Rocket Bomber

Note: actually posted 20 August 2011 and backdated

Your Executive Summary and Index, Week Ending 05 June 2011

##

last week’s charts
about the charts
analysis & commentary

The Weekly Charts:
Week Ending 05 June 2011

Internet Archive Link: http://www.archive.org/details/MangaRankingsWeekEnding5June2011

Manga Top 500

1. ↔0 (1) : Maximum Ride 4 – Yen Press, Apr 2011 [405.5] ::
2. ↔0 (2) : Black Butler 5 – Yen Press, Apr 2011 [382.5] ::
3. ↑3 (6) : Negima! 29 – Kodansha Comics, Mar 2011 [350.3] ::
4. ↓-1 (3) : Black Butler 1 – Yen Press, Jan 2010 [338.9] ::
5. ↑3 (8) : Black Bird 8 – Viz Shojo Beat, May 2011 [325.3] ::
6. ↓-1 (5) : Highschool of the Dead 1 – Yen Press, Jan 2011 [325.0] ::
7. ↔0 (7) : Maximum Ride 3 – Yen Press, Aug 2010 [321.9] ::
8. ↓-4 (4) : Black Butler 4 – Yen Press, Jan 2011 [318.0] ::
9. ↔0 (9) : Black Butler 3 – Yen Press, Oct 2010 [301.2] ::
10. ↑2 (12) : Highschool of the Dead 2 – Yen Press, Apr 2011 [299.1] ::

[more]

Top Imprints
Number of titles ranking in the Manga 500:

Viz Shonen Jump 96
Viz Shojo Beat 65
Yen Press 59
Tokyopop 47
Viz Shonen Jump Advanced 42
Vizkids 27
Kodansha Comics 19
HC/Tokyopop 17
Seven Seas 17
Dark Horse 15

[more]

Top 50 Series:

1. ↔0 (1) : Black Butler – Yen Press [824.7] ::
2. ↔0 (2) : Maximum Ride – Yen Press [782.5] ::
3. ↔0 (3) : Naruto – Viz Shonen Jump [734.6] ::
4. ↔0 (4) : Highschool of the Dead – Yen Press [633.9] ::
5. ↔0 (5) : Black Bird – Viz Shojo Beat [557.3] ::
6. ↑1 (7) : Vampire Knight – Viz Shojo Beat [534.6] ::
7. ↓-1 (6) : Pandora Hearts – Yen Press [483.1] ::
8. ↔0 (8) : Ouran High School Host Club – Viz Shojo Beat [446.3] ::
9. ↑2 (11) : Negima! – Del Rey [433.3] ::
10. ↑3 (13) : Bleach – Viz Shonen Jump [423.8] ::

[more]

Top 50 New Releases:
(Titles releasing/released This Month & Last)

5. ↑3 (8) : Black Bird 8 – Viz Shojo Beat, May 2011 [325.3] ::
14. ↑7 (21) : Naruto 51 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jun 2011 [272.6] ::
17. ↑18 (35) : Spice & Wolf (manga) 4 – Yen Press, May 2011 [252.7] ::
18. ↓-1 (17) : Shugo Chara! 10 – Kodansha Comics, May 2011 [250.2] ::
19. ↑11 (30) : Vampire Knight 12 – Viz Shojo Beat, Jun 2011 [243.0] ::
22. ↑27 (49) : Ninja Girls 5 – Kodansha Comics, May 2011 [226.1] ::
23. ↓-3 (20) : Fairy Tail 13 – Kodansha Comics, May 2011 [221.8] ::
25. ↑20 (45) : Haruhi Suzumiya The Rampage of Haruhi Suzumiya (novel) – Little, Brown & Co., Jun 2011 [217.0] ::
28. ↓-2 (26) : Vampire Hunter D (novel) 16 – Dark Horse, May 2011 [203.5] ::
29. ↑35 (64) : Fullmetal Alchemist 25 – Viz, Jun 2011 [203.0] ::

[more]

Top 50 Preorders:

52. ↑6 (58) : Sailor Moon 1 – Kodansha Comics, Sep 2011 [144.7] ::
74. ↓-7 (67) : Black Butler 6 – Yen Press, Jul 2011 [115.0] ::
86. ↑137 (223) : Mega Man Gigamix 1 – Udon, Jul 2011 [102.1] ::
90. ↓-6 (84) : Warriors SkyClan & The Stranger 1 – HC/Tokyopop, Jul 2011 [99.8] ::
96. ↑18 (114) : Highschool of the Dead 3 – Yen Press, Jul 2011 [96.6] ::
108. ↓-4 (104) : Sailor Moon Codename: Sailor V 1 – Kodansha Comics, Sep 2011 [92.6] ::
114. ↓-21 (93) : Finder Series 4 Prisoner in the View Finder – DMP Juné, Aug 2011 [90.2] ::
147. ↓-3 (144) : Sailor Moon 2 – Kodansha Comics, Nov 2011 [74.2] ::
154. ↑22 (176) : Negima! 30 – Kodansha Comics, Jul 2011 [71.7] ::
162. ↓-22 (140) : Black Bird 9 – Viz Shojo Beat, Jul 2011 [68.6] ::

[more]

Top 50 Manhwa:

33. ↔0 (33) : Priest vols 1-3 collection – Tokyopop, Jun 2011 [179.7] ::
45. ↑78 (123) : Bride of the Water God 8 – Dark Horse, May 2011 [151.9] ::
111. ↓-16 (95) : Priest 4 – Tokyopop, Dec 2002 [92.0] ::
133. ↑151 (284) : Goong 11 – Yen Press, May 2011 [79.3] ::
197. ↓-55 (142) : Priest 5 – Tokyopop, Feb 2003 [56.6] ::
243. ↓-48 (195) : March Story 2 – Viz Signature, Apr 2011 [47.0] ::
343. ↓-118 (225) : Jack Frost 5 – Yen Press, Apr 2011 [30.2] ::
442. ↑19 (461) : Priest 6 – Tokyopop, May 2003 [21.3] ::
469. ↓-69 (400) : Laon 5 – Yen Press, Apr 2011 [19.7] ::
478. ↑new (0) : Raiders 6 – Yen Press, May 2011 [19.0] ::

[more]

Top 50 BL/Yaoi Volumes:

56. ↓-1 (55) : Finder Series 3 One Wing in the View Finder – DMP Juné, Mar 2011 [139.8] ::
114. ↓-21 (93) : Finder Series 4 Prisoner in the View Finder – DMP Juné, Aug 2011 [90.2] ::
132. ↓-6 (126) : Caged Slave (novel) – DMP Juné, May 2008 [79.4] ::
138. ↑161 (299) : Kiss Ariki (Kindle ebook) 4 – Animate/Libre, May 2011 [77.7] ::
166. ↑242 (408) : The Tyrant Falls in Love 3 – DMP Juné, May 2011 [66.4] ::
173. ↑29 (202) : The Lonely Egotist (novel) – DMP Juné, Mar 2009 [64.5] ::
222. ↓-11 (211) : Incubus Master Captured (Kindle ebook) 1 – Yaoi Press, Jun 2010 [51.6] ::
303. ↓-23 (280) : Incubus Master (Kindle ebook) 2 – Yaoi Press, Jan 2010 [35.4] ::
311. ↑3 (314) : Incubus Master Scor’s Story (Kindle ebook) 1 – Yaoi Press, Apr 2011 [34.3] ::
339. ↓-36 (303) : Belovéd 5860 (Kindle ebook) – Yaoi Press, Oct 2010 [30.9] ::

[more]

[Please also read the preceding post, Cheaters Prosper]

I’m a bookseller—not a lawyer—and I don’t pretend to know all the ins and outs of tax law, but a couple of Google searches can pull up most of the information you need to know why Amazon should be collecting the tax. I’ll leave you to your own conclusions on why they fight so hard against it.

