Biblio Charitable Works’ new site live!
By brendan | February 5, 2010
BiblioWorks has a new, updated website just launched today, featuring (finally!) a Spanish translation, not to mention a much more attractive layout and design. Shout out to the team over at Stout Monkey Networks who volunteered their time to assemble all this!
For those who don’t already know, Biblio Charitable Works is a 501c(3) non-profit which has done some terrific work over the past 5 years, most notably in Bolivia, where it has built and maintains 7 community libraries in underprivileged rural areas.
Original begun in 2004 as a charitable outreach project of Biblio.com, it “got its wings” in 2005 when it became a public non-profit. It will be building another library in Bolivia this summer (location TBD - narrowed down to three at this point), and will need to raise just $10k to do so. Please consider helping through your generous donation to educating underprivileged children in South America’s poorest nation.
Topics: BiblioWorks | No Comments »
DOJ still not happy with Google’s book scanning
By brendan | February 5, 2010
In an encouraging statement the Department of Justice indicates that Google’s revised book scanning settlement still does not satisfy its concerns about creating a would-be monopoly by the internet goliath, stating “The amended settlement agreement still confers significant and possibly anti-competitive advantages on Google as a single entity.”
Its really fascinating to me that this matter should even be subject to a 6-year long debate. Google wants to presumptively violate authors’ copyright unless you ask them not to. Bad. Google wants an exclusive deal that gives them rights to scan and sell said millions of e-books without having to worry about competition. Bad. But in an amazing PR gambit of white-washing, Google seems to have convinced people (and possibly the courts themselves!) that its all ok, because, well, “we’re Google”?
Let’s simply change the subjects names in this case and look at it again.
I walk into your house and steal your stuff. If you catch me doing it and ask me to stop, I will. Otherwise, I’m going to sell your stuff. And, if you give me a call afterwards, I’ll give you a 35% cut. But if I don’t hear from you, I’ll just keep your cut for you in case you ever notice your stuff is gone. And, you can’t prosecute me for it, because I have some kind of exclusive sheriff’s badge. And since nobody else has that, so I’ve completely cornered the market.
(is it just me or does this sound like a 1970’s western complete with crooked sheriff? where’s John Wayne to clean up the town? will he be played by Judge Chin?)
Can you get a badge so you can do the same thing? Sure, of course you can. It only costs a few tens of millions of dollars to wear out the opposition in the public court system. Then, who knows, maybe you can get the special badge. What, you say? That’s not fair, you say, because who else has this kind of cash? Oh, come on, of course it’s fair - because “we’re Google.”
(i am the law in this here town….)
Seriously, what is there to deliberate on?
A hearing with Judge Chin is coming up on Feb 18th, so with fingers crossed….
Topics: book industry | No Comments »
RIP e-readers: 2010 - 2010?
By brendan | January 13, 2010
Echoing a few of our earlier sentiments on why the Kindle would go the way of the dodo (which is, by the way, what the birds in the header of our blog are - because we’re in the printed book industry ourselves), Kit Eaton at FastCompany is calling 2010 the one and only year of the e-reader because of the upcoming generation of tablet Mac/PCs.
I couldn’t agree more: I want less gadgets in my life, not more. Why don’t people wear watches any more? Carry PDAs?
Topics: Technology, book industry | 3 Comments »
My Top 10 Book Picks for 2009
By catherine | December 4, 2009
It’s been a really interesting year for us, with a lot of established authors publishing some beautiful, poignant work, as well as genius new writers being discovered. Here are my personal picks for the best books that were released this past year. You might notice this list is heavy in Fiction, but hey, that’s what I read most of the time:
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When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present by Gail Collins |
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The Song is You by Arthur Phillips
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Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters by Seth Grahame-Smith; Jane Austen
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Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned by Wells Tower
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War Dances by Sherman Alexie |
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Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann
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Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall by Kazuo Ishiguro
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How It Ended: New & Collected Stories by Jay McInerney
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The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver
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Sunnyside: A Novel by Glen David Gold
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Topics: Book Collecting, Bookselling, Fun, Reading | No Comments »
Get Your Rare Book Fix in Boston
By catherine | October 16, 2009
One of the oldest and largest book fairs in the country, the 2009 Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair is sure to be a crowd-pleaser.
Browsers and buyers will have the chance to see several incredibly rare books, such as a signed, first edition of Amelia Earhart’s 20 Hrs. 40 Min., the book that chronicled her experiences as the first female passenger on a transatlantic flight. A letter and yearbook photo by J. D. Salinger and signed first editions of such classics as Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises and The Single Hound: Poems of a Lifetime by Emily Dickinson will be available.
In addition to featuring a variety of fine collectibles from over 120 book dealers, the Fair will also hold educational discussions, round tables, a book signing with journalist Allison Hoover Bartlett (”The Man Who Loved Books Too Much”) and free expert appraisals.
ADDED BONUS: The ABAA (Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association of America) is currently featuring a tool on their site so you can search participating exhibitors’ inventories. Entire inventories will be available in this search until November 13; After that, searches in this feature will be limited to inventory available at the fair.
What: the 33rd annual Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair
Where: Hynes Convention Center in Boston, MA
When: Friday, November 13-Sunday, November 15
Hours: Friday 5:00-9:00pm / Saturday 12:00-7:00pm / Sunday 12:00-5:00pm
Tickets: Ticket prices are $15.00 for Friday night preview (valid all weekend), and $8.00 each for Saturday and Sunday.
