Target Book Club

A recent article in The New York Times discussed how the Target department store chain was having an impact on book sales. For example, Tatiana de Rosnay's Sarah's Key sold only 2000 copies in its original publication run. After being chosen as a selection of Target's Bookmarked Book Club, a specially printed edition sold over 145,000 copies. More information is found in the article: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/22/books/22target.html?scp=1&sq=target%20books&st=cse

Online Vs. Physical Bookstores

There was an interesting article by Simon Heffer in The Daily Telegraph about his preference for brick-and-mortar bookstores over online ones. He says the the experience of physically looking for and examining a book in a book store trumps looking for them in cyberspace. But that experience is fast becoming a thing of the past as bookstores shut down and move to the Internet. I agree with that sentiment, even though I bought a couple of books this weekend from Ebay and Alibris. The selection is wider at online bookstores, but Heffer is right that there is something special about browsing in a bookstore.

"There's No Smell on the Shelves of Cyberspace": http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/simonheffer/5994624/Theres-no-smell-on-the-shelves-of-cyberspace.html