Brick & Mortar Ain't What It Used to Be

Yesterday, PublishersWeekly.com reported that eBook sales are on the rise, albeit at a slower pace than before. Google's new eBookstore is expected to have a large impact on sales going forward, but every book purchased electronically is a printed book that's not bought at a brick & mortar retailer, or even from an eRetailer like Amazon. Bookstores are hurting, and despite its play for Barnes & Noble, at Borders "for the first nine months of the year, total sales fell 15%, to $1.52 billion, and the loss increased to $185.2 million from $169.3 million in the comparable period last year."

The story is covered in the article Borders Sales Disappoint, Loss Soars; Liquidity Issues Arise, by Jim Milliot.

I'm Sure Charles Dickens Awaits His Next Royalty Statement With Giddy Anticipation

From today's Publisher's Marketplace eNewsletter, Publisher's Lunch:

Oprah to Pick Two Dickens' Books
Monday Oprah Winfrey selects Charles Dickens' Great Expectations and A Tale of Two Cities as her new book club picks, revealed early when the AP purchased a copy of Penguin's special edition $20 paperback with Oprah Book Club logo on the cover.

While Penguin's edition is the official one, multiple classics publishers have the opportunity to benefit from the selections, including Barnes & Noble. Penguin's official ebook edition is priced at $7.99, as previously reported, though ebook editions are easily obtainable for anywhere from free to ninety-nine cents (per book). Google's just-launched eBooks initiative also prominently highlights their free public-domain editions of the two Oprah-selected Dickens titles.