The Written Nerd

I'm sorry to bail on y'all again, but I just don't have time to give the question and the compilation of comments the attention they deserve today -- I've taken on a few too many projects and I have to catch up a bit. So I'll give you the weekend to continue to register your comments on the question I posed on Wednesday: Q: What is the future of bookselling? I'll post your thoughts and mine on Monday. Some other aspects of the question to consider: How will developments like Buy Local First, Slow Food, and the organic movement affect bookselling, if at all? Will author tours mean that writing will become more performative, and how will that affect bookstores? What will the bookseller of the future look like, or is there room for both the businessperson and the idealist? Thinking outside the chain vs. indie question, how will all bookstores be changed by new technologies, new demographics, new forms of literature and information? Can we even make viable general ...

I know I promised a meaty post today, but I'm still doing a bit of research for the one I want to write, and I also really, really, REALLY have to get some non-blog-related work done today. So in lieu, I'm asking all you smart book people a question. Q: What is the future of bookselling? Lots of media and industry types have sounded off on this, but I want to know what you, the folks in the trenches think. We've talked about what ought to happen, but now I want to know how you think it's really going to play out. How will bookselling venues evolve, including chains, superstores like Wal-Mart, independent stores, and the internet? Who will rise and who will fall? Are we headed toward increased corporatization or increased local independence? How are consumers' and readers' tastes changing or remaining constant? How will authors' roles evolve? What will independents need to do to stay viable? What will the next generation of booksellers be like? The ...

I've been so impressed with the level of discourse in your comments on my "Blogs, Books, and Anti-Indie Backlash" post -- your passion and the different perspectives you bring (bookseller, publisher, consumer, etc.) are truly illuminating. Please feel free to keep the conversation going, and I'll try to post a recap of your insights at some point. In the meantime, here's some food for thought, some of which relates directly to the issues under discussion. Former Brooklyn boy Robert Greene of Book People in Moscow, Idaho (not to be confused with the Book People in Austin, or with any of the other American Moscows) writes that "various groups in moscow have been fighting big box stores much to the ire of the local newspapers, chamber of commerce, city councils etc." More power to them -- click on their website to give the good folks at Book People some love. Laura Miller, she of the book RELUCTANT CAPITALISTS which is sparking some of this debate, has a pi...

Friday morning at BEA I attended a panel discussion titled "Blog 2.0: How Blogs Continue to Re-Define Author, Publisher and Reader Dynamics." Other bloggers (Ed, Max) have commented on the perplexing fact that the panel contained not a single literary blogger (i.e. one who reviews books and book news). The closest thing was the presence of Kyle Crafton of Media Bistro (which hosts blogs, including GalleyCat, runs writing classes and contains advertising but isn't exactly a blog) and Michael Cader of Publishers Lunch / Publishers Marketplace (which is more of a newsletter, and which I admit I've stopped reading because it's more about publishing personnel than books, and because I got tired of the ads for the pay version of the site). The other panelists were Ana Marie Cox (i.e. D.C. gossip blogger/fiction writer Wonkette), Dan Berstein (author of the book BLOG!), and Marcos Zuniga (famed force behind the political blog Daily Kos). The panel did come up with som...

As one of my friends put it, Book Expo America 2006 was truly Book Nerd heaven. I think this was the most productive and educational BEA I've ever been to -- I spent far more time in workshops and panels than on the show floor -- and also the most fun, since I seem to know enough folks in the business to get invited to some of the cool parties. And the best part, as always, was the people. I feel like I need to invest in (horrors) a Rolodex to keep track of the brilliant and interesting people I met. I plan to spend the next few weeks focusing on those panels and workshops and what they might imply for the book biz, but today, my first day back, I just want to relive the fun stuff. For Link-Mad Monday, I'm giving some shout-outs to some of the great people and institutions I met and learned about this weekend (in approximate order of meeting them), so that you can give them some love. These are all people and places that are going to be added to my links list as soon as I have ...

Dude, am I letting my book nerd flag fly at the D.C. Convention center. Max at the Millions and Ed at Return of the Reluctant (find his link through Bookdwarf -- I don't have time to create a new link right now!) have objected to the lack of wireless or other free internet access for press folks, but us lucky American Booksellers Association member get to use the computers in the ABA lounge, so I'm unexpectedly getting a chance to post. Of course way too much has happened in the last couple of days to fully describe, but highlights include: watching bookseller/actors demonstrate "bad handselling" in a hilarious series of videos (the acting wasn't quite as bad as the sales techniques); hearing John McPhee describe what sounds like a fascinating new book about transportation over Spanish tapas; giving Jonathan Franzen my brilliant opinion on why he doesn't need to worry about offending right wing readers; meeting Bookdwarf, Max from The Millions, and other blog...

That's actually the official slogan of this year's Book Expo America, managed by Reed Exhibitions (related to Reed Elsevier, which owns Publishers Weekly) and sponsored by Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, the Association of American Publishers (AAP) and the American Booksellers Association (ABA). That’s a lot of big corporate and institutional money behind the event, yeah. But what it's all about, for me, (and really, isn't everything?) is the one-on-one stuff . The workshops and panels with authors, booksellers and editors I respect. The meetings with sales reps I've only contacted by email. The random encounters with fellow booksellers and other folks that I only get to see once or twice a year. The conversations. The reading copies (oh yes, the swag). And the parties (oh yes, the parties). Not everyone is as excited about BEA as I am. For those on the publishing side, I can understand it completely – the expo for them means sitting in their publisher's boo...