The New York Times carried a story on the front page of its Friday Business section about a book. This book is a novel entitled (appropriately for this piece) "The Big Disruption" by Jessica Powell. Of course, it is about Silicon Valley, which … [Continue reading]
The departing CEO reminds us that Barnes and Noble is of interest and a source of concern for all publishers
When Barnes & Noble interrupted Holiday week day-dreaming to announce that recently elevated CEO Demos Parneros had been abruptly dismissed for a contract violation that also eliminated his severance, it not only ignited a minor industry of … [Continue reading]
Words-to-be-read are losing ground to words-to-be-heard, a new stage of digital content evolution
"Words-to-be-read" must now become a content category, along with still images, video, and audio. Audio includes "words-to-be-heard". We are in what must be the early stages of a reordering of primacy among these varieties of "content for delivery … [Continue reading]
The dominance of Amazon needs to be addressed but it is far more attributable to natural circumstances than it is anybody’s fault
As things evolve in an era of rapid change, it is human nature to assign credit or blame for any drastic alterations in circumstances. And so we have the book business, with its last remaining chain store behemoth, Barnes & Noble, in a period of … [Continue reading]
Lots of Spanish speakers in the United States, but not so much of a book market for Spanish books
Somebody somewhere reported last month that the United States is the home country to the second largest number of Spanish-speakers in the world, after Mexico. Since I am speaking in Madrid to Spanish publishers at the end of May, that seemed like … [Continue reading]