Special Announcements by Craig Stark #137, 7 September 2009

After publishing our interview with Alibris CEO Brian Elliott several weeks ago, bookseller David Greif wrote me a detailed response expressing his disagreement with a forum letter we had published along with the interview - written, you may recall, by BookThink's News Editor Karin Bergsagel. Since David's letter was primarily a response to Karin's thoughts, I asked Karin if she would respond to David's letter, and the result follows.

Also today, Media Editor Catherine Petruccione is back with an in-depth interview with author Lizzie Skurnick, whose recently published book, Shelf Discovery: The Teen Classics We Never Stopped Reading, is a celebration of authors she and other women loved in their formative years. As so often happens in these conversations, it's not only the new book that gets talked about (which points to some collectible authors, by the way) but associated issues that often impact bookselling itself - and in turn our own businesses. I think you'll find this interview especially informative about what's actually going on with young readers today and why - and what impact this may have on the future of bookselling.

Speaking of the future of bookselling, I'll be back next week with Part III of my series, Bookselling in the 21st century. I'm just getting warmed up!

Meanwhile, take a look at BookThink's ongoing specials.