Man Burns Books, Amazon Reviews, Booksurge...
I read some interesting news last week. I’m adding the links so you can read the whole story if you wish.
"KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Tom Wayne has amassed thousands of books in a warehouse during the 10 years he has run his used book store, Prospero's Books." Thus begins this article by DAVID TWIDDY, Associated Press Writer for Yahoo News.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070528/ap_on_re_us/book_burning
What is the world coming to when a man is forced to burn thousands of books as an act of protest because nobody wants them? I only wish he would have asked me!
Another news which quite surprised me, in a positive way, is the new business agreement between Booksurge and some of the top NY publishers. Some publishers like Harper Collins have made an agreement with Booksurge to have some of their current and back-list titles available in POD form. This might change the outlook of many people about the POD stigma. It seems that finally some of the top houses are realizing the pros of using print on demand, like saving storage/warehouse costs and having old titles available and making money instead of keeping them ‘out of print’. Read the full story here:
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=176060&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1009383&highlight=
Lastly, another interesting thing I read last week has to do with Amazon reviews. It appears that Amazon will not be posting unlimited reviews by reviewers and readers as it is doing now. Instead, only three reviews per book will be displayed, and the reader will have to go to another link in order to read more reviews. Who will select these reviews? What will the criteria be? Could their decision have to do with all the controversy about the fraudulent reader reviews? It seems some authors, adopting fake names or even impersonating real people, have been posting rave reviews of their own books, while at the same time posting harsh reviews of their competitors’ books. Read the article, "Amazon Reviews are a Farce" here: http://weblogs.java.net/blog/monsonhaefel/archive/2003/11/amazoncom_revie.html (this link was passed on to me by SF author M.D. Benoit).
It amazes me what some people will do to promote their books-lie, cheat, assume a fake personality. Is this what book promotion has come to? Keeping this in mind, I’m not surprised why ‘legitimate’ reviewers from newspapers and other print publications have lately offered so much criticism to online bloggers and reviewers. Giving freedom to people to post reviews is a wonderful thing. Unfortunately, some people will always abuse that freedom and transform it into something ugly. In the end, the good people always suffer because of a few black sheep.
"KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Tom Wayne has amassed thousands of books in a warehouse during the 10 years he has run his used book store, Prospero's Books." Thus begins this article by DAVID TWIDDY, Associated Press Writer for Yahoo News.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070528/ap_on_re_us/book_burning
What is the world coming to when a man is forced to burn thousands of books as an act of protest because nobody wants them? I only wish he would have asked me!
Another news which quite surprised me, in a positive way, is the new business agreement between Booksurge and some of the top NY publishers. Some publishers like Harper Collins have made an agreement with Booksurge to have some of their current and back-list titles available in POD form. This might change the outlook of many people about the POD stigma. It seems that finally some of the top houses are realizing the pros of using print on demand, like saving storage/warehouse costs and having old titles available and making money instead of keeping them ‘out of print’. Read the full story here:
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=176060&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1009383&highlight=
Lastly, another interesting thing I read last week has to do with Amazon reviews. It appears that Amazon will not be posting unlimited reviews by reviewers and readers as it is doing now. Instead, only three reviews per book will be displayed, and the reader will have to go to another link in order to read more reviews. Who will select these reviews? What will the criteria be? Could their decision have to do with all the controversy about the fraudulent reader reviews? It seems some authors, adopting fake names or even impersonating real people, have been posting rave reviews of their own books, while at the same time posting harsh reviews of their competitors’ books. Read the article, "Amazon Reviews are a Farce" here: http://weblogs.java.net/blog/monsonhaefel/archive/2003/11/amazoncom_revie.html (this link was passed on to me by SF author M.D. Benoit).
It amazes me what some people will do to promote their books-lie, cheat, assume a fake personality. Is this what book promotion has come to? Keeping this in mind, I’m not surprised why ‘legitimate’ reviewers from newspapers and other print publications have lately offered so much criticism to online bloggers and reviewers. Giving freedom to people to post reviews is a wonderful thing. Unfortunately, some people will always abuse that freedom and transform it into something ugly. In the end, the good people always suffer because of a few black sheep.
Comments
There are always people who will try to 'work the system.'
Thanks for the business update.