Sales Slip But Profits Up at Books-A-Million

Publishers Weekly

What’s Selling at Books-A-Million? What’s selling? According to Books-A-Million, it’s teen books and conservative non-fiction titles. —Linda Taylor

Mastering the Art of French Cooking

Random House

See the Movie, Get the Cookbook With a perfect "mix" of cooking, writing, publishing, and two wonderful marital love stories, I highly recommend the movie "Julie & Julia." And the classic cookbook, first published by Knopf in 1961, is still available from Random House. Check it out! —Linda Taylor

First Lady of Ghana Visits Tyndale House

Christian Retailing

Spreading the Good News Sometimes we wonder if what we do in Christian publishing makes a difference. I was thrilled to be in the audience at Tyndale House when Her Excellency Mrs. Ernestina Naadu Mills shared with us her personal quest to distribute Bibles to people (even schoolchildren!) in Ghana. —Linda Taylor

The Purpose of a Book Cover

Seth Godin

Seth Godin on Book Covers We may not WANT to judge a book by its cover, but we probably can’t help it. What is a book cover supposed to accomplish anyway? Seth Godin (author of Purple Cow and numerous other best-selling books) weighs in. —Linda Taylor

Bowker Reports U.S. Book Production Declines 3% in 2008, but “On Demand” Publishing More than Doubles

Bowker

The Rise of On-Demand Publishing As traditional publishing faces pivotal year of retrenching, the emergence of new technologies leads to soaring growth in short-run book publishing. Bowker has the statistics. —Linda Taylor

How Sony E-Reader Lost to Kindle and How It’s Battling Its Way Back

Advertising Age

The Battle of the E-Readers Sony came first, but Kindle blew it away. How the Sony e-Reader is trying to make a comeback. (registration required) —Linda Taylor

More Competition for Amazon: Google

New York Times

Google explicitly announced that it intends to directly compete with Amazon. This may not be unexpected, but Google’s marketing intent is now more explicit. This means that publishers will now have a choice. The competition between Amazon and Google could effect your future marketing in terms of new opportunities for your titles, pricing strategy, distribution, and promotional communication channels.

One Size Doesn’t Fit All in Marketing During a Recession

MediaPost

Excellent article provides insights on how to market to consumers during a recession. The result is a consumer typology that yields insight into the purchasing dynamics of different consumer types and opportunities for marketing to them. Insights here have potential applications for publishers, new product development, and marketing.

“Foreverism”

Trend Watching

“Foreverism” is an emerging intellectual point of view and trend gaining cache and force within marketing and consumer culture. The essential idea is simply that consumers and businesses are embracing the notion that conversations, lifestyles, and products are “never done.” The ideas here could impact the way publishers view marketing, product branding, product development, and consumer engagement.

Book Industry Braces for Paperless Future

Washington Post

Are Books and Traditional Publishers Already Relics? At BEA, where you’d think they’d know better, it seems that traditional books were seen as terminal patients unable to be resuscitated by even the best writing or cover designs. It’s all about digital for the future. Not sure I agree. See what YOU think. —Linda Taylor