Three new books of Write Bloody Publishing are going green with Eco-Libris

We are happy to announce of three new books of Write Bloody Publishing that are going green with Eco-Libris. One tree will be planted for each printed copy of How to Seduce a White Boy in Ten Easy Steps by Laura Yes Yes, 38 Bar Blues by A.V. Avery and The Feature Room by Anis Mojgani.

As mentioned all of these books are published by Write Bloody Publishing, which is collaborating with Eco-Libris to plant trees for the books it publishes. We already worked with Write Bloody Publishing to plant a tree for every printed copy of the LAST TIME as WE ARE by Taylor Mali and Ceremony for the Choking Ghost by Karen Finneyfrock.

Write Bloody Publishing, which publishes and promotes great books of fiction, poetry and art every year, was started in 2004 by traveling poet and former paratrooper Derrick Brown. Write Bloody is a small press with a snappy look dedicated to quality literature. They have offices in LA, NYC and Murfreesboro, TN.

Here is some more information on the three new books:

How to Seduce a White Boy in Ten Easy Steps by Laura Yes Yes

Laura Yes Yes' sultry, wry first book, How to Seduce a White Boy in Ten Easy Steps, dazzles us with its bold exploration into the politics and metaphysics of identity. From fierce and funny sexual fantasias to cutting observations of interracial dynamics, her work asks us to fully consider what it is to be human in an age of fragmentation and double meanings. There are no easy answers here: the voice of the liberated woman rings clearly as a man-eater in one moment, and shudders under the weight of lost love in the next. Laura skillfully navigates the trauma of being Other while acknowledging the absurdity of our perceptions of race. With precise craft and breathtaking imagery, How to Seduce a White Boy blooms as a ferocious celebration of life.

38 Bar Blues by C.R. Avery

in Gomorrah? When you were still beardless,

and I would oil my hair in the lamp light before seeing

you, when we were young, and blushed with youth

like bruised fruit. Did we care then

what our neighbors did

in the dark?

When our first daughter was born

on the River Jordan, when our second

cracked her pink head from my body

like a promise, did we worry

what our friends might be

doing with their tongues?

What new crevices they found

to lick love into or strange flesh

to push pleasure from, when we

called them Sodomites then,

all we meant by it

was neighbor.

When the angels told us to run

from the city, I went with you,

but even the angels knew

that women always look back.

Let me describe for you, Lot,

what your city looked like burning

since you never turned around to see it.

Sulfur ran its sticky fingers over the skin

of our countrymen. It smelled like burning hair

and rancid eggs. I watched as our friends pulled

chunks of brimstone from their faces. Is any form

of loving this indecent?

Cover your eyes tight,

husband, until you see stars, convince

yourself you are looking at Heaven.

Because any man weak enough to hide his eyes while his neighbors

are punished for the way they love deserves a vengeful god.

I would say these things to you now, Lot,

but an ocean has dried itself on my tongue.

So instead I will stand here, while my body blows itself

grain by grain back over the Land of Canaan.

I will stand here

and I will watch you

run.

38 Bar Blues, is poetry loaded with bar stool musicality and brass knuckle living. Welcome to a clear glimpse into a motel 50 miles outside of town, a window into the life of a modern troubadour. C.R. Avery’s writing flows like a Tennessee Williams stage play, from haiku-size poems to longer erotic tales that sink the reader deeper into backstage smoke of Avery’s worlds. 38 Bar Blues is the perfectly crafted journal of a living legend. Enter the back-room of an old Italian cafe, where dirty-dirty politics, outlaw love, and outrageous beauty are all in the cards.

For a sneak-peek inside 38 Bar Blues click here!

The Feather Room by Anis Mojgani

Science, birds, Billy the Kid, and lots of feathers surround The Feather Room, Anis Mojgani's follow up to his Pushcart-nominated work, Over the Anvil We Stretch. In The Feather Room, Mojgani further explores storytelling in poetic form while traveling farther down the path of magic realism, endowing his tales with a greater sense of fantasy and brightness. The work recounts loss and heartbreak while discovering lightness and beauty on the other side. Throughout the book, Mojgani opens tree trunks to reveal chandeliers. He leads us through the rooms inside himself, using poems to part curtains and paint walls. He is lifting windows to let the fantasy indoors.

Here you can see the author reading one of his poems at the 2008 Austin SLAMOFF finals, at the Long Center for the Performing Arts.



All these books and other great books of Write Bloody Publishing are available at Write Bloody Publishing's store.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Plant a tree for every book you read!

Where readers buy their ebooks? Week 2 of our Google's search experiment

Last week we started an ebook experiment. Like all experiment, it begins with a question: Where will readers look to buy their ebooks? Following the launch of Google eBookstore, its relationships with independent bookstores and Amazon's reply, the competition between ebook retailers is getting fierce.

Our assumption is that many readers will look for ebooks using a search engine and will buy from one of the first results in their search. So we randomly chose 10 books of the New York Times’ 100 Notable Books of 2010, opened Google webpage, typed each title with the word ebook and wrote down the first two results we got. We will redo it every Thursday for 10 weeks and see if there are going to be any changes in the search results.

