Update Announcements by Craig Stark #71, 26 June 2006

Science Fiction icon Ray Bradbury is living proof of what happens when you do what you love doing all of your life: Not only do you get to live to be 86, but also, at 86 years young, you're still doing what you love - and most noteworthy of all have retained the acumen to do it. BookThink's Science Fiction Editor Timothy Doyle had the honor to interview Bradbury recently, and time and time again his love of writing is vitally, almost youthfully expressed in his replies. At a later date, Tim will also contribute an analysis of Bradbury's work for booksellers and collectors. He would've had it done for today's issue, but when you're face to face with a bibliography that numbers well over 600 entries, I think he deserves a breather first.

Starting in today's issue, a new series - "The Future of Bookselling: How to Succeed in Spite of It." No doubt, it's difficult to accurately predict what will happen a year or more from now, and predicting what will happen more specifically in bookselling might be more difficult yet. However, there are some trends that seem to be pointing in a direction that will negatively impact booksellers who sit on what they're doing today. This series will address those trends and suggest some strategies for meeting them. "Part I: Introduction To the Series" appears today.