For more information & for tickets, visit the website at www.bostonbookfair.com.
Topics: Book Collecting, Bookselling, Fun, Rare Book Picks, Reading, Technology, book industry | 1 Comment »
A New Look for the Independent Online Booksellers Association
By catherine | October 12, 2009
IOBAbooks.com
The Independent Online Booksellers Association (IOBA), a trade association dedicated to maintaining high ethical and professional standards in order to foster greater trust between book buyers and sellers, has a new look on its e-commerce site: IOBAbooks.com.
The site, powered by Biblio, features new, used, rare and out-of-print books from IOBA bookseller members.
Topics: Book Collecting, Bookselling, Technology, book industry | No Comments »
What I really think of the Kindle…
By catherine | October 9, 2009
It’s time to confess: I’ve been “playing nice” during the recent explosion in e-reader popularity. I smile politely when someone mentions how they were reading the latest release on their Kindle. I’ve even been so kind as to re-post e-reader news in my Twitter account. We’re in the book industry together, folks, so we should all just get along, right?
It stops now.
While I recognize that e-readers are a fascinating technological advancement and, according to one friend, “pretty neat-o,” I still happily live in my 700 square-foot house with my print book “roommates” stacked from floor to ceiling. Nothing can replace the smell of a library book sale find, the feeling of a fine leather first edition, the look of a Rackham color print illustration, or the laughter of my son as he discovers the thrill of a tab in a pop-up book.
And while I’m a pretty subdued person, I get my own thrills from watching these guys do what I’ve wanted to do ever since I first held a Kindle in my hand:
Topics: Book Collecting, Reading, book industry | 11 Comments »
Song of the Open Rd.
By jaye | October 2, 2009
In my traveling days, I enjoyed most the visits to used bookstores in the towns I was in for a day, a week, or more. Going from my origin in Boston to the Northwest by bus or train, I would visit shops whenever I had a day to walk around. I’m not sure what I had to do except walk around. Other than a stint with the forest service, a job at an ice factory, and some ferry rides, I was apparently on my way back to Massachusetts from Massachusetts by way of the length of the United States. In any case, I was there, and when I was, I always visited a bookshop, and even purchased some books on occasion. I was in the “buy every so-called ‘classic’ paperback novel” period of my reading life. All I recall actually reading was some Walt Whitman, a few Steinbeck novels (To a God Unknown remains my favorite from that time), and Thomas Wolfe. It seems more than a little (to use a Wolfeism) misguided to carry three shelves of moth’s nest paperbacks in a backpack across several states and an international border, but I was an impassioned possessor of books that I wanted to read.
Since it appears that the traveling days are over for now, I’m happy to say that I’ve found a way to visit many of the bookstores in the regions I once passed through. One can search books within a bookseller’s inventory, as a kind of virtual store, and booksellers can be searched according to state.
http://www.biblio.com/pages/usa_map.html
I can’t remember the stores by name it turns out, although I’m sure I still have some bookmarks somewhere. Nonetheless, I enjoy seeing what booksellers have in stock a few thousand miles west, and the myriad places between here and there that I never got around to visiting.
Topics: Uncategorized | No Comments »
Join the Biblio Book Hunt
By catherine | August 25, 2009
We like to play games. But only ones where our customers win something big–like a $200 BiblioBucks gift certificate. And what better game to play than a treasure hunt?
So welcome to the Biblio Book Hunt, a treasure hunt exclusively for our Twitter fans! Here’s how to play:
- Join Twitter if you haven’t done so already.
- Follow Catherine, our marketing coordinator for Biblio under “@bookish_type” or simply click here and hit “Follow.”
- The Book Hunt will be announced several days in advance on Twitter, so check our recent posts.
- When the Book Hunt starts, one (1) clue will be given each day for 20 business days. Clues will relate to a particular book listed for sale on our website. Clues can include information about the author, the book’s publishing history, the copy’s appearance, etc.
- Clues will also be tagged with the search tag “#bookhunt” on Twitter so you can check back if you missed a clue.
- If you think you know what the book is, you must reply with the author, title and URL using the “@” reply on Twitter to bookish_type.
- First person to reply with the correct book wins a $200 BiblioBucks Gift Certificate. It never expires, and can be used for any purchase on our site! Winner will be announced immediately on Twitter.
Questions? Comments? Mass confusion about game rules? Let us know on Twitter with a reply, please.
Have fun and good luck!
Disclaimer: Twitter followers who have won a previous book hunt or another promotional contest from Biblio on Twitter are ineligible to win again for 6 months. Employees of Biblio.com and their immediate family members are ineligible to participate in promotional contests and offers from Biblio.com.
Topics: Biblio.com, Book Collecting, Fun, Marketing, Rare Book Picks, Reading | 1 Comment »
“Green” corporate book stores/sites? Think again.
By brendan | July 15, 2009
This little video on YouTube highlights the wastefulness and environmental impact of chain and online megabookstores - and, the advantages of shopping from independent bookstores. I’d like add that used books are even more environmentally friendly, folks - so don’t forget to save some green and carbon by swinging by your local used bookstore (find by zipcode):
Topics: Environment, book industry | No Comments »
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