Tamara Winfrey-Harris, author of 'The Sisters Are Alright: Changing thte Broken Narrative of Black Women in America,' discusses the obstacles Black women face in America. [From the archive.]

Woodward's "Fear" is a perfect storm for publisher Simon & Schuster

As "Florence," a giant of a hurricane, bore down this week on the southern half of the U.S. East Coast, a giant hurricane of a book made landfall inside the Beltway on Tuesday. Bob Woodward’s 'Fear' arrived with a flood of interviews on cable news channels, not to mention a torrent of denials from the White House.

"Right out of the gate, the book has done extremely well, with Simon & Schuster reporting a total of 750,000 copies sold on its first day of publication alone," reports Andrew Albanese, Publishers Weekly senior writer. "That is an incredible start, of course. Barnes & Noble reports that the title was its fastest-growing adult title since 'Go Set a Watchman' was released in July 2014.

"I expect this book will be media fodder right up through November and the midterms," he tells CCC's Chris Kenneally. "It’s a perfect storm for S&S, in a positive way."

In what the publisher called “good news” for libraries and their patrons, Penguin Random House has announced that as of October 1, 2018, the house is changing its e-book lending licenses for public libraries in the U.S. The shift moves access to book titles from a “perpetual access” model (where libraries pay a higher price but retain access to the e-book forever) to a “metered model” (with lower prices on e-books that expire after two years).

“PRH top titles today are capped at $65 for a ‘perpetual access e-book license. The new top price will be $55. Lower prices are a good thing—but a $10 drop is not enough librarians say, especially if they have the burden now of relicensing John Grisham titles,” Andrew Albanese, Publishers Weekly senior writer, reports.

“What librarians really wanted from PRH was a choice. They want to be able to own a perpetual access copy or two for the collection at whatever price, and then add [more copies of the same title] to meet periods of high demand without having to buy more perpetual access copies,” Albanese tells CCC’s Chris Kenneally.

“Much of what publishers do with library e-book pricing is about defending other markets, but I think that’s shortsighted and self-defeating. If anything comes out of these changes I hope it will be to kick up a discussion about why digital readers in libraries are treated differently,” he adds.

Susan Patterson and James Patterson talk about their book 'Cuddly Critters for Little Geniuses' and their shared passion for children's learning and literacy. The picture book is a follow-up to the couple's bestselling 'Big Words for Little Geniuses,' and they also talk about the mutual respect that forms the basis for a successful collaboration.

Author Amanda Stern discusses her new book, 'Little Panic: Dispatches from an Anxious Life.' [From the PW Radio archive.]

CCC's Beyond the Book had planned to skip our weekly Friday conversation with Andrew Albanese of Publishers Weekly, ahead of the Labor Day holiday weekend in the US. But there’s always a caveat with vacations for journalists – if breaking news is hot enough, we step right up to the microphones. And on Tuesday, the news was five-alarm hot!

In a lawsuit alleging breach of contract and defamation of character, Demos Parneros, the recently fired former CEO of Barnes & Noble, made a series of startling statements about the bookseller and its management. B&N fired back with equally strong words.

“In the opening paragraph, the Parneros complaint portrays B&N founder Len Riggio as ‘a volatile founder who refuses to relinquish control. Parneros’ complaint goes on to portray B&N as a company in turmoil for several years, with falling revenue, declining profits, store closings, significant turnover of staff and management, layoffs, and an e-book business that flopped,” Albanese reports.

For its part, the B&N board labeled the Parneros charges, “nothing but an attempt to extort money from the Company by a CEO who was terminated for sexual harassment, bullying behavior and other violations of company policies after being in the role for approximately one year.”

According to published reports, Parneros revealed in the papers filed for his lawsuit that B&N was recently up for sale, and that a buyer had been found, only to see the deal suddenly withdrawn.

“Let’s not kid ourselves here—the book business cares little about the actual outcome of this suit, right? What’s in the filing is what is of interest here, and however the suit is resolved, the revelations in this complaint alone, before any depositions have even been taken, suggests there may be a bigger mess at Barnes & Noble than any of us could have anticipated,” Albanese tells CCC’s Chris Kenneally.

Robert Wolgemuth talks about how his new book 'Lies Men Believe' developed from conversations with wife, Nancy Leigh DeMoss, author of 'Lies Women Believe.' He also offers perspective for men in relation to the #MeToo movement.

Author Jeri Westerson talks about 'The Deepest Grave,' the latest installment in her Crispin Guest series of medieval detective novels, and shares a reading from the book from Mysteryrats Maze.

As the Washington Post reported on Monday, and to no one’s surprise, American teens are reading fewer books than ever.

“The numbers in this study, published by the journal Psychology of Popular Media Culture, hit me like a hammer,” says Andrew Albanese, Publishers Weekly senior writer. “In 2016, one out of three U.S. high school seniors did not read a book for pleasure, while during the same period, 8 in 10 visited such social media sites as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram every day.”

The trend is alarming for a wealth of social reasons, including concerns that the decline in reading long-form texts may lead to diminished critical thinking skills. The book publishing industry, meanwhile, must reckon with a future that may have fewer readers in it. Both teens and adults are reading for pleasure at record low levels, Albanese tells CCC’s Chris Kenneally.

“For all the time and money and attention spent by the book industry in Washington lobbying against Google and Amazon, seeking to level the economic playing field, we simply aren’t doing enough to foster reading habits in our kids,” he says. “And we have to do better.”

Scott Stossel, editor of the Atlantic, explores the past, present and future of anxiety in 'My Age of Anxiety: Fear, Hope, Dread, and the Search for Peace of Mind.' (From the PW Radio Archives.)