That’s a wrap #27
A wrap of this week’s SFF news, some links and some fun. If you have news to be included, DM or email me.
Barnes & Noble closing shopfronts
Barnes & Noble plans to close at least 20 stores per year for the next decade. The Huff Post says:
Since 2003, the company has shut an average of 15 stores a year – but it also opened more than 30 per year, according to the Journal. During the last fiscal year, however, the company closed 14 stores and didn’t open any. This year, a prominent Manhattan store has already shut its doors.
Without any new openings, that rate of closure would reduce the total number of Barnes & Noble’s stores by a third – it currently has 689 retail stores, and 674 college stores. Their first store opened in New York City in 1917, and since the closing of Borders in 2011, it is by far the [USA]’s largest book retailer chain…
Print book sales nationwide dropped 22% over the past five years according to Nielsen BookScan.
On 30 April 2012, Reuters reported that Microsoft is investing $605 million over 5 years in the Nook, Barnes & Noble’s eReader that competes with Amazon’s Kindle and Sony’s Reader. (Yep, that’s right, the Sony marketers were wide awake with that one, trademarking the name ‘Reader’ for their… electronic reader. Catchy, distinctive…)
Sea-Hearts shortlisted for Indie Award. In the CHILDREN’S section.
Congratulations to Margo Lanagan for the shortlisting of her novel, Sea Hearts, for Indie award. I’m a bit aghast at Sea Hearts being nominated in the CHILDREN’s section; are the judges of the opinion that fantasy is for children? [scratches head]
Common misconceptions about digital publishing – an article
Euan Mitchell writes about – you guessed it! – common misconceptions about digital publishing. Article published digitally by Writers Victoria.
Romance Writers!
The Ella Award: The Romance Writers of Australia are hosting a new contest for published novellas. To be considered for the 2013 award, the original version of the novella, whether digital, hardback or paperback, must have been first published between 1 January 2012 and 31 December 2012. The Ella Award guidelines
Closes 4 February
International author Sean Williams volunteers for sleep deprivation experiment
Anticpated headline:
Adelaide author Sean Williams, best known internationally for his Star Wars novels, brutally murdered by sleep-deprived writer during experiment
Here’s why, in Sean’s own words.
The Bloggess
Just when I think she can’t possibly be as big a Doctor Who fan as she pretends (she is, after all, American), Jenny Lawson (aka The Bloggess) does this: makes a poster of Doctor Who definitions. Linked here in celebration of the 50th anniversary and as incentive for you to get your backside over to The Bloggess so we can enjoy together. (Share your joys, you double them.)
Some like it black. Their humour that is.
Blackly humorous social comment on objectification of a young woman
