PW Readers Respond to...
Rising Bookstore Sales
Our recent story “Bookstore Sales Had First Gain in Eight Years in 2015” was, understandably, exciting news to our readers, who chimed in on publishersweekly.com with celebrations and questions.
“This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone who’s supportive of indie bookstores and the ‘buy local/downtown’ movement, understands the value of bookseller passion and hand-selling, and gets that it’s always about the book in the hand.”
—Carl Lennertz
“Do these sales figures include all of the candles, pillows, toys, and other extraneous items that are often sold in bookstores? Less and less shelf space in the typical Barnes & Noble bookstore is devoted to actual books with each passing year.”
—Nirmala Daniel Erway
From the Newsletters
Sergei Lebedev, author of the novel Oblivion (New Vessel), picks 10 books that explain the situation in Russia today.
Behind Dial’s plans to publish a 40th-anniversary edition of Mildred Taylor’s Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry.
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The most-read review on publishersweekly.com last week was The Stash Plan by Laura Prepon and Elizabeth Troy (S&S/Touchstone).
Blogs
Check out PW’s Tumblr for a fun array of diverting book-world ephemera. Recent posts include links to a study of punctuation in classic fiction, and some great content from PW archives.
What happens when a bunch of kids write Valentine cards to Blobfish, the star of Pink Is for Blobfish (Knopf) and the world’s ugliest fish? A whole lot of adorableness.
Podcasts
The More to Come crew discusses Deadpool’s big release week, the curious lack of comics in Cuba, and DC Super Hero Girls at Toyfair.
Brian Lies talks about his picture book Gator Dad (HMH), which follows an alligator and his kids through a rowdy day’s worth of activities.
Charlie Jane Anders discusses her new novel, All the Birds in the Sky (Tor). Plus, PW senior news editor Calvin Reid reports on publishing in Cuba.
PW Goes to Cuba
The 2016 Havana Book Fair was a historic event, with a delegation of American publishing executives visiting as part of the U.S. Publishing Mission to Cuba, organized by PW and Combined Book Exhibit, which added to the show two days of professional education programming about the Cuban market and how American and Cuban publishers can work together.
PW senior editor Calvin Reid was our man in Havana. Read his coverage of the event, or check out this week’s PW Radio and Week Ahead podcasts, in which he goes into more detail on the show and the potential the Cuban market holds for American publishers, and vice versa.
PW Star Watch 2016 Is Open for Nominations
We’re looking for the next generation of publishing-industry leaders. Do you work with someone who is going to make a big impact on the business? Nominate them for PW Star Watch, or you can nominate yourself. A panel of judges including members of PW, the Frankfurt Book Fair, and noted industry leaders will pick 50 up-and-coming stars and select five top honorees and a Superstar who will get an all-expense-paid trip to the 2016 Frankfurt Book Fair. Find out more.
