All of 2007 –That’s a large mandate; I tried to take a look at retail, publishing, and some specific trends relating to graphic novels — at least as much as I can manage, given my resources.
Bullet points
Economy
[source: Census Bureau]
* Retail Sales were up 3.2% in 2007 …but inflation was up 4.1%. Excluding energy and […]

So no online sales rankings yet. Yep. Sorry; working on it.
What’s up?
Have I complained recently about Amazon? No?
First, let me just point out that Amazon uses a flexible system of keywords derived from publisher-provided info, along with previous customer search criteria (apparently; though this is just a guess on my part) instead […]

It’s rare that I get a link from Heidi MacDonald, so rare in fact that this is only the second (hm… third?) time that it’s happened. I felt like clarifying my drunken, rambling post of the 9th for the readership on The Beat, and of course since I know no one bothers to read […]

Bullet Points:

Japanese manga sales slip another 2.3% in 2007, but
the medium is gaining currency as a tool of Soft Power diplomacy
…and increased academic and scholarly attention.

Numbers first–
We’ll begin with My Usual Complaint: sources are hard to come by. It’s not that market research isn’t being done; oh no, it’s that if you want it you’ll […]

Six things that might happen to Borders:
##
1. Nothing
An Immediate Economic Recovery solves all the problems — Not that a sudden uptick in the economy would suddenly solve Border’s problems but “a rising tide raises all ships”
2. Nothing ver. 2
Even in a bad economy, Borders new merchandising schemes might just work — well enough to […]

[note: the subject line is my opinion, but c’mon guys, April?]
Ann Arbor, MI, is a lovely place, I’m sure. The 7th largest city in Michigan, Ann Arbor is home to 120,000 people (give or take) making it one of the many small cities that — more than New York or LA — make up […]