First up:

http://www.newrules.org/retail/rules/internet-sales-tax-fairness

“In a 1992 decision, Quill v. North Dakota, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that retailers are exempt from collecting sales taxes in states where they have no physical presence, such as a store, office, or warehouse. (The legal term for this physical presence is ‘nexus.’) Although the case dealt with a catalog mail-order company, the ruling has subsequently been applied to all remote sellers, including online retailers. The Court said that requiring these companies to comply with the varied sales tax rules and regulations of 45 states and some 7,500 different local taxing jurisdictions would burden interstate commerce.

“In its ruling, the Court specifically noted that Congress has the authority to change this policy and could enact legislation requiring all retailers to collect sales taxes without running afoul of the Constitution. ‘Congress,’ the Court declared, ‘is … free to decide whether, when, and to what extent the States may burden interstate mail-order concerns with a duty to collect use taxes.’

“Today, software has largely eliminated the difficulty of calculating and remitting sales taxes for the country’s many state and local jurisdictions. Indeed, Amazon.com, which opposes extending sales tax to online retailers on the grounds that it would be ‘horrendously complicated,’ collects sales taxes nationwide for Target as part of its management of the chain’s online business.”

So, first: the argument presented by mail-order and online retailers against their obligation to collect the tax [19 years ago!] has been made irrelevant by technology.

Second, the Supreme Court took the time to point out Congress could reverse their decision at any time with simple legislation.

Most importantly, though,

“[W]hile remote sellers are not required to collect sales taxes, the tax is still owed by the individual who made the purchase. Individuals are suppose to keep track of these purchases and pay an amount equivalent to the sales tax as a ‘use’ tax on their state tax returns. Few people do, however, and the use tax is almost impossible to enforce, which effectively exempts these purchases.” [emphasis mine]

Hear it again from another source: http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/sales-tax-internet-29919.html

“Consumers who live in a state that collects sales tax are technically required to pay the tax to the state even when an Internet retailer doesn’t collect it. When consumers are required to pay tax directly to the state, it is referred to as ‘use’ tax rather than sales tax.

“The only difference between sales and use tax is which person — the seller or the buyer — pays the state. Theoretically, use taxes are just a backup plan to make sure that the state collects revenue on every taxable item that is purchased within its borders.”

And from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Use_tax

“A use tax is a type of excise tax levied in the United States. It is assessed upon otherwise ‘tax free’ tangible personal property purchased by a resident of the assessing state for use, storage or consumption of goods in that state (not for resale), regardless of where the purchase took place. The use tax is typically assessed at the same rate as the sales tax that would have been owed (if any) had the same goods been purchased in the state of residence. Use tax applies when sales tax has not been charged. Purchases made over the Internet and out-of-state are the most common type of transactions subject to a use tax.” [emphasis in original]

also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sales_tax#Enforcement_of_tax_on_remote_sales

“In the United States, every state with a sales tax law has a use tax component in that law applying to purchases from out-of-state mail order, catalog and e-commerce vendors, a category also known as ‘remote sales’. As e-commerce sales have grown in recent years, noncompliance with use tax has had a growing impact on state revenues. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that uncollected use taxes on remote sales in 2003 could be as high as $20.4 billion. Uncollected use tax on remote sales was projected to run as high as $54.8 billion for 2011.” [emphasis mine]

It is not that internet purchases are “tax free” — they’re not. It’s a matter of who collects the tax. If you want to argue that internet purchases shouldn’t be taxed, well, take that up with your elected representatives — but as noted above, this went all the way to the Supreme Court and the ruling came back that tax is still owed even if it is not collected at time of purchase — in both the 1992 case, Quill Corp. v. North Dakota and the earlier 1967 case cited as precedent, National Bellas Hess v. Illinois Department of Revenue, no one was arguing that the tax was not due, only that making out-of-state companies collect the tax constituted an unfair burden. The tax due is not a matter of where the company headquarters is located, or which warehouse it ships from: it’s a matter of where you, the purchaser, live.

When you buy a book from a bookstore, we collect the tax at the register (It’s listed on your receipt). We send a check to local and state governments monthly, and the sales tax revenue is an important part of what keeps your local municipalities running: it would be very hard to make payroll (for say, firefighters and police officers, and to be fair, also the really awful people at the DMV – but they deserve a paycheck too) without this stream of income. If these sales tax revenues weren’t available year-round, your city or county would have to borrow the money, and then wait until April (or later) to pay the loans back, incurring interest and fees that eat into already small budgets.

Amazon’s continued resistance to collecting taxes has nothing to do with the internet being tax free. [in case you missed it: the internet is not tax free]

Amazon doesn’t have to advertise the tax when they list prices — just like they do not currently list shipping costs. They can still sell a 500 page hardcover book for $11.37. They can still beat us on price, and force bookstores into bankruptcy by doing portions of our job better than we ever could. These fundamentals would not be changed if Amazon added one more little line item, between the price they charge and the shipping fees. Amazon would make no less money.

Well, Amazon might make marginally less money. Like, one-millionth less. But it’s still cheaper to pay for lawyers than it would be to actually collect the tax and forever burst the myth that Amazon is tax free.

When I pointed out that Amazon cheats, I was referring to the near-universal [incorrect] perception among shoppers that Amazon “will always be cheaper” by whatever percentage equal to that tax. It is such a widespread belief that I encounter it at the bookstore every day, and I even get “corrected” by well-meaning people on the internet.

When retailers cry foul and ask for equal treatment under the law, we’re not asking that a ‘handicap’ be imposed upon Amazon because we just can’t compete. Almost the exact opposite is true: We’re asking Amazon to stop cheating and play by the same rules. We’re asking Amazon to stop abetting widespread tax fraud. We’re asking Amazon to disclose to their customers the actual costs of purchases, including the tax, and customers’ obligations under the law.

I’m just trying to sell you a book. *I* didn’t come up with the sales tax, I don’t “charge” tax [retailers collect it on your behalf], and Amazon will beat me in most (but not all) cases purely on price whether they also collect the tax or not.

But let’s stop perpetuating the myth that internet purchases are free of tax.
Also, allow me to correct the perception that asking Amazon to do the right thing [morally if not legally — and also the right thing for their customers] is ‘sour grapes’ from grumpy retailers over losing sales to the internet.

I can provide intangibles at the bookstore that Amazon can’t. I’ll compete on that. But I’d appreciate a level playing field without the de facto tax-subsidy that allows Amazon to advertise an additional discount that doesn’t really exist.

