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Tag: bookstores

Published January 9, 2009

Something for the Weekend Jan. 9th, 2009

Curation, Appeciation, Organization: The Book Cover Archive goes live with “cross-indexed meta data” (and blog)! LOVE this. Nice work fellas. (via SwissMiss)

Skinny tight jeans and mild panic: The Scotsman profiles Canongate’s Jamie Byng.

Almost half of Canadians can’t name a single Canadian author according to the hand-wringing National Post… Or to put it another way, over half of Canadians CAN actually name a Canadian author? It could be worse (really)…

Canadian booksellers manage a “late holiday rally” in December reports PW:

Retailers large and small were unanimous in their opinion that books proved to be an excellent recession gift, with the value proposition of books being improved in part by fact that the actual price of books have fallen relative to U.S. prices.

A .38 shell for independent bookshops: The Guardian‘s Stuart Evers considers consumer apathy and the imminent closure of the Murder One bookshop on Charing Cross Road in London:

These kinds of shops are facing a long, bloody battle – and one which, without significant reinforcements, they are likely to lose. As we hear of the travesty of another brilliant independent going down, we’ll mourn the loss, wring our hands and damn Amazon and the supermarkets and Waterstone’s. Yet perhaps the most important detail we’ll probably keep under wraps: the last time we actually spent any money there.

Hapless Houghton Mifflin Harcourt reinstate editor Drenka Willen after Noble prize-winner Günter Grass intervenes.

Nostalgic book covers a hit for Penguin in Australia— 50 titles released with covers in the original orange-and-cream designs are selling strongly:

“They are instantly recognisable and have an emotional pull… Most people or their parents have got second-hand or old Penguins at home that have the same livery. But it’s not only pulling on that nostalgic lever, it’s also got that retro coolness. We’ve found that younger readers have been really drawn to them.”

“To say his work was inspirational is an understatement”: The New York Times profiles the late Barney Bubbles  whose iconic album cover designs (for the likes of Elvis Costello, Ian Dury, and The Damned) are celebrated in Paul Gorman’s new book “Reasons to Be Cheerful: The Life and Work of Barney Bubbles” published by Adelita (pictured).

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Published November 19, 2008

Waterstone’s Hardback Classics

More lovely book designs by the very talented Coralie Bickford-Smith at Penguin UK (mentioned here previously for her work on the Gothic Reds series) for a collection of classics available at British book retailer,  Waterstone’s:

“All the books in this series have patterns that adhere to a strict grid… I have a real enthusiasm for pattern design so I was obsessed with this project. I wanted to create sumptuous books for people to enjoy, cherish and pass on.”


Penguin have very kindly put all of the covers for the Waterstone’s Hardback Classics on their Flickr photostream. It really is a beautiful set.

Coralie recently won an award for best ‘Brand or Series Identity’ at the British Book Design and Production Awards, for her work on the Classic Boys’ Adventures series, which is brilliant too.

Link

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Published November 11, 2008

Bracing for the Worst

“[E]veryone in publishing is bracing for a difficult holiday season while trying to remain optimistic about the enduring allure of books.”

Motoko Rich looks at the recent spate of publishing lay-offs, and what holiday season holds for the book industry, in today’s New York Times:

“I think that people have not been reading for the past year because they’ve been checking political blogs every 20 minutes,” said Larry Weissman, a literary agent. “At some point I think people are going to say, ‘You know what, this is not nourishing.’ I think and I hope — and maybe it’s just blind hope — I think there is a yearning for authenticity out there, and people are going to go back to the things that really matter, and one of those things, I hope, will be reading books.”

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Published October 3, 2008

Bookshop Memories

Some Bookshops I Have Known, a lovely post on The Guardian Books Blog by Alistair Harper:

Rationally, I should not get falsely romantic about the idea of the bookshop. As Orwell wrote in Bookshop Memories, they can be deeply depressing places attracting the needy and unhinged. Also, it’s not as if the internet has stopped individuals, as opposed to corporations, selling books. I like to imagine that a modern version of Helen Hanff’s 84 Charing Cross Road is happening over email right now thanks to some purchases over Abe books.

But I can’t help the false romance. It’s through different bookshops I’ve frequented that I can mark out the different moments of my upbringing.

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Published September 22, 2008

Monday Miscellany

My favourite response to  New York Magazine’s gossipy  hit-job on the current state of publishing ‘The End’ came from author Jeff Gomez: “even though I wrote a book called Print is Dead, even I don’t think that publishing is over.”

Are book jacket designs more conservative in the UK than in the US? The Bookseller takes a look: “UK designers are saying their creativity is being stifled by commercial concerns. Designers can only attempt new, more daring things if they are given the space to do so, but in the current climate this does not appear to be happening.”

Author Jeanette Winterson wishes all bookstores could be like Shakespeare & Company in The Times:  “[B]ookshops have, or should have, a special place in our culture. We need books, and books are best browsed in the energetic peace of a small store where the owner loves reading, just like we do.”

Variety examines the Kindle: “Amazon’s Kindle is the big kid on the block. With a few improvements, the gadget, which Amazon introduced in November, could well be a game-changer.” Or not.

And finally, there’s a lovely line from comedian Ricky Gervais in this interview with the Globe and Mail’s Joanna Schneller published at the weekend: “I always think, ‘Just aim a bit higher.’ Because even if you fail, you’ve still landed a little bit higher. Aiming low and not quite making it… that’s what I couldn’t stand.” A lesson for all of us  there I think…

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