Book News, In Brief

This is, without a doubt, the ideal bookstore for in-store author appearances.



Cuz misery loves company: It wasn't just your bookstore that had sh*tty sales in July. According to PW, sales slipped .5% nationwide.


All of the numbers aren't in yet, but it looks like the first day sales of Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol actually lost money for most retailers.


Okay, so you've read Barack's beach reads, Bill Clinton's book picks, and Michelle Obama's favorite kids lit. Isn't it about time you checked out Osama bin Laden's reading list for Americans?


Over at B&N.com, a former Senior Vice President and Executive Editor-in-Chief at Random House surveys the current condition of the publishing industry and proclaims, "I'm glad to have left this all behind."


Here's how they should have been marketing the Espresso book machine all along -- not as an automatic printing press for bestsellers, but as a source of instant gratification for would-be authors with unsellable manuscripts.