Sunday, February 13, 2011

Sunday Reading: Black Hats, E-Books, hermit crab independent booksellers

New York Times initiates new Combined Print and E-Book Best Seller lists.  Also separate E-Book best seller lists.   Most fiction best-sellers sell equally well on HC and E.  For some reason John Grisham is low on HC (26), high on E (6) while Marrying Daisy Bellamy is high in HC (5) but only 18 on E. Mark Twain autobiography is big in HC (7), only 19 on E.  Lists take up 6 of the 36 pages of this week's Book Review section.  Soon will there be any room for actual reviews?

Elsewhere in the NYT, in The Dirty Little Secrets of Search, J.C. Penney's is "shocked, shocked" that a sudden surge to number 1 across a broad range of Google search terms, just in time for the holiday buying season, has been traced back to a black hat campaign not especially careful about leaving fingerprints.  And in a possibly - and possibly deceptively - promising note, Kate Gardiner links to a Rap Sheet report that three Waldenbooks outlets closed by the imploding Borders megachain have been replaced with independent booksellers.  When the dinosaurs die, will smaller, more supple organisms take their place?

1 comment:

Unknown said...

That's a great question regarding (hopeful) opportunity for independent shops to replace the big box mega stores. I've actually been asking that question on a much larger scale: With Fortune 500 and large companies off-shoring production and targeting BRIC markets (vs US customer base) will that void present an opportunity for small business and the return of "Mom & Pop" businesses to our communities?