On the first day of 9th grade, my son came home to tell me about his Global class. The teacher had held up a dollar bill and asked the kids what it was. One said “money,” another said “a dollar,” etc. The teacher went on to explain that it was in fact just a piece of paper, and that the faith people put in that paper is what gives it value. That story blew my son away (and me too, in fact).

Cut to this week when I have been asked for more FREE things than I ever remember. In one week, I received the following requests:

• Dozens of people (media, bloggers, and everyday ordinary folk) have asked for FREE tickets to a conference we’re hosting (And by the way, this conference business is supposed to be a revenue source because everyone wants their books for FREE these days. Turns out they want conferences for free too.).

• A TV Show wants 140 FREE books for the audience members. This seems to be a standard request these days. I’ve never quite understood how the author and publisher benefit from this, but it is practically expected.

• A blogger asked me for 100 copies of an author’s book for FREE to give away to his readers. He was writing a review. After much deliberation and hesitation, I agreed to 50 copies, which still seemed extreme to me.

At first I was appalled, and then I realized that maybe this is The Economics of Integrity…and maybe I should be going back to these requesters and making my own counter-requests…and maybe this is how the new economy works.

Not sure whether to laugh, cry, or applaud at Andy Spade’s new installation.

(via Suite 2046)

Next Monday I’ll be stopping at the Hudson Newsstand in Port Authority to pick up the December issue of Esquire, and not because I need to read up on cummerbunds and weekend watches. As a twenty-one-year-old female, I’m hardly Esquire’s target demographic, but they’ve caught my eye with their upcoming issue featuring augmented reality. And, well, Robert Downey Jr. on the cover also helps. But I want to see augmented reality in action, because it sure looks cool in the videos.

After Esquire announced the new feature last week, posts quickly popped up reviewing the magazine’s execution and asking questions. December will surely see a boost in sales due to people like me buying the magazine for the novelty of the experience, but is this something that will go on to save the print industry? Will people be able to appreciate the need for a webcam to read something in print? Will the cost of AR technology ever be completely offset by ad sales and thus a sustainable feature? Are we creating a future for AR?

It’s important to remember that, while you may be adding a medium, you might not necessarily be adding value. In an OpEd for AgencySpy, Jack Benoff criticized Esquire for using AR as a self-proclaimed gimmick instead of adding any value beyond what could be accomplished online. As far as we can tell, the interactive feature is mostly entertainment based, but Benoff offers one way to take AR to the next, necessary level:

Of course it’s easy to sit here and rip on someone else’s work without providing any real value, so here’s an idea: what if Esquire’s “fashion spread” allowed people to overlay images of an article of clothing on themselves ( for example ties) so that they could match (or in my case, learn how to match) them with their existing wardrobe. Editorial content could provide tips, tricks and insights. Now, that might provide some real value to consumers looking to make a purchase (not to mention the brands that sell those articles of clothing) and would be an execution that could be updated and utilized all year long (that is, Esquire could sell the space to various retailers each and every season).

So while I’ll be picking up the issue to marvel at the AR magic, I would love to see magazines (or even books!) take on augmented reality to engage with the reader and provide valuable interaction.

Image: Latest book prices at Walmart.com

The argument over book pricing started to heat up with Amazon and then BN.com offering e-books at $9.99; now that Wal-Mart and Amazon have started offering the top ten industry hardcovers for $10.00 each, that argument is reaching a boil. Beyond the news stories about this “price war,” there is a lot of traffic on blogs, Twitter, etc…about what this means for authors and publishers. For instance, on today’s “ShelfAwareness” Robert D. Utter of the Other Tiger bookstore in Westerly, R.I. says,

What ARE the economics? How much money are these two behemoths losing on each sale when costs are taken into account? What would the P&L and balance sheets look like for this model? At what point is their behavior illegal and anticompetitive?

To answer him briefly, retailers pay publishers roughly 50% of the suggested retail price for books. For instance, when Wal-Mart buys a $35.00 book from Scribner, they pay Scribner about $17.50. If Wal-Mart then chooses to sell that book for $10.00, they are losing about $7.50 per copy sold. So, the “P&L” doesn’t look so good in this case for Wal-Mart, but clearly there are larger agendas involved for these companies, who are willing to use these books as “loss leaders” to establish their predominance on the retailing landscape. Their behavior is not illegal or anticompetitive; in fact, it would be illegal for publishers to tell any American retailer what to charge for a book; that’s why it’s called a “suggested” retail price.

