, which offers the largest selection of titles in formats that are not in closed distribution (a total of 150,000 in Adobe, Microsoft and Palm so far) will also have a record year for e-book sales. By year end, nearly every straight-text title published with commercial intent will be available for Kindle; the trick for the other formats will be to make sure they're included, too. And Kindle pricing will drive the market. But despite the fast growth, e-books will still make up a tiny share of the market—no more than 2% of sales for most titles—and will contribute only a minimal amount to publishers' bottom lines.

2. Sales of books in electronic form to public libraries will continue to grow: Ingram's MyiLibrary, Follett, NetLibrary and Overdrive are already deep into this business. This opportunity will present a challenge as publishers discover that some older contracts don’t give them the right to make that kind of sale.
There is no question that the ebook is finally coming into its own: we love the Kindle. See the full list of predictions here.

Posted on December 29, 2008
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Job Koelewijn's Infinity Bookshelf

Lemniscate Bookshelf


Dutch artist Job Koelewijn made this impressive lemniscate bookshelf. It's not exactly the best use of space but it is fun to look at. You can see a gas station Koelewijn made out of books here on Book Patrol. (via Neatorama)

Posted on December 6, 2008
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Penguin Institutes Salary Freeze

Penguin has frozen salaries of everyone making over $50,000 a year. CEO John Makinson sent out a memo letting everyone know wabout the new policy.
"This is the most challenging economic environment that any of us has ever experienced," Makinson said, and he acknowledged the grim situations occurring at many of Penguin's competitors, including layoffs, and freezes on hiring, pensions and new book acquisitions. He was hopeful that holding off on pay increases for the next year would help Penguin avoid those drastic measures. However, Makinson said, "I cannot of course guarantee that there will be no job losses in Penguin in 2009. In this financial climate that would be plain foolhardy." Makinson did not propose a recruitment freeze but said Penguin will not be hiring "unless it is absolutely essential." The restriction on pay raises will apply to every Pearson operating company.

There were some positive remarks as well. "We are a strong and successful company, and right now we're the envy of the industry," he said. "I continue to believe that we'll have every reason to take pride in our achievements when we announce our 2008 results next March." Makinson advised employees to "expect, and plan for, the unexpected in 2009 and possibly beyond."
The recession is hitting the book publishing industry and the memo didn't contain any surprising news. Wage freezes are better than layoffs. Although there's no guarantee that those aren't coming too.

Posted on December 4, 2008
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Borders Sale is Off

Borders is no longer for sale. The book chain had actively been seeking a buyer, but has scrapped those plans for now.
Company CEO George Jones said that after completing a thorough review of its options, the company determined it was best "to remain as we are," adding that he was "quite pleased" that the review is over and that Borders will remain an independent, publicly-traded company. The company still has the option to sell its Paperchase division to Pershing Square Capital, Borders's largest shareholder, for $65 million. That option expires Jan. 15. The company said it is talking to Pershing about different financing arrangements.

Similar to its competitors, Borders blamed a lack of customer traffic for the decline in sales, noting that the drop was most significant in September and October. Jones said the higher decline in comp stores compared to its competitors was due in part to its aggressive inventory reduction program which he acknowledged cost some sales. Jones said the decision to prune slow moving titles from Borders's store shelves was the right one, although he acknowledged the program "was not perfect." The company is starting to "fine tune" its inventory program and may return some books to stores, Jones said. According to Jones Borders is "well stocked" for the holidays. "It's a tough retail environment, but we feel we'll get our share of sales," Jones said.
All the bookstores are feeling the pinch of the recession as consumers cut back on discretionary spending. As for the holidays, we think that books are a great gift which is quite affordable. Of course you need to know the taste of the recipient, but there's always an Amazon.com, Borders or Barnes and Noble gift card.

Posted on November 26, 2008
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Book Sculptures: Paintings on Books

Book Art Sculptures


The white cat painting that takes up space on several books is one many book sculptures created by Mike Stilkey. You can see more of his book sculptures here. (via Make)

Posted on November 21, 2008
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Vatican Welcomes the Digital Age

Reuters reports that the Vatican has called for the Bible to be distributed in all digital formats including DVDS and iPods. There are already versions of the Bible in digital formats but these digital versions now have the Vatican's official approval.
An assembly of Catholic bishops on Monday called for the use of mass communications -- including television, cinema, DVDs and even iPods -- to be used to spread the Bible in as many languages as possible.

The nod toward technology is not unusual: The Vatican had one of Europe's first Web sites, for example, and has always been quick to adopt new technologies. The bishops' conference said that the stakes are higher than ever, arguing that the written word was insufficient for the modern world.

"The voice of the Divine Word must resonate over the radio, on Internet channels with virtual distribution (and by) CDs, DVDs and iPods, and on television and cinema screens," an official statement said.
(via Crave)

Posted on October 30, 2008
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