##

Full disclosure:

I work full time as a bookseller at Barnes & Noble. I’m a manager at one of their many, many stores.

I’m also an Amazon affiliate, and earn a small sum from linking from my book reviews to the Amazon site. [I’m also signed up for 3 other affilate programs I use on a regular basis, so my relationship with Amazon is not unique.]

Note: actually posted 20 August 2011 and backdated

Your Executive Summary and Index, Week Ending 29 May 2011

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last week’s charts
about the charts
analysis & commentary

The Weekly Charts:
Week Ending 29 May 2011

Internet Archive Link: http://www.archive.org/details/MangaRankingsWeekEnding29May2011

Manga Top 500

1. ↔0 (1) : Maximum Ride 4 – Yen Press, Apr 2011 [447.3] ::
2. ↔0 (2) : Black Butler 5 – Yen Press, Apr 2011 [442.8] ::
3. ↔0 (3) : Black Butler 1 – Yen Press, Jan 2010 [388.3] ::
4. ↔0 (4) : Black Butler 4 – Yen Press, Jan 2011 [385.5] ::
5. ↔0 (5) : Highschool of the Dead 1 – Yen Press, Jan 2011 [370.8] ::
6. ↑3 (9) : Negima! 29 – Kodansha Comics, Mar 2011 [370.1] ::
7. ↔0 (7) : Maximum Ride 3 – Yen Press, Aug 2010 [364.3] ::
8. ↓-2 (6) : Black Bird 8 – Viz Shojo Beat, May 2011 [356.5] ::
9. ↑2 (11) : Black Butler 3 – Yen Press, Oct 2010 [348.7] ::
10. ↑4 (14) : Black Butler 2 – Yen Press, May 2010 [334.2] ::

[more]

Top Imprints
Number of titles ranking in the Manga 500:

Viz Shonen Jump 89
Viz Shojo Beat 64
Yen Press 57
Tokyopop 51
Viz Shonen Jump Advanced 42
Vizkids 30
Kodansha Comics 20
HC/Tokyopop 18
Seven Seas 18
Viz 16

[more]

Top 50 Series:

1. ↔0 (1) : Black Butler – Yen Press [951.7] ::
2. ↔0 (2) : Maximum Ride – Yen Press [872.7] ::
3. ↑1 (4) : Naruto – Viz Shonen Jump [766.3] ::
4. ↓-1 (3) : Highschool of the Dead – Yen Press [704.0] ::
5. ↔0 (5) : Black Bird – Viz Shojo Beat [670.3] ::
6. ↔0 (6) : Pandora Hearts – Yen Press [565.9] ::
7. ↑4 (11) : Vampire Knight – Viz Shojo Beat [563.8] ::
8. ↑1 (9) : Ouran High School Host Club – Viz Shojo Beat [497.8] ::
9. ↓-1 (8) : Warriors – HC/Tokyopop [485.7] ::
10. ↓-3 (7) : Hetalia Axis Powers – Tokyopop [482.5] ::

[more]

Top 50 New Releases:
(Titles releasing/released This Month & Last)

1. ↔0 (1) : Maximum Ride 4 – Yen Press, Apr 2011 [447.3] ::
2. ↔0 (2) : Black Butler 5 – Yen Press, Apr 2011 [442.8] ::
8. ↓-2 (6) : Black Bird 8 – Viz Shojo Beat, May 2011 [356.5] ::
11. ↓-3 (8) : Pandora Hearts 5 – Yen Press, Apr 2011 [323.6] ::
12. ↔0 (12) : Highschool of the Dead 2 – Yen Press, Apr 2011 [323.0] ::
16. ↔0 (16) : Rosario+Vampire Season II 4 – Viz Shonen Jump Advanced, Apr 2011 [288.8] ::
17. ↑2 (19) : Shugo Chara! 10 – Kodansha Comics, May 2011 [278.6] ::
20. ↓-2 (18) : Fairy Tail 13 – Kodansha Comics, May 2011 [267.0] ::
24. ↓-4 (20) : Blue Exorcist 1 – Viz Shonen Jump Advanced, Apr 2011 [232.6] ::
26. ↑9 (35) : Vampire Hunter D (novel) 16 – Dark Horse, May 2011 [217.1] ::

[more]

Top 50 Preorders:

21. ↑19 (40) : Naruto 51 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jun 2011 [255.2] ::
30. ↑45 (75) : Vampire Knight 12 – Viz Shojo Beat, Jun 2011 [207.5] ::
33. ↓-2 (31) : Priest vols 1-3 collection – Tokyopop, Jun 2011 [200.1] ::
45. ↑23 (68) : Haruhi Suzumiya The Rampage of Haruhi Suzumiya (novel) – Little, Brown & Co., Jun 2011 [178.7] ::
58. ↔0 (58) : Sailor Moon 1 – Kodansha Comics, Sep 2011 [155.8] ::
64. ↑91 (155) : Fullmetal Alchemist 25 – Viz, Jun 2011 [143.3] ::
67. ↔0 (67) : Black Butler 6 – Yen Press, Jul 2011 [138.9] ::
75. ↑120 (195) : Ouran High School Host Club 16 – Viz Shojo Beat, Jun 2011 [128.5] ::
84. ↑6 (90) : Warriors SkyClan & The Stranger 1 – HC/Tokyopop, Jul 2011 [119.8] ::
93. ↓-9 (84) : Finder Series 4 Prisoner in the View Finder – DMP Juné, Aug 2011 [116.2] ::

[more]

Top 50 Manhwa:

33. ↓-2 (31) : Priest vols 1-3 collection – Tokyopop, Jun 2011 [200.1] ::
95. ↓-7 (88) : Priest 4 – Tokyopop, Dec 2002 [113.0] ::
123. ↑167 (290) : Bride of the Water God 8 – Dark Horse, May 2011 [96.8] ::
142. ↓-26 (116) : Priest 5 – Tokyopop, Feb 2003 [84.8] ::
195. ↑24 (219) : March Story 2 – Viz Signature, Apr 2011 [63.3] ::
225. ↓-39 (186) : Jack Frost 5 – Yen Press, Apr 2011 [55.4] ::
284. ↑281 (565) : Goong 11 – Yen Press, May 2011 [43.8] ::
344. ↓-140 (204) : March Story 1 – Viz Signature, Oct 2010 [34.2] ::
366. ↑65 (431) : Bride of the Water God 7 – Dark Horse, Feb 2011 [30.4] ::
400. ↓-11 (389) : Laon 5 – Yen Press, Apr 2011 [27.0] ::

[more]

Top 50 BL/Yaoi Volumes:

55. ↓-12 (43) : Finder Series 3 One Wing in the View Finder – DMP Juné, Mar 2011 [159.2] ::
93. ↓-9 (84) : Finder Series 4 Prisoner in the View Finder – DMP Juné, Aug 2011 [116.2] ::
126. ↓-17 (109) : Caged Slave (novel) – DMP Juné, May 2008 [92.9] ::
202. ↓-25 (177) : The Lonely Egotist (novel) – DMP Juné, Mar 2009 [62.0] ::
211. ↓-27 (184) : Incubus Master Captured (Kindle ebook) 1 – Yaoi Press, Jun 2010 [59.0] ::
280. ↑6 (286) : Incubus Master (Kindle ebook) 2 – Yaoi Press, Jan 2010 [44.6] ::
299. ↑new (0) : Kiss Ariki (Kindle ebook) 4 – Animate/Libre, May 2011 [40.3] ::
303. ↓-31 (272) : Belovéd 5860 (Kindle ebook) – Yaoi Press, Oct 2010 [39.6] ::
314. ↓-54 (260) : Incubus Master Scor’s Story (Kindle ebook) 1 – Yaoi Press, Apr 2011 [38.8] ::
334. ↓-77 (257) : Silver Diamond 9 – Tokyopop, Apr 2011 [35.7] ::

[more]

Long-time readers know I’m a fair hand with a spreadsheet, and occasionally I’ve turned my attention and my math toward the problem of tracking online sales of manga.

