Volunteer Needed

I'm still intrigued with "Bestseller," the upcoming U.K. television show that will supposedly do for unpublished authors what shows like "American Idol" have done for unsigned singers. I would very much like to receive first hand reports from someone in the U.K. as each of the six episodes air there. So if you have the time, and want to share your impressions, I would be very happy to post your thoughts here. Just let me know and we'll go from there.

I'll also take a second to make note of a couple of websites that you guys might find interesting.

We all seem to believe that we buy "too many" books, although I have no idea how to define "too many" and I wonder if it really exists for most of us. But I do know for a fact that we all want to stretch our book-buying money as far as possible. One of the best websites I've seen for an easy comparison of book prices is booksprice.com. It has a wizard of a search engine that allows for searching for best total price, including shipping and handling, and it works for DVDs and CDs, as well.

I've spotted a few online book clubs lately but I find the Oxford World's Classics Book Club to be a little different because it is strictly for a discussion of classic works. The book club is currently discussing Joseph Conrad's The Secret Agent, a book I have to admit that I haven't read, but I'm going to keep my eye on the club to see what's next.

The web has so much to offer readers these days that I'm starting to wonder when I'm going to have time to read...nice problem to have, though.

Will Borders Survive?

Borders Group has been downgraded to a "Sell" by one major investment company this week and speculation about the survival of Borders bookstores is becoming more and more common in the financial press. And, as discussed earlier, the expectation that Borders and Barnes & Noble will merge seems to be growing also because of the rate at which Borders is bleeding money. (The photo shows the London Borders bookstore before Borders announced that it was pulling out of the U.K. I spent many a happy Saturday morning in this store.)

Sadly, though, any merger of the two giant bookstore chains will result in the existence of fewer bookstores because of the overlap in territory that the two chains share today. I suspect that would mean longer lines and fewer book choices for most of us.

...a combined Borders / Barnes & Noble would sell about $8.5 billion. What is being overlooked here is the # of duplicate stores that would need to be closed, affecting total sales. This is not a 1+1=2 equation. This is more of a 1+1=1.5 equation.

What would be improved from the merger would be profitability, rather that size. Borders is currently going downhill fast, and has not had a profitable quarter in over a year now. Cash flow, negative in 2004 and 2005, was positive in 2006 only because of $317 million in borrowing. Borders need to merge to survive, not create a powerhouse. With national bookstore sales declining and less than 10% of its books sold online (Borders jointly owns its site with Amazon), a Barnes & Noble-Borders combination is not going to challenge Amazon anytime soon, it just assures they survive.

But there is now some speculation that a merger of Borders and Barnes & Noble is not as likely because of a recent FTC decision to oppose another proposed merger of similar giants.

The firm (Goldman Sachs) believes a merger with Barnes & Noble (BKS) is less likely following the FTC's decision to oppose the Whole Foods Market (WFMI) and Wild Oats Markets (OATS) deal.

But here's the kicker:

Heck, if they just wait long enough, Borders will probably go under and Barnes & Noble can just pick it up on the cheap.

Honestly, I never would have dreamed that Borders or Barnes & Noble would be in this predicament. It all makes me wonder now that they have grown so large, with so many locations, whether or not they will ever have the volume and the margins to cover all the expenses involved with that kind of growth. Would they have been better off by settling for fewer stores and less "dominance" of the market? Is it easier for a chain like Books-A-Million to make it with fewer stores?

The Glory Cloak

The many heroes produced by and during the American Civil War have been well served by the countless historians who continue to write new books about them even today. But somewhat neglected have been the women who contributed so much to the war efforts of both sides of this tragic war, women who disguised themselves as men and joined battle regiments, women who served as nurses in military hospitals under conditions that can hardly be imagined today, and women who stayed home to run family farms and businesses on their own.

Patricia O'Brien's historical novel, The Glory Cloak, recounts the experiences of two of those women: Louisa May Alcott, author of Little Women, and Clara Barton, battlefield nurse to the Union Army who placed her own life in jeopardy to save the lives of others. Their stories are told through the eyes of Susan Gray, a fictitious third cousin of the Alcott sisters who joined their household as a child after the loss of her own parents. Susan, ten years younger than Louisa, is so much like the tomboyish Louisa that the two develop a relationship that is closer than any that Louisa has with any of her sisters.

Susan and Louisa quickly grow frustrated with sewing uniforms, wrapping bandages and knitting socks for Union soldiers and decide to do more. That decision brings them to Washington D.C.'s Union Hospital where they are taken on as nurses under hospital conditions for which nothing could have prepared them. At first overwhelmed by the stench of unwashed bodies, festering wounds and un-emptied bedpans, the women soon find themselves carrying sawed off arms and legs to be dumped in piles on the hospital grounds and trying to comfort soldiers painfully suffering their final hours.

