Ye Olde Partners Page

*News From the Glamorous World of Bookselling*

"Don't tell me what the poets are doing
Don't tell me that they're talking tough
Don't tell me that they're anti-social
Somehow not anti-social enough . . ."
--Poets, The Tragically Hip

1) SOMETHING ON . . . I was surprised on Monday when the first three calls I took were requests for John Heilemann and Mark Halperin's Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and the Race of a Lifetime (9780061733635) 27.99. Apparently the authors and a McCain aide had been on 60 Minutes, and as much as I am a huge Andy Rooney fan, I had missed it. I'm sure most of you are familiar with the backstory on this title by now, but on Monday I had no idea what this was about, so as I'm want to do, I decided to check out Amazon.com and find out what the hub-bub was, bub. I usually check out their little star chart that they have for customer reviews first, and there were 20 five-star and 28 one-star reviews with nothing in-between. It was peculiar. My initial thought was that the Sarah Palin fans were giving it one-star critiques, but that didn't make any sense. The beauty of this book is that it skewers both sides of the political spectrum and thus, it would appeal to both liberals and conservatives alike. No, there was something more insidious going on here. I began reading the reviews:

Paintlady, who hasn't mastered the 'shift' key yet, said, "the publishers don't need to release this as a kindle . . . and i guess i don't need to buy it."
Rebecca Bowie, who has mastered the 'cap lock' key, added, "Not fair to rate 1 star when I've not read the book??? I am rating the PRODUCT. This PRODUCT is unsatisfactory to me because it is not available on Kindle."

And then there was this little gem from the appropriately entitled MrAdequate, " . . . [A]ccording to Harper Collins website, [it] will not be released until February 23rd. Hence, I can only assume it is terrible. Yes, I AM a childish political nerd with a Kindle . . ."

So I soon realized that every one-star review was a Kindle owner whining like a petulant child, which I actually found to be fairly entertaining. Personally, I applaud the decision by Harper Collins to delay the release of the e-book version. It makes business sense. We will have stock on Monday. Backorders are piling up like, well, one-star reviews of Game Change on Amazon.com . . .

2) FIREWORKS . . . Oprah is featuring Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Committed (9780670021659) 26.95 on her show today. It will be big . . .


Odds & Sods

Beth Hoffman is the first-time author of Saving CeeCee Honeycutt (9780670021390) 25.95 and I've been hearing nothing but good things about it. Mary Ellen at Aria Books said, "It has a charming cast of characters that you will fall in love with and the city of Savannah makes a beautiful backdrop." Our own Debbie mentioned she couldn't wait to get home last night, so she could pick it up again. Perhaps a star has been born . . .
Steve Hamilton, author of The Lock Artist (9780312380427) 24.99 will be popping in here to sign stock tomorrow. And the usual rules apply for purchasing autographed copies . . .