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| Hearsay: |
Are Canadians turning to books for consolation as their investments and jobs disappear? Here’s hoping the vast majority fo the books sold here are not how to commit suicide with homemade fertilizer pipe bombs in a government lobby how-to’s.
“Considering the declines in consumer spending in other sectors, and the contraction of book sales in other countries, these numbers are a pleasant surprise,” says Michael Tamblyn, CEO of BookNet Canada. “In tough times, Canadian consumers continue to see books as a source of education, entertainment and escape.”
The market continues to move in the same direction. In the six weeks ending February 15, 2009, volume increased almost 9% while the value increase remained steady at 6%.
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February 26th, 2009 at 5:36 pm
I asked for good news and here it is. Thanks. :)
February 26th, 2009 at 6:38 pm
I just wanna know where the bailout is.
February 26th, 2009 at 7:37 pm
You know what’s funny? I overheard your name this week, but it was as the punchline of a joke, and here you are living it. You’re becoming the clown prince of your generation, Zachariah Wells.
February 26th, 2009 at 9:40 pm
Well, like Oscar Wilde said…
February 27th, 2009 at 1:43 am
Speaking of bailouts, I need $12 billion by noon. I’m serious, I really do.
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Lets sell even more. Boy, you know, you’d think with all those newspapers going bust all over the place and all that newsprint just sitting there being chewed by rats it would be possible to have really fat brand new books and magazines for $2.00 I forget the reasons why a return to pulps wouldn’t work. Big fat newspapers can cost $2.00. Use the same amount of paper. Print way more literary crap. Export Canadian literary crap all over the world. Convince a few hundred million people in India that we’re cool. Screw the $30.00 books. Sell brand new $2.00 books during a recession. If I want a $30.00 book I’m going to wait until I see it at a garage sale for 50 cents anyway right? We’re broke. Somebody buy those massive web presses for $50.00 and bring back Canadian pulps. Sell them to the millions that ride transit. Break Conrad Black out of jail – he’d know just what to do.
February 27th, 2009 at 11:06 am
yeah, he’d line his own pockets and leave his business associates – certainly including the writers – holding the bag. Then he’d claim everyone else is wrong and an idiot, and he’ll prove it in court. Then he’d complain from his new jail cell that the justice system is broken. Unless he learns from his mistakes and skips out while on bail, in which case he’d do it all over again in some other country. Oh, and he’d ask to be made a Superior Person, which he clearly should be by divine right.
February 27th, 2009 at 1:05 pm
I can hear Conrad weeping. He’s reformed. He eats cabbage. He wants another chance. He admits to being less than Jesus but he needs a fresh start. Send him some cash. Even if you only send him forty or fifty dollars a day it would help. Be a sport, Michel. Imagine you and he running the presses, wearing pork pie hats and going to smart cafes together after publishing 500,000 copies of Stephen Leacocks’ latest pulp. Reach out and feel the dynamo love.
February 27th, 2009 at 2:07 pm
Hey…I got that book you mentioned George…good stuff to. At least in theory, being still employed I haven’t tried it yet. But there’s this thing about wheaties and fuel oil. Anyway…books are cool!
March 2nd, 2009 at 2:08 pm
“Canadian book sales are substantially higher in the first weeks of 2009. Unit sales were up 10% and dollars sold up 6% in January 2009 when compared to sales in the same time period of the 2008.”
Could this potentially have something to do with the post-holiday shopping season? There could be quite a few people who received gift certificates and the like, and were using these to spend on books. Either way, it’s good news for all involved.