Those of you who are not as familiar with the exercise should click on the ‘rankings’ category in the sidebar, or on this link:
http://www.rocketbomber.com/category/rankings/

(I’m not going to bother setting up an actually poll using an online widget; consider this an invitation for commentary instead.)

I’ll be doing a reboot soon of the manga charts, streamlining the process even further, and seriously cutting back on the number of sources I use. In fact, I’ll end up with only 3 sources [Amazon, B&N, and Borders — please hang on, Borders.] while dropping all others. Here’s the case:

• Books-a-Million updates so infrequently that it’s more like looking at a monthly snapshot, instead of daily (or even weekly) takes on the market – also, pre-orders typically dominate their top 50 Manga to such an extent I have to wonder about either their actual online sales, or their reporting algorithms.
• Buy.com is fine, but since their last redesign, it is only possible to pull up the top 200 ‘bestsellers’, and Manga is not a separate category (instead folded into Graphic Novels, which limits the data).
• DeepDiscount.com is an odd mix of old backlist and preorders, such that I can only assume their customers are only buying items on sale, and that the sales volume of Manga is so low that a single collector purchasing back-fill volumes (or bargain hunting) can have an effect, even to the extent of placing volumes in their top 10.
• Hastings has great promise. But: Their website is the equivalent of a 1997 e-retailer, their database [for books] needs a lot of work, and their customer base needs to buy some manga besides Bleach. Hastings also needs a good way to differentiate between new book sales and used in their online rankings.
• Overstock.com needs a separate manga category. Picking the manga out of their overall GN sales means sifting through a thousand or so titles, just to get a top 100.
• and Powell’s: Love Powell’s. Considering moving to Portland just to shop at Powell’s. That said: once again, it would be nice to shop their website and have it automatically sort new from used, to display the bestsellers in a category and not just the most ‘relevant’ search results (whatever that means) and I’d *really, really* like to include them in a reformulated chart, but their website just makes that too difficult.

I love having more data, and more sources. If all I wanted was the ‘majority’, ‘consensus’ opinion, I could just post a link to an Amazon bestseller chart, call it a day, and go watch some anime while drinking beer. That would be easier, but Amazon is not the be-all-and-end-all of bookselling, even online.

##

I’m moving to a new chart, where the online manga sales charts are built using only the available data from the big 3: Amazon, B&N, and Borders. I’m doing this to save time, primarily, as the physical collection of data and entry into a spreadsheet is single largest timesink involved in the process. [cutting the other sites from the calculation is only a 25% or so savings, but that still adds up to hours weekly]

I’ll miss the ‘flavour’ of the smaller sites, and the insight they provide into the Long Tail and darker corners of manga sales, but I plan to offset this at least in part by digging even deeper into remaining sources. [yes, this is also time-consuming but not nearly to the same degree or extent – the bigger sites are set up so well, and their databases are so complete, that adding another 100 manga to the data collection is a matter of minutes — well, tens of minutes anyway – but not hours]

And in early July I’ll do a really deep dig into the manga categories of these 3 sites; we’ll see where the sidewalk ends. I think I might be able to expand & extend the manga database to 15,000 titles, easy.

[…well, not easy in at least one sense, but the books are out there waiting to be rediscovered]

##

I’d like to invite your comments –

If I posted a ‘manga online bestseller chart’ that only derived from Amazon, B&N, & Borders: is that still worthwhile? Would you consider it ‘authoritative’? Assuming I can keep up with the exercise, would you like to see something along these lines to once again post weekly?

Would anyone like to see an ‘anime DVD online bestseller chart’? It would just be US sales of DVDs, online only, and drawing only from those websites that already have good data – in the case of Anime DVDs: Amazon, B&N, Best Buy, Hastings, and a player to be named later [likely Buy.com or Overstock.com, or both, depending on how I can manipulate the search]. There is currently no way to track online streaming, so a large chunk of how many of us now consume anime can’t be a part of this ‘bestseller’ chart.

Let me also add: anime DVD tracking would be on a smaller scale. A top 100, at most, not the 500 titles weekly I track for manga; just enough for a top 10 and some other side-reporting besides.

That said: tracking anime DVD still seems like something worth doing.

Considering how small my audience is on this, I probably could have asked each of you on Twitter — but it’s a question [with the explanations and excuses] that
is well over the 140 limit. ;)

Drop comments below or send me an email. Thanks [in advance] everyone; I appreciate the feedback.

It’s not that I hate Amazon; I shop with Amazon too, on occasion. But I do hate cheaters and it seems like AMZN has gotten a pass for far too long —

Take local sales tax, for example: as a retailer, I have to collect it. As an internet retailer, Amazon should have to collect it too — but they don’t. Please note, your local business do not charge sales tax, they collect it on your behalf to pay for local services, and the salaries of the government employees [your neighbors] who provide those services.

Amazon claims it shouldn’t have to collect these taxes [note: no one is asking Amazon to pay tax, they merely need to collect on your behalf] because it’s not a local company — Why, we’re up here in Washington State, what do you mean local sales tax? — but that’s not the issue:

Amazon’s customers are local — UPS trucks use local roads to deliver Amazon packages [roads maintained by taxes], Amazon’s customers’ kids go to local schools, Amazon’s customers’ civil disturbances are broken up by local police — heck, readers make use of local sewers when they read Amazon’s books [on certain occasions], sewer lines built using local taxes.

Local sales tax isn’t paid by the retailer, it’s paid by you, and your neighbors. Sure, you can opt not to pay tax if you order through Amazon — and Amazon is more than willing to be complicit in the act, as that translates into a 4-11% “discount” [depending on your particular locality] and that is a massive competitive advantage. The states of Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming don’t charge income tax so a majority of the state budget has to come from other sources, like sales tax. (Alaska and New Hampshire also don’t charge a state sales tax, but I’m sure local jurisdictions within those states do.)

Maybe we could move to an honor system, where no retailer has to collect the tax, and you just report your purchases for the year past every April, and you’re on your own coming up with the total tax bill. Then Amazon wouldn’t have to collect sales tax and neither would I and your yearly tax headache [and burden] would be tripled — instead of straight-forward automatic collection at point of sale you’d have to save all receipts, figure out what was bought where [as each muncipality, county, and state have different rates] and reconcile your tax burden on an individual basis for each jurisdiction. Sound like fun?

