After our discovery yesterday that The Pale King was already on sale, the New York Times finds lots of angry booksellers, but not much by way of explanation.
Pale King Confusion
Civil War & Historical Stupidity
Ta-Nehisi Coates wants to make America less stupid about the Civil War. He recommends five books we should all read to gain a better understanding of American history during this war and assures us that “I’ve tried to think very hard about readability, and to offer books you might actually complete.” So no excuses, start here
Joan
Sara Davidson’s Joan: Forty Years of Life, Loss, and Friendship with Joan Didion is an intimate portrait of one of America’s most revered and private writers.
My Favorite Movies, Cheap
This just in: Three of my all-time favorite movies are on sale on Amazon for $6.99: Shaun of the Dead, Dazed and Confused, and The Jerk. There’s a bunch of other DVDs on sale too.
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Tuesday New Release Day: Barrett; Gurganus; Levy; Vann; Beatty; McGuane; Ishiguro
Out this week: Young Skins by Colin Barrett; Decoy by Allan Gurganus; The Unloved by Deborah Levy; Aquarium by David Vann; The Sellout by Paul Beatty; Crow Fair by Thomas McGuane; and Kazuo Ishiguro’s first new novel in ten years (which our own Lydia Kiesling reviewed yesterday). For more on these and other new titles, check out our Great 2015 Book Preview.
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Put a Bird on It
Jonathan Franzen spent the first half of his life thinking about literature, now he plans to devote the other half to birds. It looks like Freedom is becoming reality as he puts on his bird-watching binoculars again to discuss the “appalling” songbird hunting in the Mediterranean for National Geographic.
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Powerhouse
Big news in the publishing world: Penguin and Random House have announced their decision to merge.
From Day Job to Night Job
“The idea came to Mr. Mallory one night as he sat on his couch watching an old favorite, Hitchcock’s Rear Window. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a lamp switch on in the apartment across the street.” Published under a pseudonym, former executive editor Daniel Mallory‘s debut novel The Woman in the Window was acquired and published by his own imprint. Pair with: an essay about the emergence of “reimagined thrillers” that create characters out of setting.
OK, this seems to be telling a different story than yesterday’s discussion, when it seemed that bookstores also got the book early and could start selling…
Yes. It appears that there was some miscommunication, with some in the supply chain focusing on the 4/15 date and others not. I know that Amazon’s policy is that unless there is a specific “do not sell until” date specified by the publisher, they will start shipping the book as soon as they have copies to ship.
Yeah, now I’m frustrated and angry on behalf of others. If it just went out early all-around, then I wouldn’t see the deal so much, but with it not going out early all-around and with some, such as City Lights, apparently having been told that the there was a specific “do not sell until” date, there’s reason to be upset.
Interestingly, last I checked the Kindle version was still in pre-order, ready for release 4/15.
While I understand the frustration that independent bookstores must be feeling right now, I do not understand how there is a bookseller in Brooklyn who’s real name is Zack Zook.
*Sorry, that should read “whose real name.” I feel like a real Zook right now.
First, the whole strict on sale/lay down/street date is a pain in the ass. Is it really that hard to ship books to arrive simultaneously? You know…man on the moon and all that. Most booksellers now do not seem to know the difference between strict on sale and pub date, so if you call to find a book you get some really inaccurate information.
I found out that Pale King was available when I checked the St. Mark’s (Bowery, NYC) regular Wednesday New Titles list and saw they had 35 copies on hand. I found my copy yesterday at The New England Mobile Book Fair in Dedham MA. Both are independent bookstores.