The short-term results of this price war are some losses for Wal-Mart and Amazon, and some brisk sales for the publishers whose books have been chosen. But the “road kill” here are the accounts who can’t afford to participate in the race—traditional booksellers. And in the long term, these large retailers may succeed in convincing consumers that $10.00 is the right price for a book, whether digital or physical. That would put an enormous squeeze on an already-squeezed business, since of the $12.50 we get now for a $25.00 book, we spend about $2.00 to produce each copy, about $1.00 to market each copy, and another $1.00 or so on freight and warehousing, etc., leaving us roughly $8.50 out of which we must pay the author (who would get $4.25 if this were a profit-share, or $3.75 if this were a 15% royalty) and cover our significant overheads, before we end up with a slim profit.

I wonder which book was just too good to put down…

Farrar, Straus and Giroux's No Impact Man by Colin Beavan

I read this article in The New York Observer yesterday about book jackets, and how some publishers are forgoing dust jackets in favor of stamping a design directly onto the cover boards. It got me thinking about how I read my books, and if I would actually prefer hardcovers without jackets. Sometimes I do remove the jackets before reading because they slip around when the book is opened, and they’re less likely to be torn or folded when set to the side. Other times though, I use the jacket as a bookmark, taking one of the flaps and inserting it between the pages. I tend to dog-ear paperbacks, but if I have a flap handy, I’ll use that. So, I personally value book jackets for the designs that I don’t want to ruin and the less obvious uses. The tell-tale designs also clue me in to what others are reading with a quick glance – if you’re on a Kindle or have removed the jacket, you’ve probably had people have to ask you what you’re reading before launching into a conversation.

The way most books are printed today, the actual boards are minimally designed with simpler fonts and two-toned material, with the understanding that there will be a jacket in place to please the eye. The jacket, which is easier and cheaper to produce, allows for range in the color, typeface, images, and even texture of the design. Printing or stamping directly onto the boards is limited, even if one were to design without a jacket in mind. Covers can still look attractive and appealing without jackets, but it’s more difficult to differentiate between books if manufacturers can only produce certain color boards and stamp certain typefaces. Since we all know that people do actually judge a book by its cover, jackets are still needed to make most books stand out.

This isn’t to throw out the idea of designing uncovered boards – in fact I really appreciate books that can offer an aesthetically pleasing and unique cover when the jacket is removed. (We added a little bit of flair to Who Is Mark Twain? by stamping Twain’s signature onto the board.) Maybe what we need is a happy medium, where books won’t be considered completely naked if stripped of their jackets.

I just got back from two weeks off. In the past I’d travel with a suitcase full of books to alleviate any fears that I might not have something good to read (nothing worse than not liking your vacation book). Summer 2009, I traveled with 1 Kindle, 1 iPhone, and 1 Blackberry. I read books, blogs, magazines and newspapers on all 3 devices. It was glorious in every way, though I do have to admit to having one sinking feeling on the plane when I realized I had nothing to read during take off. Besides that moment, the transition to digital reading is complete. I loved being able to download a book from a boat when I finished one and was ready for the next.

Here’s quick and dirty re-cap of what I read:

A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah — I loved it. I realize I’m late to the party on this one, but I never got around to it when it first came out, and now my son has to read for school. I sobbed and sobbed numerous times. I had one moment of thinking “is this all true?” — and when I looked up online and saw controversy, I clicked off quickly. I don’t want to know. To me it was real. Takes a powerful book to move me like that.

The Odyssey — Again, Summer assignment for my son. I read quickly, had trouble enjoying. Will go back and re-read when he gets home and try to find the joy (suggestions welcome). I did read this in college and remember the gist — I’m looking to find the joy though.

Lies My Mother Never Told Me by Kaylie Jones — This is a memoir by the daughter of the prize-winning novelist, James Jones that comes out on August 25, 2009 from William Morrow. I toggled between this and The Odyssey. It’s about a young woman’s struggle with addiction (her own and her mother’s) as well as her coming of age as a writer. Set in Paris, New York, and Sag Harbor with characters such as Bill Styron and Norman Mailer throughout the book, this is a lot of fun to read. (Full disclosure: I haven’t quite finished, but I’m looking forward to getting back to it).

Double Take by Kevin Michael Connolly — comes out from HarperStudio on October 13. I’d read this before on the fly, but wanted to re-read in the comfort of a hammock overlooking the ocean. Loved it every bit as much the second time around. This is the story of young man born without legs who traveled the world with his camera- and found out what it truly means to be human along the way. I think this is going to be big. Great quotes just in from Sara Gruen and Lee Woodruff.