Here are the results for week 2. In brackets you'll see the first week results. If they were the same we just wrote 'same'. And if you click on the titles, you will be forwarded to the first place on the title's search):

1. Girl by the Road at Night by David Rabe
1st place: Simon & Schuster (same)
2nd place: Simon & Schuster (same)

2. The Long Song by Andrea Levy
1st place: Amazon.com (same)
2nd place: Amazon.com (same)

3. The New Yorker Stories by Ann Beattie
1st place: Amazon.com (same)
2nd place: Amazon.com (same)

4. A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
1st place: Amazon.com (same)
2nd place: Barnes & Noble (Random House)

5. Big Girls Don't Cry by Rebecca Traister
1st place: Simon & Schuster (same)
2nd place: Simon & Schuster (same)

6. The Price of Altruism by Oren Harman
1st place: Amazon.com (same)
2nd place: Amazon.com (same)

7. INSECTOPEDIA by Hugh Raffles
1st place: Amazon.com (same)
2nd place: Random House (same)

8. Country Driving by Peter Hessler
1st place: Barnes & Noble (same)
2nd place: Amazon.com (goodreads)

9. The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
1st place: Random House (same)
2nd place: Barnes & Noble (same)

10. Hitch 22 by Christopher Hitchens
1st place: Amazon.com (same)
2nd place: Barnes & Noble (same)

As you can see this week was quite boring with almost no changes. This is not a good news for Google eBookstore that is still out of the list (although we have to say we see a growing presence of Google in lower ranks).

Here's the summary of the results:

	Amazon		B&N		Google		Publishers		Others
	1st	2nd	1st	2nd	1st	2nd	1st	2nd	1st	2nd
week 1	6	3	1	2			3	4		1
week2	6	4	1	3			3	3		0

We give 2 points for 1st place and 1 point for 2nd place:

	Amazon	B&N	Google	Publishers	Others
week 1	15	4	0	10	1
week 2	16	5	0	9	0

As you can see Amazon and B&N are gaining strength, while the publishers lost a little bit, although they are still doing better than B&N. Borders? Nada. Google? Nada. Independent bookstores? Nada.

So far no big surprises so far, but let's see how things will move forward in the next couple of weeks. We still wait for Google to show us what it can do - after all, its Google's search engine..See you next Thursday!

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

Eco-Libris special gift offer for the holidays: trees + stickers + holiday greeting card

We wanted to remind you of our holiday gift offer for you:

Plant trees to balance out the books your loved ones read. We will send them a beautiful holiday card and Eco-Libris stickers to display on their books’ sleeves. Just change the shipping address on the PayPal payment page to the address of the gift receiver (or send us a separate email to info@ecolibris.net with the details) and we will take care of the rest! If you're buying books as gifts, you can also add the stickers and the card, making it a great green gift.

The holiday greeting cards we send are made by Doodle Greetings (see picture above). Not only these cards come with a beautiful design, but they are also eco-friendly - printed on 100% post-consumer recycled paper and are made chlorine-free and acid free. This is a good fit with Eco-Libris stickers, which are also made of recycled paper!

This is also very affordable gift offer, starting from $6.50 for 5 trees/stickers and a holiday gift card! $25, which is the maximum cost of the gifts on this guide will get you 25 trees and stickers with the beautiful holiday gift card. Interested? go to our holidays gift page and check it out.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting green reading!

We love Greenlight Books but think they might be wrong about the future of independent bookstores

Fact 1: I love Greenlight Bookstore. I visited the store, located in the Ft. Greene section of Brooklyn, couple of weeks ago on Saturday to hear a story time for Chanukah with my little daughter and it's a beautiful store with a great atmosphere.

Fact 2: I read yesterday an article on NPR, where it was written that "these days, independent bookstore owners Rebecca Fitting and Jessica Stockton Bagnulo of Greenlight Books in Brooklyn argue that the struggling local bookstore is a thing of the past." I think they might be wrong.

So I don't really need to further explain why I love Greenlight Books (and if you haven't been convinced, just pay them a visit), but I certainly owe you an explanation why I think they might be wrong when it comes to the current state of indie bookstores.

First, the article on NPR tries to present a thesis that indie bookstores are in better shape now than big book retailers like B&N and Borders. Rebecca Fitting, one of the owners of Greenlight Books, explains it in the article:

"The potential is for there to be two trends," she explains. "Digital content — which is ubiquitous and everywhere — and the local, boutique, curated side. And the chain stores unfortunately don't have the advantage in either of those areas. I mean, they can't carry every book in the world in their store, and they don't have the same emotional connection to their neighborhood that a local store does."

To sum it up, Fitting and the other co-owner, Jessica Stockton Bagnulo, believe that the two main factor that differentiate indie bookstores from big chains is the emotional connection of local customers to their local bookstore. Add to that the new opportunities to sell ebooks now that they started partnering with the new Google eBookstore and you've got this part covered as well.

