The Fox Wood

powderedhand: What Dr. Seuss Books Were Really About // Chris...

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 09:11:25 -0400

What Dr. Seuss Books Were Really About // Chris Menning

Why the price of your e-book matters

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 01:32:19 -0400

rachelfershleiser:

annadevries:

The recent news that the DOJ has brought a lawsuit against major publishers over e-book pricing with tales of secret meetings and greedy publishers has pushed the industry into the headlines. Even Brian Williams covered it.

For people who don’t work in publishing or who can’t quite wrap their head around agency pricing, here’s a quick primer:

—Days of yore: books had a suggested retail price: $12.00; $24.99, etc… “Suggested” = bookstores, acting as retailers, were free to price the book however they wanted. Thus, the corner bookstore might offer 10% off bestsellers, a discount for members etc… They were re-selling a book they had already purchased wholesale from the publisher, so they could price it at whatever level would ensure them sales and profit.

—Enter e-books: Amazon began pricing new e-books as low as $2.99 or $7.99. Their main goal was to sell Kindles, not books, so the price of an e-book was negligible to them. This was a drastic loss of revenue for publishers and authors and allowed Amazon to control 90% of the market. (This isn’t just a case of greedy publishers: many authors heavily depend on sales of their book, especially if their advance is low.)

—An alternative strategy: As the iPad was launched, agency pricing was introduced. This turned anyone who sold e-books from a retailer into an agent: they were selling the book as an agent of the publisher, meaning the publisher set the price and split the sale 70/30 with the agent. The agency model standardized the price of an e-book across the board so that a reader was offered the same price on an e-book no matter where they bought it.

—The benefits of the agency model: some prices rose, and others fell, but it gave consumers more choices. In addition, the publisher of Smashwords has used hard data to conclude that e-book prices have decreased with agency pricing as competition has increased although some argue that major publishers are still over-pricing their titles.

—The DOJ lawsuit: Disrupts the current system and forces publishers who have agreed to a settlement to reconceive agency pricing. Yes, this means immediate lower e-book prices for the consumer, but you have to question a decision that is opposed by the American Booksellers Association, the Authors Guild and which allows Amazon to regain the upper hand. Macmillan and Penguin vow to fight the lawsuit and each provide a cogent reason why the lawsuit is bad.

No one involved is against Amazon, or low prices per se (“Yay, $2.99 ebooks!”), the question is whether a system can be maintained that allows for a competitive market but one that doesn’t cannibalize the industry it supports.

I made the mistake of saying publicly that I don’t understand this whole agency-pricing-publishers-colluding brouhaha, and I got skool’d.

Find more details here at Publishers Lunch.

frenchbreads: The Man Who Didn’t Wash His Dishes by Phyllis...

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 09:46:32 -0400

frenchbreads:

The Man Who Didn’t Wash His Dishes by Phyllis Krasilovsky.

I think I lived with that guy, once.

foxograph: Contentment (by Peter G Trimming)

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 18:07:50 -0400

foxograph:

Contentment (by Peter G Trimming)

tinabee: “As my ideas get bigger,” my 6-year-old son once told...

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 12:23:05 -0400

tinabee:

“As my ideas get bigger,” my 6-year-old son once told me, “you get smaller.” Needless to say, this was a startling assessment for a parent to hear. It also reveals the utter stab in the dark an author makes when writing a children’s book, trying to guess backward at just how knowing young readers might be. It seems, in light of my son’s mystical warning, all too easy to underestimate your audience.

Describing the creative process to children then, as these four new picture books do, seems an even more daunting challenge. Creativity, after all, is one of the things that kids tend to have in boisterous abundance, unlike their weary elders, who struggle to gain access to what they once tapped into freely. But the authors of these books — “The Obstinate Pen,” “Penny and Her Song,” “Magritte’s Marvelous Hat” and “I’ll Save You Bobo!” — have wisely fine-tuned their narratives, counseling children in the art of harnessing creativity and aiming it with purpose.

rosebiar: http://www.liveinternet.ru/users/2771193/post122212057...

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 12:21:59 -0400

rosebiar:

http://www.liveinternet.ru/users/2771193/post122212057/

caffinatedcarbivore: I found this while going through my stuff...

Sat, 07 Apr 2012 12:58:54 -0400

caffinatedcarbivore:

I found this while going through my stuff at home over break. This is what children were subjugated to pre-Harry Potter:

Chapter Two begins like this:

Every single leaf fell off the tree. Those were powerful laxatives indeed.

“It was an accident!” shouted Zack, but his voice was drowned out by the sound of a butt slamming into the side of the butt-mobile.

Photo

Sat, 07 Apr 2012 03:43:44 -0400

litglutton: Cover of a German fairy tales book, image of Snow...

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 10:00:05 -0500

litglutton:

Cover of a German fairy tales book, image of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

thyia: Ezra Jack Keats - 1965 Póster de la Children Book Week...

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 20:07:52 -0500

thyia:

Ezra Jack Keats - 1965

Póster de la Children Book Week de EE.UU.

Photo

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 19:56:06 -0500

realkidsgoodbooks: Mirror (2010) by Jeannie Baker. If you’re...

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 19:28:00 -0500

realkidsgoodbooks:

Mirror (2010) by Jeannie Baker.

If you’re up on children’s books, you’ve probably seen this already. And if not, get your hands on it pronto. Jeannie Baker has created a stunning wordless masterpiece with her collages depicting a day in the life of two young boys, one in Australia and one in Morocco.

Mirror has a unique lay out. You open the book and flip through two sets of stories simultaneously — the similarities, differences and intersections between the lives of these two boys (and by extension any two people) become the real narrative.

Have I mentioned how beautiful these collages are? Wow.

Wow. That is a crazy talent.

Silly Symphonies - Who Killed Cock Robin? (1935) I also did an...

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 13:03:28 -0500

Silly Symphonies - Who Killed Cock Robin? (1935)

I also did an entry on an 1865 version of The Death and Burial of Poor Cock Robin last year. The best thing about this one is that Jenny Wren is clearly Mae West.

Silly Symphonies - The Water Babies, 1935. I did a detailed...

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 12:58:00 -0500

Silly Symphonies - The Water Babies, 1935.

I did a detailed entry on The Water Babies last year.

I am a winner. Or so says the picture.

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 03:03:47 -0500

I am a winner. Or so says the picture.

ebookporn: Well, I could use the loose change….

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 17:54:00 -0500

ebookporn:

Well, I could use the loose change….

'Hugo' author's latest leaves readers 'Wonderstruck'

Sun, 27 Nov 2011 21:46:18 -0500

'Hugo' author's latest leaves readers 'Wonderstruck':

Interesting little interview with Brian Selznick.

Photo

Fri, 25 Nov 2011 10:05:05 -0500

Tom Gauld * This post was originally credited to Edward Gorey...

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 13:12:28 -0500

Tom Gauld

* This post was originally credited to Edward Gorey but it was pointed out to me that there’s a different artist’s signature in the corner. I’d found this during a Google search for Gorey & it does resemble his work, so I just took it for granted. I’ve fixed the credit now, though. Sorry for any confusion! -
coldraresteaksandwich

I miss the word “jalopies.” Seems like it’s fading into obscurity.

Oh, my goodness. It hardly looks real!

Sun, 20 Nov 2011 19:44:10 -0500

Oh, my goodness. It hardly looks real!