Here’s the plain, honest truth: Amazon will have to collect sales tax. Even if it takes an Act of Congress and a Supreme Court decision, it’s coming. It’s to Amazon’s advantage to prevaricate and dodge and lie and cheat for as long as they possibly can, though — and negotiate back room deals besides, because the alternative is competing fairly with other retailers on a level playing field — without additional discounts enabled by lies and tax evasion.

Amazon Knows This: and they have already built the website infrastructure necessary to comply with the law — so don’t listen to them if they say it would be “prohibitively expensive” to “radically change” the way they operate. Truth is, they already collect sales tax in 5 states.

A handy explanation is on their web site – and oh, yeah, you don’t want to know what they had to go through to accomodate the agency model for ebooks:

“ Kindle books, subscriptions and active content titles sold by various publishers are subject to sales tax based on the publisher’s state tax reporting obligations and the taxability of digital books in those states. As a result, sales tax for Kindle books sold by the publisher may differ from the sales tax to which you’ve been accustomed for Kindle products.”

And figuring out local sales tax based on the purchaser’s home address would be too hard to figure out. Right…

Amazon doesn’t want to get stuck paying sales tax twice — once at point of sale, and once at point of delivery. And that’s fine; it may in fact take an act of congress to work out how digital delivery of files count in terms of “point of sale” and taxable sales, and to clarify where internet sales of physical goods actually takes place (for tax purposes).

For Amazon, is the point of sale where their web server is located, or the warehouse? — or is the computer screen right in front of you? I think we all know who the customer is, and where they live, and where the sales tax should be going.

See also:
http://www.thestreet.com/story/11052898/1/amazon-sales-tax-the-battle-state-by-state.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sales_taxes_in_the_United_States#By_jurisdiction

The US Census Bureau has been reporting retail sales numbers on a monthly basis since January of 1992.
http://www.census.gov/retail/

It’s not just about having the numbers. It’s not even the way the USCB breaks retail down into convenient categories, like books. But if you have the numbers, and a little time (and in my case, sufficient beer to keep the brain lubricated while churning data)
…well, the nice thing is being able to visualize almost 20 years of dynamic change in an industry in a single graph

Please note: while I go back to 1992 because those are the earliest numbers available, 1992 is handy because that’s just before the major chains (B&N and Borders) exploded across the suburbs, with new big box bookstores springing up like mushrooms every week. [Barnes & Noble went from 203 “superstores” in 1993 to a peak of 726 big boxes in 2008; Borders went from just 44 superstores to 515 over the same period.]

Of course book stores were also closing, particularly smaller independents and mall locations. Barnes & Noble was closing B.Daltons by the hundreds annually, closing the last of them in 2009. Borders also closed their smaller outlets, but has been much more confident in the Waldenbooks chain; the recent store closings have all been Borders Superstores (more than 200 of them) — but the surviving Waldenbooks have been left largely intact. (I might be tempted to guess they don’t want to shrink Waldenbooks any further as that would make it more difficult to sell them as a unit)

The first chart tells a story of an industry undergrowing massive growth, doubling from 8.3 Billion to 16.8 Billion in just 12 years; hitting a peak of 17.2 Billion in 2007, before the current recession. The past 5 years seem like a minor blip, or maybe a bit of a plateau before future continued growth.

Maybe you can sense there’s a ‘but’ coming…

Let me adjust for inflation — just an quick calculation using the numbers pulled from http://www.westegg.com/inflation/

After adjusting for inflation, 2005 was a definite peak and book stores are struggling — struggling every month, getting worse year after year.

##

Someone is going to come back with e-books, right? “Well this obviously proves e-books are killing bookstores”

Except that ebooks sales were miniscule until Dec. 2009 – and the much-vaunted Kindle wasn’t even introduced until 2007. The graph shows the decline started the year before.

Was it Amazon? Amazon is a problem, and Amazon sales are certainly growing by billions year after year

but their growth in “Media” is much slower than the growth in overall revenue — and is shrinking as a percentage of total sales over time

I would say those that conflate “Amazon” with “books” and “ebooks” might need to make some mental realignments and redefine their terms: Amazon only makes half their money off of sales of “Media” and only 20% from media sales in the US. Amazon, as a website and as a company, is more than a bookstore.

Oh, Amazon is still eating my lunch: Amazon Media Sales exceeded Trade Book Store sales for the first time in Q3 2010; a feat they matched in Q4.

to produce this one, I had to really work the data – Amazon only reports sales results quarterly, and only breaks down sales by category in their annual reports. Media includes digital downloads (not just e-books, but all that music and even the occasional video) and also includes sales of music, movies, and video games on physical media — you know: discs. I’ve done my level best to tease out Just the Book Sales by comparing Amazon to the overall market and ended up frustrated. My best guess is above.

On the book side, I used the publisher’s reported revenue [http://www.publishers.org] to adjust the monthly Census Bureau retail number — taking the Billions of dollars’ worth of college text books out of the equation. The results are much more striking on a monthly basis [with dramatic reductions in January and August, with a smaller but still noticeable effect on September and December] — matching the Census numbers to Amazon’s quarterly reporting averages out the effect over the whole year.

So, even considering that trade book sales are only half of overall bookstore retail and that Amazon’s sales continue to grow year on year — well,

Amazon is not your local bookstore yet. Their market share of physical books is growing slowly, not explosively, and I might even be able to argue that Amazon’s sales of old-school-paper-books has been mostly flat, growing only modestly, and their market share since 2005 is growing only because book store sales shrank. —oh, a gain is still a gain, and a book sold by Amazon is a lost customer for me, but Amazon is doing nothing special and nothing different from what they did—for books—in 1997.

There is no way for anyone to really know until the economy improves and consumer confidence (and spending) finally gets back to 2007 levels. Ask me again in 5 years.

It also remains to be seen how much ebooks will continue to cannabalize physical book sales, both in stores and online. It is Amazon’s own admission that they sell more e-books than books.

##

The recession didn’t hit until 2008; book store sales began sliding 2 years earlier. Why?

I don’t know, but I have two theories.

First: consumer spending took a hit in 2006 because credit card regulations changed, and suddenly everyone (well, everyone still using credit cards) had to rethink all of their spending. Discretionary purchases (like books) took a hit first.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/08/20/139986/-Your-Credits-The-October-Surprise-2005
http://mooreslore.corante.com/archives/2005/08/21/dating_the_next_recession.php
http://useconomy.about.com/b/2010/05/12/how-2005-bankruptcy-bill-led-to-recession.htm

The other explanation is much harder to swallow, and has implications for the long term health of my industry:

Kids aren’t reading. Well, of course they’re reading but they look at a screen, not a page.

The Consumer Expenditure Survey program [http://www.bls.gov/cex/] consists of two surveys, the Quarterly Interview Survey and the Diary Survey, that provide information on the buying habits of American consumers, including data on their expenditures, income, and consumer unit (families and single consumers) characteristics. The survey data are collected for the Bureau of Labor Statistics by the U.S. Census Bureau.

That top line is total spending on reading, in Billions. Note the downward trend, and note the loss of about $3 Billion over the last 10 years. That’s all you need to know. No need to blame Amazon, or E-books — this is a much larger trend, visible across all age demographics.

