The offset/digital divide just got a little smaller.
Renting eTextbooks
Since buying and selling textbooks is expensive for students, Amazon has begun a program to rent eTextbooks by the semester.
Boycott Amazon
While Amazon closes some warehouses and opens others in state’s that pledge not to tax internet sales, a group of not for profit organizations has called for a consumer boycott of the eRetailing giant.
eBook Agency Model Challenged
Charging that publishers that adopted the ebook agency pricing model conspired to unfairly set retail ebook pricing, a class action lawsuit has been filed against Apple and five other publishers.
Notting Hill Bookstore to Close
The travel bookstore made famous by Hugh Grant in the movie “Notting Hill” has announced it has been unsuccessful in finding a buyer and was scheduled to close in late August.
Papermill’s Toxic Spill
Temple Inland’s Bogalusa (LA) corrugated paper mill released an undisclosed amount of a paper making by-product called “black liquor” into the Pearl River killing hundreds of thousands fish, some of which were federally protected.
The paper industry has been making huge strides to become a “greener” industry, but self-policing wouldn’t seem to be an option.
American Printer Folds
After publishing a highly respected trade magazine for the past 128 years, American Printer has published its final issue.
Want a Tablet? Subscribe
One of America’s largest newspaper chains is looking into delivering your newspaper via a tablet they’re developing that runs the Android O/S.
Mega-Printers Not Impressing Wall Street, but…
North America’s largest publicly owned printer, RR Donnelly, posted soft sales and lower than expected 2Q earnings and watched its valuation drop 11%. .
Quad Graphics, the second largest NA printer, traded it’s Canadian assets (acquired when Quad bought bankrupt World Color/Quebecor) for the Mexican assets of rival printer Transcontinental. A month later it reported its earnings, and Wall Street pummeled Quad. It lost 50% of its valuation in just two months.
Mega-Book Retailers Do
Stock in Barnes & Noble was sharply higher after Q1 financials showed a slightly smaller loss than Q1 2010. Although traditional book sales declined, B&N’s Nook eReader sales were strong.
Bartelby’s Books Floods
Wilmington VT bookstore Bartelby’s Books is standing but destroyed by the flooding caused by hurricane Irene. In April, Bartelby’s sister store, Book Cellar, was destroyed by fire.
Top 100 International Paper Makers
While International Paper remains #1, about half of the companies listed are unknown to American printers and publishers.
Reusable, Erasable Paper
Sure, paper generally is reusable and erasable, but a Taiwanese company has announced paper that can be electronically erased and re-imaged 260 times.
1493 Book Located
An incomplete copy of the 500+ year old Nuremburg Chronicle has surfaced in the Salt Lake City area.
John Hodgman on Bookstores
John Hodgman discussed the problems traditional bookstores face on The Daily Show.
Final thought
The oldest books are still only just out to those who have not read them………Samuel Butler ***********************************************
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