News & Notes is a weekly Saturday post featuring book- and publishing-related news, links to interesting articles and opinion pieces, giveaways on this and other blogs, and other cool stuff.
Books & Ebooks in the News:
- Today is Small Business Saturday, and author Sherman Alexie is asking book nerds to help indie bookstores by spending the day recommending books.
- “Unpublished Salinger Stories Leaked via PDF” (Mercy Pilkington, Good E Reader)
- Almost 2/3 of young adult readers prefer printed books over ebooks — at least in the UK, according to a survey by Voxburner. (Liz Bury, The Guardian)
- Books-a-Million’s sales are down, losses up for the third quarter, while Barnes & Noble’s earnings are up despite a drop in sales. Nook division sales were down a whopping 32.2% for the quarter, due mostly to a decline in “digital content” – in other words, ebooks and e-magazines. B&N has some thinking to do about Nook’s future. (Publisher’s Weekly)
- Speaking of which, B&N is expanding their Nook App for Windows 8 into 32 countries.
- Amazon’s Audible has purchased 5,000 titles from bankrupt UK firm AudioGO. (Good E Reader; also The Digital Reader)
- “Amazon cracks down on bogus keywords” for self-published titles. (Mercy Pilkington, Good E Reader)
- Interest in archery is up, especially among young women, as a result of the popularity of the Hunger Games books and movies. Surprise, surprise. (Dianna Dilworth, GalleyCat)
- Amazon’s Paperwhite 3 may debut as early as the second quarter of 2014, and will feature a higher-resolution screen similar to the Kobo Aura HD as well as better fonts, according to TechCrunch.
Worth Reading:
- Laurie Penney’s interview with Neil Gaiman (New Republic)
- A Textual Analysis of The Hunger Games, along with Harry Potter & Twilight. (Ben Blatt, Slate.com)
For Writers & Bloggers:
- Be Friends with Failure (Doodle Alley). As relevant to writers — or anybody, really — as it is to artists.
- What Are Your Blogging Goals? And how to accomplish them. (Silly Grrl Design + Circus)
- 7 SEO Tricks for Blogger Users. Search engine optimization trips for Blogger. Some are also applicable to other blogging programs. (Silly Grrl Design + Circus)
Book & Movie Announcements:
- Cary Elwes is writing a memoir about filming The Princess Bride. (Maryann Yin, GalleyCat)
- 20th Century Fox and Little Free Library have teamed to promote The Book Thief movie and book. (Publishers Weekly)
- Fox Searchlight is planning a biopic on J.R.R. Tolkien’s early life. David Gleeson is currently at work on the script. (Stephen Zeitchik, Los Angeles Times)
Awesome lists:
- Top Mighty Girl Winter Holiday Stories – A list of winter-, Christmas-, Hanukkah-, and Kwanzaa-themed books from Mighty Girl
- 10 Literary Charities for the Holidays (BookRiot)
- 20 Thoughtful Gifts For the Bookworm In Your Life (Buzzfeed)
- Kirkus Reviews Best Fiction Books of 2013 – 13 pages of reccommendations in all genres of fiction, so you’re sure to find something that suits you. (They missed a few I think they should have included, though, including Bee Ridgeway’s The River of No Return.)
- The Washington Post’s 10 Best Books of 2013
- Library Journal’s Best Romances of 2013
- 10 of the best: Secondhand bookshops – In Britain, of course, since this is from The Guardian.
- The Greatest Monsters in Children’s Literature (Flavorwire)
Just for fun:
- DIY Book shoes from Philly Shoe Fairy
Bookish Quotes:
That’s it for this week!
I’m always on the lookout for interesting articles, lists, and links for News & Notes, so please let me know if you see (or write!) anything that might be good for this feature. You can leave me a comment or send me an email — my address is on the About/Review Policy/Contact page.
Pamela D
I have noticed that a lot of YA book reviewers on YouTube read hardcover books. I enjoy reading hardcover books, but I like the flexibility and convenience of e-books.
Lark @ The Bookwyrm's Hoard
I love ebooks for traveling, but prefer print books when I’m at home. That said, I read a lot of e-ARCs these days!
Herding Cats - Burning Soup
Ahh those shoes are awesome!
Lark @ The Bookwyrm's Hoard
They’re pretty cool, aren’t they? Looks like a fun project, though I do wonder how flexible the ModPodge is once it’s dry. Seems to me that it would crack.
Bea
I saw that article about young readers preferring print and was surprised. Now I’m of to check out the literary charities. I hope you had a good Thanksgiving.
Lark @ The Bookwyrm's Hoard
We did have a nice Thanksgiving, thank you! I hope yours was lovely, too!
Greg
I can attest to the interest in archery, although in my daughter’s case it was sparked by the Avengers – she hasn’t read Hunger games yet. Enjoyed the links as always, especially the bookstore list from the Guardian. Some neat shops there…
Lark @ The Bookwyrm's Hoard
I figured the upswing in archery interest probably began with LOTR. Legolas was no slouch with a bow! And I would love to visit some of the English bookshops!
readerholicnotes
I love the shoes! And I first read the link about “interest in archery” as “interest in anarchy!” I thought that was even more interesting than the archery…lol! I tried archery in my college P.E. class and it’s a lot harder than it looks! Lots of great links I;m going to explore, Lark.
Lark @ The Bookwyrm's Hoard
I tried archery at a summer camp where I was a counselor; it was fun! I didn’t hit the target consistently, but I still felt like Robin Hood or maybe an elf. Enjoy the links!