Publisher to drop gendered children’s titles after parents campaign | Books | The Guardian

Buster Books, publisher of colouring books for ‘Brilliant Boys’ and ‘Gorgeous Girls’ to switch to ‘gender neutral’ titles in future

Source: Publisher to drop gendered children’s titles after parents campaign | Books | The Guardian

JZ comment: Is this PC gone too far? Is it really right to campaign that kids’ books be ‘gender neutral’? No boy’s books for boys and girl’s books for girl? Isn’t the gender separation simply a way to have a target audience for writers/publishers?

Children's Book Publisher Drops Gendered Titles... Click To Tweet

Amazon shares fall over 10pc despite record profit

The world’s biggest retailer posted a $482m profit for the last three months of 2015, which beat the previous high of $416m reported five years ago and was more than the previous 15 quarters combined.

However, profits were still below expectations for a period that included both the crucial Christmas period and Black Friday, the biggest online shopping day of the year, sending shares tumbling. They fell by more than 12pc in after-hours trading.

After years in which Amazon made little-to-no money, choosing to invest its enormous sales into becoming the world’s most-dominant internet storefront, shareholders have had…

Source: Amazon shares fall over 10pc despite record profit

Amazon shares drop 10% despite profits... Click To Tweet

Publishers’ Sales Decline 2% Through Third Quarter of 2015 | Digital Book World

The AAP released an update: publishers’ sales for the first three quarters of 2015 were down 2.0 percent at $11.9 billion, compared to $12.1 billion in 2014. Adult books up 2.9% while Children/YA were down 7.4%…

Source: Publishers’ Sales Decline 2% Through Third Quarter of 2015 | Digital Book World

JZ comment: When reading this post and the stats, do remember that the AAP figures represent just their own ‘snapshot’ of the sales and of the industry. Amazon for example, the world’s biggest bookseller, do not report sales figures so their entire volume of sales is missing from this report. If anything, the AAP figures may be able to speak to trend changes, but again it is only a fraction of the industry as a whole, and should be viewed as that.

Publishers' sales declining by 2%? Click To Tweet

 

Amazon Prime membership surges by 35pc

Amazon signed up millions more users to its Prime service last year, as the company expands the range of offerings available to its paid-for members.

The number of Prime members in the US reached 54 million, with 47 per cent of all US Amazon customers now signed up to the paid-for service, according to Consumer Intelligence Research Partners.

Amazon is notoriously vague when it comes to Prime subscribers. It said it added three million worldwide customers to Prime in the first three weeks of December, following its Black Friday price slash. But in reference to the total user base, all it would reveal is that it had “tens of millions of members worldwide.”

Source: Amazon Prime membership surges by 35pc

Amazon Prime membership surges by 35pc... tens of millions of members worldwide... Click To Tweet

Doing Social Media When You Don’t Want To – She Writes

Author Takes a Break from Social Media and You Won’t Believe What Happened Next!

You’ve seen those headlines before; they’re the lifeblood of the Internet. Click on this link! Come to our website! Read this amazing, yet mainly insubstantial, article and our site will win the Internet! Clicks and links and counters and imprints, that’s the language of today’s marketing…

Source: [THE WRITER’S LIFE] Write Something – She Writes

Doing Social Media When You Don't Want To... Click To Tweet

Now I See Clearly: An Author’s Personal Experience with Monovision Cataract Surgery

It goes without saying that the eyes are one of the vital tools in an author’s armory. If this topic isn’t applicable to you now, it may be a topic of discussion in your family, since everyone will need cataract surgery if they live long enough.

Source: Now I See Clearly: An Author’s Personal Experience with Monovision Cataract Surgery

What Should Authors Expect to Earn? – She Writes

A funny thing about authors: they’re not a modest bunch. Even the most humble, down-to-earth authors I know have wild expectations about the potential their book has to be a best-seller; to earn out; to change their life. I get it. A lot of authors pin their dreams on their books, and there’s something beautiful about that. And while no aspiring author needs to be denied hope, or to be told not to dream big, I’ve seen the flip side of soaring too high. Sometimes hope balloons get launched only to be deflated later in so many ways—slowly with the dawning of a realization that the aim was too high; violently with angry resentment; tragically with the onset of self-pity. If knowledge is power, authors could spare themselves these sad aftermaths by understanding what the industry considers to be good sales numbers …

Source: What Should Authors Expect to Earn? – She Writes

What Authors Should Expect To Earn... Click To Tweet

Comic book publishers thrive in the industry

Dynamite, IDW and BOOM! Studios have carved a new niche in comics with a mix of original content and well-known licensed characters.

The trio put out a wide range of series owned by their creators, but key to their success has been licensing well-known media properties — everything from “Transformers” to “Game of Thrones,” “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers” to “Sons of Anarchy.” In a North American comic book market estimated to be at least $800 million, independent titles draw in fresh audiences, excite old fan bases hungry for new stories and underwrite the companies’ original series.

Source: Comic book publishers thrive in the industry

Comic Books Thriving! ... at least for three publishers Click To Tweet

Sorry, Science Says Speed Reading Doesn’t Work | Inc.com

Speed reading might sound like the perfect modern-day superpower. Unfortunately, it’s impossible.

There’s good reason to wish you could read faster. Not only do excellent book recommendations come out faster than you can note down the titles, more or less actually make it from cover to cover, but a host of highly successful people also insist that one of the surest routes to greatness is becoming an avid reader.

But don’t let the sensible wish that you could squeeze more reading into your busy life lead you to be seduced by the idea of speed reading. It sounds pretty close to a real-world superpower, but sadly, according to new science, it just isn’t possible.

Source: Sorry, Science Says Speed Reading Doesn’t Work | Inc.com

Science Says Speed Reading is Impossible... Click To Tweet

2015 Print Sales Up Slightly in Canada

Unit sales were up by 1%, according to BookNet Canada, while e-book sales remained at the same level they reached in 2013. An indication the book market is settling down, in Canada at least?

Source: 2015 Print Sales Up Slightly in Canada

Canadian print sales on the up in 2015 Click To Tweet
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