It isn’t just that the kids aren’t reading—though they aren’t—much more disturbing is the slope on the next two brackets, the Under 45 and Under 35 sets.

The Bad News: Even ebooks are competing for a shrinking market.

The Good News: Even if all current trends continue: reading is still going to be a $10 Billion Market 10 years from now — and ebooks and the internet are inventing new forms of ‘reading’ and building new markets even as you read this.

It’s not only about competing for readers, but also just competing for eyeballs. Games, movies, online video, blogs, aggregators, and social media — the much bigger market is the Attention Economy: How do we get people to spend time with us, and with our product?

Here is where bookstores have an advantage over Amazon:

people are here in the store using our wifi for hours every day — they come back day after day — some folks only come once a week but they stay all afternoon. Folks coming in for “just a book” only leave hours later. Bookstores are ‘sticky’ in a way that many websites wish they could be. Of course, we provide the chairs and tables, the browsing and atmosphere for free.

How do we monetize this? Can we monetize this? Is there a value for bookstores that has nothing to do with books? Is there value in providing a public space? Can we do more than just sell coffee?

##

I don’t have an answer for this. Or at least, I don’t have a single, definitive answer; I just have a lot of ideas and a lot of questions.

Pessimists will look at the charts posted above and say, obviously the book business is dying. I think it’s more a matter of coming off of an awesome high in the 90s, and rediscovering a business model that is more reasonable or sustainable — or finding a new use for this massive bookstore platform moving forward.

There are about 1500 or so Big Box Bookstores all across the country; more than half are already making the rent, even if we can’t quite please investors with massive profits.

Say only 500 locations are truly worthwhile, and worth keeping open on a self-sustaining basis for the next decade: that’s a hell of a lot of prime real estate that hundreds of thousands of people visit regularly — the longer they’ve been open, the more valuable they are. Bookstores also have a bit of a ‘halo effect’, as we are already associated with learning, knowledge, literacy, culture, and entertainment. Bluntly: We’re known for books, and even if you don’t read them, you know about books.

Apple [The Almighty, can-do-no-wrong APPL] only has 312 stores. Apple has it’s own thing going on; apparently their products key into the same neurons as religious cultists or obsessive hobbyists and hoarders.

But if you were trying to compete with Apple, wouldn’t it be handy to have a retail platform like a bookstore, with free wifi already in place and millions of square feet nationwide and an established brand, and locations your customers already know about, and have already visited in the past?

Note: actually posted 20 August 2011 and backdated

Your Executive Summary and Index, Week Ending 22 May 2011

##

last week’s charts
about the charts
analysis & commentary

The Weekly Charts:
Week Ending 22 May 2011

Internet Archive Link: http://www.archive.org/details/MangaRankingsWeekEnding22May2011

Manga Top 500

1. ↑1 (2) : Maximum Ride 4 – Yen Press, Apr 2011 [445.3] ::
2. ↓-1 (1) : Black Butler 5 – Yen Press, Apr 2011 [444.3] ::
3. ↑2 (5) : Black Butler 1 – Yen Press, Jan 2010 [384.8] ::
4. ↓-1 (3) : Black Butler 4 – Yen Press, Jan 2011 [383.0] ::
5. ↑2 (7) : Highschool of the Dead 1 – Yen Press, Jan 2011 [370.8] ::
6. ↔0 (6) : Black Bird 8 – Viz Shojo Beat, May 2011 [362.8] ::
7. ↑3 (10) : Maximum Ride 3 – Yen Press, Aug 2010 [358.3] ::
8. ↓-4 (4) : Pandora Hearts 5 – Yen Press, Apr 2011 [355.3] ::
9. ↑8 (17) : Negima! 29 – Kodansha Comics, Mar 2011 [354.5] ::
10. ↓-2 (8) : Maximum Ride 1 – Yen Press, Jan 2009 [352.3] ::

[more]

Top Imprints
Number of titles ranking in the Manga 500:

Viz Shonen Jump 94
Viz Shojo Beat 65
Yen Press 55
Tokyopop 51
Viz Shonen Jump Advanced 43
Vizkids 32
Kodansha Comics 19
HC/Tokyopop 18
Seven Seas 18
Del Rey 15

[more]

Top 50 Series:

1. ↔0 (1) : Black Butler – Yen Press [946.8] ::
2. ↔0 (2) : Maximum Ride – Yen Press [871.4] ::
3. ↑1 (4) : Highschool of the Dead – Yen Press [714.6] ::
4. ↓-1 (3) : Naruto – Viz Shonen Jump [696.6] ::
5. ↔0 (5) : Black Bird – Viz Shojo Beat [668.5] ::
6. ↔0 (6) : Pandora Hearts – Yen Press [570.8] ::
7. ↔0 (7) : Hetalia Axis Powers – Tokyopop [520.9] ::
8. ↑3 (11) : Warriors – HC/Tokyopop [500.2] ::
9. ↓-1 (8) : Ouran High School Host Club – Viz Shojo Beat [493.8] ::
10. ↓-1 (9) : Rosario+Vampire – Viz Shonen Jump Advanced [462.5] ::

[more]

Top 50 New Releases:
(Titles releasing/released This Month & Last)

1. ↑1 (2) : Maximum Ride 4 – Yen Press, Apr 2011 [445.3] ::
2. ↓-1 (1) : Black Butler 5 – Yen Press, Apr 2011 [444.3] ::
6. ↔0 (6) : Black Bird 8 – Viz Shojo Beat, May 2011 [362.8] ::
8. ↓-4 (4) : Pandora Hearts 5 – Yen Press, Apr 2011 [355.3] ::
12. ↔0 (12) : Highschool of the Dead 2 – Yen Press, Apr 2011 [334.9] ::
16. ↓-1 (15) : Rosario+Vampire Season II 4 – Viz Shonen Jump Advanced, Apr 2011 [300.1] ::
18. ↑2 (20) : Fairy Tail 13 – Kodansha Comics, May 2011 [286.1] ::
19. ↑6 (25) : Shugo Chara! 10 – Kodansha Comics, May 2011 [273.7] ::
20. ↓-1 (19) : Blue Exorcist 1 – Viz Shonen Jump Advanced, Apr 2011 [255.6] ::
24. ↓-6 (18) : Bakuman 4 – Viz Shonen Jump, May 2011 [234.0] ::

[more]

Top 50 Preorders:

31. ↑8 (39) : Priest vols 1-3 collection – Tokyopop, Jun 2011 [206.4] ::
40. ↑11 (51) : Naruto 51 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jun 2011 [190.0] ::
58. ↔0 (58) : Sailor Moon 1 – Kodansha Comics, Sep 2011 [151.0] ::
67. ↑42 (109) : Black Butler 6 – Yen Press, Jul 2011 [132.8] ::
68. ↑118 (186) : Haruhi Suzumiya The Rampage of Haruhi Suzumiya (novel) – Little, Brown & Co., Jun 2011 [129.8] ::
75. ↑67 (142) : Vampire Knight 12 – Viz Shojo Beat, Jun 2011 [125.1] ::
80. ↑3 (83) : Sailor Moon Codename: Sailor V 1 – Kodansha Comics, Sep 2011 [122.9] ::
84. ↓-17 (67) : Finder Series 4 Prisoner in the View Finder – DMP Juné, Aug 2011 [120.8] ::
90. ↓-3 (87) : Warriors SkyClan & The Stranger 1 – HC/Tokyopop, Jul 2011 [118.0] ::
135. ↑23 (158) : Highschool of the Dead 3 – Yen Press, Jul 2011 [85.4] ::

