Book business

Given all the disruptions to the global economy caused by the new coronavirus, unit sales of print books held up relatively well in the first quarter of 2020, said Kristen McLean, executive director, business development for NPD Books, in a webinar held last week.  Read more

Over the past quarter century, Seth Godin has taught and inspired millions of entrepreneurs, marketers, leaders, and fans from all walks of life, via his blog, online courses, lectures, and bestselling books. He is the inventor of countless ideas and phrases that have made their way into mainstream business language, from Purple Cow to Tribes.  Read more

Talk to anyone who worked in book publishing this year and no matter how chipper the conversation may begin, once you're a few drinks in the talk will turn gloomy. Sales are flat, or down. There have been no market-defining breakout hits, no hot new genres to plump up the annual earnings statement. Everyone blames this on the election and the news.  Read more

After years of sales growth, major publishers reported a fall in their ebook sales for the first time this year, introducing new doubts about the potential of ebooks in the publishing industry. A Penguin executive even admitted recently that the ebooks hype may have driven unwise investment, with the company losing too much confidence in "the power of the word on the page."  Read more

If you know the Greek island of Paros in the Cyclades, you'll be familiar with Parikia's Panagia Ekatontapyliani, or "Church of 100 Doors." Said to date back to the 4th Century AD, it's a stately, elegiac Byzantine landmark in the Aegean. It does not, in fact, have a hundred doors, and no sure explanation for that abiding moniker, either.  Read more