Pirate Bay Hoists the Lawsuit Flag

I don’t know if I’m more bemused by the role-reversal or the pure-D ballsiness. A Wired Blog notes that Peter Sunde, a co-founder of torrent site the Pirate Bay, is accusing a group of Swedish book publishers of illegal scraping, and is threatening a lawsuit, saying Pirate Bay owns the copyright to its database of torrents which the publishers violated.

Once you get past the surrealism, there’s a pretty astonishing statistic you might want to make note of. The book publishers, who were doing all this scraping for a study, noted that 85 percent of the best-selling books in Sweden are available on the Pirate Bay. And Sunde is quoted by TorrentFreak that he’s “a bit sad that it’s not 100%.”

Hints for Saving Money on Your Book Habit

The Associated Press had a brief article on the ways readers can save money on their book habits. Several sites are mentioned on here, including PaperbackSwap.com and Bookins.com. One quote caught my eye, though — “A diet of three books a month costs her only about $6, clearly a bargain for an avid reader.” (The quote was about a user of PaperbackSwap.com.) I admit it’s cheap for a book, but go to eBay and do a search for “lot of” in the book category. If you’re patient, you can get lots of books for way cheaper than $2 each, even including shipping. (This is especially good for folks who go through Harlequin Romance like Pez.)

The story also mentions price comparing (between on-and-offline), getting public domain electric copies at Gutenberg (though personally I prefer the completely awesome Manybooks.net) and going to used bookstores and library sales.

bnet Blogs the Alleged End of the Publishing Industry

Karen Steen at bnet has an article called “The End of Publishing, or Its Rebirth?”, which blogs an article at New York Magazine and cover the advent of a new publishing angle called HarperStudio. Unfortunately some questions remain unanswered: how are returns being reduced? What’s the average advance for a HarperStudio author? Is there personalized publicity, canned PR, or no publicity at all?

Research and Market Releases Book Stores Retailing Report

The good news is that Research and Markets has released the “2008 Worldwide Book Stores Retailing Industry Report”, which includes information on establishments, employment, and sales totals (with forecasts for 2009), 5-year trends, and coverage of many many countries. The bad news is that the cheapest copy is a PDF for $266. Details at http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/2c50fe/2008_worldwide_boo .

U. Of Michigan Library Gets a Book ATM

The Chronicle of Higher Education is reporting that The University of Michigan is going to install “The Espresso Book Machine.” This machine will allow users to print-on-demand just about any digitized, out-of-copyright book from Michigan’s collection (printing will take 5-7 minutes and the book will cost about ten bucks.) Users will also be able to print out-of-copyright books from other locations. The maker of the machine, On Demand Books, wants to make a network machines installed in libraries and bookstores around the world.

According to the article, however, this is the first machine installed in a university library, so there’s a way to go…

Overivew of the NEIBA

Publishers Weekly had a brief update on the 35th annual New England Independent Booksellers Association Trade show, which include the little nut that independent booksellers comprise about 10% of the book market. I’m glad; frankly I’m amazed it’s still that high.

Attendees discussed print-on-demand as well as the possibility of selling Sony Readers in their stores (Seems to me Kindle has got to get a bricks-n-mortar retail outlet or get buried. Circuit City’s market cap is now 230 million!)

From the article: “Moderator Roxanne Coady, owner of R.J. Julia in Madison, Conn., noted the need for independents to monetize what they do. ‘Here’s what’s becoming a problem,’ she said, ‘we don’t charge. You can talk with our staff, and there aren’t even tip jars. We see people spending an hour in our store and then leaving and buying the books where it’s cheaper. Is there another way of paying for being that filter?’” Yes ma’am: let the people order the books online THROUGH YOU. Be one of those assistant shopper kinda deals. And put your recommendations online. And hell, put out some tip jars.

Harlequin Launches Nonfiction Imprint

It was announced a while ago, but Publishers Weekly has a short writeup about the launch of Harlequin’s new nonfiction imprint which kicks off with “Love Matters: Remarkable Stories That Touch the Heart and Nourish the Soul.” Decidedly Chicken Soup-y, but the second imprint title isn’t: “Safe Passage: The True Story of Two Sisters Who Saved Jews from the Nazis”. Eight titles are planned for 2009; hopefully one of them is The Encyclopedia of Harlequin Romance Series: Amaze Your Friends By Knowing Your Temptation From Your Presents.

We’re Reading Less, But MAN We Love our In-Home Libraries

The Wall Street Journal has an alternately hilarious and disturbing article noting that people are reading less, but at the same time in-home libraries are becoming more fashionable. Some people are stocking the shelves with pretty books (“decorator books”) that they don’t have time to read.

(“Michael Burkitt and his wife, Roberta, own an estimated 9,000 books, all hardbound, which they keep in two formal libraries in their new, 5,800-square-foot home in Reno, Nev., and their 3,800-square-foot vacation house in Newport Coast, Calif. Mr. Burkitt, 65, the recently retired co-owner of a structural-plastics firm, says he’s been too busy working most of his life to read even a fraction of them.”)

On the other hand, some folks own libraries stuffed with books they actually read, like Jay McInerney and Dan Poag. Poor Dan Poag, who owns an estimated 10,000 books: “Since nearly every wall of his current house is filled with books, his decorator urged him to re-cover them so their multicolored spines wouldn’t clash with the décor.” Ack! He refused, by the way.

OCLC and Its Copyright Evidence Registry

Information Today has a great article on the OCLC’s Copyright Evidence Registry, which is available at http://www.worldcat.org/copyrightevidence. The idea is to create a spot where librarians can pool information about attempts to get copyright and, one assumes, rights owners data. In order to get the details on copyright once you’ve done a search, you’ll need a WorldCat or other OCLC-related account.

No, Virginia, Santa Claus Won’t Have a New Kindle

After watching rumors about a new, textbook-friendly Kindle coming out soon, Amazon has finally stepped in and — squashed the rumor. According to a blog at the New York Times, there will be no new Kindle this year. No news about the potential for a new Kindle next year. Read the comments for perspective from current Kindle owners and students thinking about what it would be like having a single e-book instead of a giant pile of books.