Amidst all the chaos that is Union Hospital, Louisa and Susan meet Clara Barton who sometimes visits the hospital to see the men with whom she has served in the field. The two nurses idolize Barton because of her selfless bravery and, as the friendship develops over time, Barton becomes their mentor and adviser.

The heart of The Glory Cloak is the friendship between Susan Gray and Louisa May Alcott, a relationship that is shattered for several years because of the love that both women feel for one mysterious soldier whom they nursed at Union Hospital. But Patricia O'Brien wraps her story in the historical context of its times and along the way the reader comes to know well the Alcott family and friends, including the Emersons and the Thoreaus. Never having read Alcott's Little Women, I was only vaguely aware of her personal and family history before reading The Glory Cloak. Now I want to learn more about the remarkable Alcott family and their times and, in particular, I want to read Alcott's Hospital Sketches, in which she recounts her experiences as a Civil War nurse.

I was drawn to The Glory Cloak because I am a fan of Civil War fiction, and I was not disappointed in that regard, but I think this novel will appeal equally to fans of Louisa May Alcott and Little Women. It is a wonderfully touching story cloaked in historical fact, a painless history lesson for those who might sometimes find history to be a dull subject.

Rated at: 4.0

A Blogroll Game

I noticed this over at The Book Mine Set and I agree with John that it looks like some nice summer fun and a good way for everyone to expand contacts and friendships within the blogging community. Thanks to Dewey for coming up with this one.

It runs to Father's Day, June 17.

44 Places to Get Free Books

I haven't had the time to check out all 44 of these sites yet but I know for a fact that several of the sites are great for ebooks and audio books. Most of the books on offer for free are classics and other books whose copyrights have long expired, but there are also sites that feature the work of new writers who see trading their early work for some exposure and word-of-mouth advertising as a positive thing for their careers.

Friedbeef's Tech has the Best Places to Get Free Books - the Ultimate Guide, a listing, with links, of the 44 sites. You might have some fun with this one. My favorites include Wowio which offers full version ebooks on just about every topic imaginable, ManyBooks which is a great spot to download the classics in ebook format, and Podiobooks which makes available audio books from new writers looking to spread the word about themselves.
But that's only 3 of the 44 that are listed, and I've only visited the sites of about a dozen of them so far. So if you find something that you really like, please leave me a heads-up in the comments section.

"Reality" TV for Book Lovers

For a long time, I've ridiculed "Reality" TV to anyone who stands still long enough to listen to me. I detest it and I sincerely believe that it's as much a culprit in the dumbing down of America as anything else that the media have thrown at us. Any time that I stumble onto thirty seconds of "The Bachelor" I wonder how this country manages to survive for another day. Now I see that "Reality" TV for book lovers may be the next chapter in the never ending parade because Simon Cowell's big brother, Tony, is about to launch such a show in the U.K. The photo shows Tony Cowell, standing, at a London Book Fair panel discussion.

I lived in London during some of the '90s and, from what I can tell, "Reality" TV had its start in the U.K. because several of the shows that I remember from those days were later adapted for American audiences (Survivor, American Idol, Big Brother, and the like). So if "Bestseller" is a hit in the U.K. it is only a matter of time (and not much of that) before knockoffs of the show are on television all over the world, including the U.S.

Now would-be writers are to get the reality TV show treatment in an attempt to find a new Dan Brown or JK Rowling.

Aspiring authors will be invited to pitch their ideas for a blockbuster novel to a panel of judges headed by Tony Cowell, big brother of The X Factor's Simon Cowell.

Winners will receive a six-figure advance and a deal with a major publisher in Britain and America. Contestants who survive the first round will be 'mentored' by a line-up of authors expected to include Jackie Collins and Jeffrey Archer.

"We want people of different backgrounds and ages to take part' said Tony Cowell. "It could be a 20-year-old student who adores Harry Potter or an 80-year-old lady who wants to be the new Agatha Christie.

Viewers will see the mechanics of writing a book - how people come up with a crazy idea and make it work against all the odds.

"The only conditions are that they must have a completed manuscript and never have been published before. Some will have had hundreds of rejections. But we want to give them another chance."

I've really got mixed emotions about this one. On the one hand, the show might offer some insight into how the publishing business really works and might present some interesting writers who refuse to give in to the rejections that they've received. On the other hand, Jackie Collins is on the panel of judges. Enough said.