The Literary Life

From the staff of BookSwim.com

Day: Wednesday, February 11th, 2009

MarketWatch.com: “E-books finally gain momentum with Kindle” by Therese Poletti

Read the full article at MarketWatch.com

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Amazon.com Inc. and its Kindle electronic book reader finally are creating a real market for e-books, a tech business on the verge of blossoming for years but never quite ready for prime time…

…Eric Ginsberg, vice president of marketing at BookSwim based in Newark, N.J., agrees that pricing is key…..

Review o’ the Week: So Brave, Young, and Handsome

This week’s review comes to us from one who wishes to remain… anonymous. S/he provides a delightfully literature review of So Brave, Young and Handsome by Leif Enger:

I’m mystified by those who find this novel dull or somehow not up to snuff. I am totally enthralled by it, and find myself re-reading paragraphs because of Enger’s uncanny ability to get the language “just right.” He is a master when it comes to the turn of a phrase. The story is full of tongue-in-cheek, humorous observations by the main character that make me chuckle. Enger’s characters are fully developed and unique in personality … but still very believable. Perhaps the naysayers are used to reading something more Stephen King-like: page-turners that in the end come off as rather shallow … certainly, not great literature.

This book is one to savor slowly.

A hit, a veritable hit! Thanks, strange masked man, for the perceptive review.

Betanews.com: “Amazon Kindle: not a gamechanger…yet” by Tim Conneally

Read the full article at betanews.com

Digital distribution has infiltrated media. We saw it happen with the music business and we’re seeing it happen with the film business, but will it happen to the book business?….

….”It will get to that point eventually,” said Ginsberg, “But right now, the e-book market is so young that it will be at least five years before it becomes something we’ll seriously need to consider.”