[more]

Top 50 Manhwa:

31. ↑8 (39) : Priest vols 1-3 collection – Tokyopop, Jun 2011 [206.4] ::
88. ↑34 (122) : Priest 4 – Tokyopop, Dec 2002 [119.2] ::
116. ↑40 (156) : Priest 5 – Tokyopop, Feb 2003 [95.1] ::
186. ↑48 (234) : Jack Frost 5 – Yen Press, Apr 2011 [67.5] ::
204. ↓-14 (190) : March Story 1 – Viz Signature, Oct 2010 [59.6] ::
219. ↓-36 (183) : March Story 2 – Viz Signature, Apr 2011 [55.5] ::
240. ↔0 (240) : Priest 15 – Tokyopop, Oct 2006 [51.5] ::
290. ↑121 (411) : Bride of the Water God 8 – Dark Horse, May 2011 [43.4] ::
294. ↓-43 (251) : Jack Frost 4 – Yen Press, Dec 2010 [42.7] ::
359. ↑59 (418) : Priest 3 – Tokyopop, Nov 2002 [33.9] ::

[more]

Top 50 BL/Yaoi Volumes:

43. ↓-5 (38) : Finder Series 3 One Wing in the View Finder – DMP Juné, Mar 2011 [184.2] ::
84. ↓-17 (67) : Finder Series 4 Prisoner in the View Finder – DMP Juné, Aug 2011 [120.8] ::
109. ↑19 (128) : Caged Slave (novel) – DMP Juné, May 2008 [99.8] ::
177. ↓-12 (165) : The Lonely Egotist (novel) – DMP Juné, Mar 2009 [70.1] ::
184. ↓-6 (178) : Incubus Master Captured (Kindle ebook) 1 – Yaoi Press, Jun 2010 [67.9] ::
257. ↓-83 (174) : Silver Diamond 9 – Tokyopop, Apr 2011 [47.9] ::
260. ↓-28 (232) : Incubus Master Scor’s Story (Kindle ebook) 1 – Yaoi Press, Apr 2011 [47.4] ::
272. ↑30 (302) : Belovéd 5860 (Kindle ebook) – Yaoi Press, Oct 2010 [45.6] ::
286. ↑80 (366) : Incubus Master (Kindle ebook) 2 – Yaoi Press, Jan 2010 [44.0] ::
314. ↑10 (324) : Seven Days Monday-Thursday – DMP Juné, Aug 2010 [39.0] ::

[more]

It’s an idea that occurred to me yesterday morning, before I had to go to work:

And that’s about as simple as I can make it — 101 Days, 101 Book Reviews.

Some clarifications and caveats:

Yes, I’m doing this for BookNom.net. It’s my other site, the one I just launched 3 months ago. I’m not posting this announcement over there because RocketBomber is my chosen venue for drunken posts of all types: from rants to data analysis [you wouldn’t believe how much beer that takes] — to bravura boasting and throw-down-style blogger challenges.

Yes, this is a Stunt. But it should be fun anyway.

##

I’ll will now open the imaginary floor to supposed questions from theoretical readers:

Why are you posting this challenge here?

I answered in part above, but let me fill in some some more blanks: I personally would like to keep BookNom.net as focused as possible on its mission, with the possible exception of one tiny little fiction exercise just because Lissa’s art concepts for the site were, honestly, really damn good (I felt inspired) — but past the occasional instalment of an ongoing illustrated story: it’s all about the book reviews.

And if you all were reading BookNom, we wouldn’t need a summer publicity stunt, now would we?

I’m looking to bookstrap bootstrap new content for BookNom, build up it’s archives, and populate its tagcloud while also giving search engines lots of toothsome content to index, to increase the ‘nom’s profile and overall exposure. Even if I’m the only blogger who accepts the challenge, that’ll still be 101 new reviews—posted daily—and I think both I and the blog will be better for it.

Wait, is this actually a real thing?

Serious as a heart attack. Look, I even have a graphic:

Can I participate?

I *said* we have a graphic — ↑↑↑ — and that makes it a participatory web-like-thing, right? Am I right? Amirite?

I don’t write for BookNom, though. Is that a requirement?

Ah. well. [mumble, mumble] …no. [/mumble] – You could post to facebook, honestly. I’m not on facebook, so I couldn’t read your reviews, but use whichever platform you have

BUT your lack of participation at BookNom is a temporary handicap, a lack that can easily be fixed!

[shameless plug]

I’ve several resources already posted to BookNom, so take a look. When developing the concept and building the site, my first thought was to make it as easy as possible for my fellow bloggers — we all have a blog already (or two, or three) plus facebook, plus twitter, plus actual human contact and friendships and family and obligations and crap [should you insist… ludite] so BookNom is meant to be an extra — a place to review things that you still enjoy but which might not fit on your own site, and a handy platform to post synopses of previously written material that fit the BookNom mission [http://booknom.net/about/] and which could use a little extra exposure.

Drop me an email at either site — matt @ rocketbomber or matt @ booknom.net — and I can get you set up with a login [END /shameless plug]

What are the ground rules?

101 Days. 28 May to 9 September — Memorial Day Weekend [Saturday Next, in fact] to Labor Day — ah, those are the US holidays. …sorry, forgot to mention that. Kind of US centric as these are the laws and holidays provided to me.

Post One Book Review a Day.

That’s it.

I might go one step further and say that *I* certainly don’t plan to write long essays or analysis or much more than 5 or 6 paragraphs for each. At BookNom, I’ve proposed a ‘friends recommend’ review style — casual, to the point, & only the stuff you like.

Do I have to *read* 100+ books?

Only if you want to. Please feel free to recommend/review old favourites, though — especially if they’re books that you enjoyed.

Can I repost old reviews?

Hm. Tough call.

I’ll allow it, if
1. You wrote it for another site but said site is now defunct. In this case, I think you really should repost old reviews where someone can now read it. I’d almost call it an obligation on your part. or:
2. You merely link to an older post, but take at least a few minutes to revisit the work, explain why it’s still a good book, and put the old review in context. OR:
3. You find yourself in a situation where there’s just so much other fun stuff to do and you want to keep up with the Challenge but you need a ‘free pass’ and here’s this old review, just sitting there…

fine. So long as you post One Review A Day, I’ll give you 3 free passes to repost old reviews. But only 3. And you should feel guilty, and maybe feel compelled to make up for it with a truly fabulous new review when you have more time.

If it doesn’t start until 28 May, why bring it up now?

While I could just drop this on you alongside my first review [“Oh btw there’s this thing and I’ll be posting daily kthxbye”] well, at that point it’d be too late for you to join in.

I would have given you more than 10 days notice, but I just thought this thing up yesterday morning.

The other reason to give all of you a little advance notice is so everyone can start writing now. The Second Corollary to what I’d previously called The Tayler Principle [see note] is that if you need to post something once a day, you’re going to need a buffer.

Say you go gangbusters, write at least a review a day for the next week—and 2 each on your days off—by the time Saturday next rolls around you can post your first review and have ten or even 12 posts in the queue, ready to go should you slip a day or forget or whatever.

##

I personally need the challenge, and the structure, and the deadlines — and a really good excuse to get off of my butt and actually working […or onto my butt, in a chair, at a desk, at the computer writing; but anyway…]

I love books, I have at least 30 things already knocking around the apartment that need to be reviewed, and another 30 that need to be read.

I’m looking forward to the BookNom.Net Book Review Summer Challenge, 101 days of books [Books I Love — or at least those I like, as I won’t bother to write about the bad ones] and while yes, I’m sort-of-joking and tongue is planted firmly-in-cheek:

I Dare You to Try It Too.

I’m not going to bother with rumor-launching headlines or search-engine grabbing keywords or stock symbols & name-dropping, and all that tech blog buzz that clogs up most talk of ebooks and devices. This is just a quiet little post — a shared secret between me and my regular readers. You know, I don’t think I’ll even publicize this, past posting it to the blog.

##

It’s rather amazing what one can find on the internet, if you know where to look. I rather enjoy looking at the want ads.

no, not for Atlanta. [Have a job; kinda love it actually — I get to spend 40 hours a week with books. Even the bad stuff is “good” after a fashion as it is continual fodder for blog posts.]

Instead of looking for a new job, I like to look at jobs available in Palo Alto, CA. Did you know Barnes & Noble Digital is based in Palo Alto? [of course you do, I told you myself like a year ago. How quickly we forget…]

So what’s up in Palo Alto?
[note: links below valid as of 9PM EST 17 May 2011 – but these are job listings, and not permanent web pages.]

They’re looking for the usual, scarce talent (in fact, they’re also hiring headhunters…) and in the usual flavours — Android, Flash, Webkit, Bug fixes & OS optimization — past the usual, though, it starts to get really interesting.

Senior Services Delivery Engineer

“The B&N Cloud Services team in Palo Alto has built a brand new set of services which the NOOKcolor device is using for several functions including eBook browsing, searching, and purchasing, as well as social networking features. Bring your skills and experience in data center automation to minimize downtime, improve the code deployment process, and expand automation in all areas.”

Why, I had no idea B&N had a Cloud Services team. What else are we going to find?

Senior Java Cloud Services Developer

“if you are a Java Software Engineer with back end development experience or a Java Senior Server Engineer who has solved complex scalability, performance, and or optimization issues, then this position should interest you! We are working on designing and operating a highly optimized mobile services platform and we are looking for Java server engineers that have a strong background in core platform server development to join the team.”

So Java engineers to work on the servers — but for what?

Business Development Manager, 3rd Party Apps & Services

just wait until you read the job description:

“The primary objective in this role is to manage and grow key business partnerships, especially in the areas of music and video…” and “Contribute to the development and refinement of Barnes & Noble’s strategy around media & digital content.”

And then there’s this listing:

Product Manager, Mobile Clients

“The Product Manager for Mobile Clients is responsible for the product planning and execution throughout the product lifecycle for Barnes & Noble Nook eReader mobile client software. This includes gathering and prioritizing product and customer requirements, defining the product vision, and working closely with the content acquisition teams, product marketing, engineering and customer service to ensure that revenue and customer satisfaction goals are met. The Product Manager’s job also includes ensuring that the product supports the company’s overall strategy and goals.” [emphasis mine]

and

iOS Developer (iphone, objecitve C)

“Join the eReading and eCommerce eVolution. Simply put, building great software is the most important thing we do at BN.com. Whether it’s our eBookstore, our fastest growing product line, offering content on multiple mobile platforms, or continuing to grow our award-winning eCommerce shopping platform, you will personally have the opportunity to build software solutions used by millions of customers. In our NYC and Palo Alto offices, we’re making significant investments to create a world-class team of Software Engineers, Architects, and Technical Leads who will thrive in our solution-focused, collaborative culture.

***We are looking to hire multiple iOS consultants and employees for a major initiative***” [emphasis in original listing]

Oh my, that does sound exciting. That was first posted 13 days ago. [4 May 2011]
edit: or *reposted* at that point in time. Here’s the thing: I can’t find confirmation of the above job posting at the official corporate site so I’m thinking this is an undeleted artefact from at least 30 months ago, before the original B&N iPhone app launched. Note the different tone used, and the reference to “significant investment” rather than to the currently-up-and-running B&N Digital division. Still, the cloud stuff and video content could be cool, even without a new iPad app. [/endnote]

##

The Nook Color won’t be standing still:

Hardware Design Engineer

“Candidate will be responsible for architecture and design of current and next generation B&N e-readers. Engineer will be responsible for schematic of design and choice of key components in conjunction with JDM manufacturer in Asia. Responsible for supervision of pcb layout as well as board level BOM. Definition of all testing and analysis of prototype systems. Work with JDM to bring up and debug system level boards. Work with mechanical designers to define form factor and clearances. Manage JDM regarding support in the areas of layout and signal integrity testing. Work as a team lead or senior designer in a team of 2-3 EE’s per project”

Platform Multimedia Engineer

“Barnes and Noble are searching for world-class software engineers to join the Android platform development team. In your role you will be responsible for the design, implement, and optimize multimedia system software for Barnes and Noble’s NOOKcolor product line leveraging its hardware acceleration and enabling cutting edge digital media use cases in the areas of audio, video, and image playback and capture. Advanced use cases include HD content delivery and playback leveraging streaming video and encryption, video telephony, etc.” [awkward grammar in original listing. Ooo, not so professional — hope they fix that, or fill this position (these positions) soon.]

tantalizing hardware and features aside, I also like the fact that B&N will be paying to make it look good:

Art Director

“The Art Director is responsible for driving the creative vision, direction and development of all visual design assets for Barnes & Noble, Digital Products. This person is responsible for conceptualizing the visual identity of our digital products, as well as ensuring visual and brand consistency across all experiences. The Art Director also manages the Design Team, providing creative direction and hands on support to digital artists, ensuring their workload is manageable and the output is high quality and on brand.”

##

These are just job listings, and reflect expectations & required skill sets: not actual job responsibilities or finished products. I’d be reading a lot into these if I were to extrapolate future hardware or applications just from a handful of classified ads that are likely going to disappear soon anyway.

Oh, but it’s fun to guess.

Here’s one I should probably apply for

Executive Assistant

“Be a part of the digital reading evolution! Since its debut, NOOK and the Barnes & Noble.com eBookstore have received accolade upon accolade from the most well-respected technology and consumer electronic pubs in the industry. We’ve assembled a team of the top thought leaders in Software Architecture, Product Management, Consumer Electronics, Supply Chain and Mobile technology. At NOOK’s epicenter… our growing Palo Alto office has an opportunity for an Executive Administrative Assistant with a track record of success supporting Engineering Executives. In this individual contributor role, based in Palo Alto, CA, you’ll be responsible for supporting the success of 2 engineering executives and their teams.”

—except I’m a book seller, have been for 10 years. I’m probably not qualified ;)