I believe that the emotional connection factor is real, but I think that only in places like New York, San Francisco, Portland and few other cities, where there is a large number of people with what you can call 'strong local values' who are willing and able to translate these values to local purchasing. These are the same people that care about and purchase local food for example.

But the point is that it looks to me that Ft. Greene is the exception and not the rule. From what we see, hear and read bookstores in many other places don't enjoy the same fortune Greenlight Books has and not because they're doing something wrong, but because they don't have a similar committed local population that is willing and able to support them.

As long as independent bookstores stick to the same retail model they have been using for years, the emotional connection factor, beneficial as it may be, won't be enough to keep them in business. For most people, the choice when it comes to purchasing physical books, would still be the cheapest website they could find on the Internet or the one they got used to like Amazon.com for example.

I wish I was wrong, but unfortunately it looks like more indie bookstores are closing than opening.

Regarding the ebooks part - although the partnership with Google opened a new window of opportunities for indie bookstores, it is a limited one. I believe it has a limited potential because as we mentioned here before when it comes to buying ebooks online, it's all about competition to get a high rank on search engines and indie bookstores really have a small chance to compete in this field against Google itself, big chains, Amazon and even the publishers.

And even if the ebook sales channel will show some degree of success, I don't see how it will support the brick and mortar operations of the stores. As Mike Shatzkin explained it last week in his blog 'The Shatzkin Files': "Look at it this way. If you ran a bookstore and found that through Google you were able to sell more and more virtual goods while your brick-and-mortar sales were declining, would you invest what you were earning through the new and growing channel in the old and declining one?"

In all, as much as I would like to believe that Greenlight Books represent the majority of independent bookstores, I feel that they are an exception. A beautiful and loved one, but still an exception. As long as there won't be a more radical change in the business model of independent bookstores and a greater added value to offer to consumers, they will stay in the same troubled water with B&N, Borders and other book retailers.

More related articles:
5 reasons why independent bookstores shouldn't count too much on Google Editions

Can monetary incentives + local benefits generate a brighter future for independent bookstores?

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Plant a tree for every book you read!

Why Amazon is so hush hush about the Kindle's sales figures and footprint?

Yesterday I got an email from Amazon with this ad:

Minutes later I read at GalleyCat that "This morning, Amazon revealed they have sold “millions” of Kindles in the last 73 days." How many exactly? Well, Amazon wouldn't tell.

And it got me wonder again about Amazon.com's hush-hush policy.

As you can see Amazon is willing to share with you some facts about the Kindle, such as:

It is Amazon's #1 Bestselling product

It is Amazon's #1 Most-wished for product

It is Amazon's #1 Most-gifted product

What Amazon like to tell you are facts such as:

- How many Kindles it actually sold

- What is the environmental footprint of a single Kindle?

Amazon at best likes to give you hint, such as "in the last 73 days, readers have purchased more Kindles than we sold during all of 2009", which of course is much better than its attitude towards sharing environmental information, where not even one clue is provided.

I guess when it comes to sales numbers, Amazon feels that the guestimation game around the right number (estimations quoted by Geoff Duncan on Digital Trends talk about 4-5 million unit sales for 2010 and 8.4 million in 2011) serves its business and shareholders in the best way possible. When it comes to saying nothing about the Kindle's environmental footprint, I really don't know what to think except that Amazon doesn't really care about it at the moment.

I guess without third-party intervention a-la Wikileaks or a revealing interview with Jeff Bezos, we'll never know why Amazon prefers to adopt hush-hush policy over transparency (like Apple do for example). Anyway, I care less about the reasons. What I really hope is to see change in this policy and this will probably happen only when Amazon will be pressured by shareholder and/or customers to move on and adopt transparency. Real transparency. Until then we're still with the hush-hush policy.

More articles related to this issue:

When will Amazon start being more transparent about the Kindle and their ebook sales?

New report finds Kindle greener than physical books - is that really so?

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Plant a tree for every book you read!

Green Books Campaign: The Evolutionary Glitch by Dr. Albert Garoli

This review is a late addition to the Green Books campaign. 200 bloggers took a stand on November 10, 2010 to support books printed in an eco-friendly manner by simultaneously publishing reviews of 200 books printed on recycled or FSC-certified paper. By turning a spotlight on books printed using eco- friendly paper, we hope to raise the awareness of book buyers and encourage everyone to take the environment into consideration when purchasing books.

The campaign is organized for the second time by Eco-Libris, a green company working to make reading more sustainable. We invite you to join the discussion on "green" books and support books printed in an eco-friendly manner! A full list of participating blogs and links to their reviews is available on Eco-Libris website.

The book we review as part of the Green Books campaign is:

The Evolutionary Glitch: Rise Above the Root of Your Problems

Author: Dr. Albert Garoli
Albert Garoli is a proficient health practitioner, medical researcher, and educator. He is a specialist in Ayurvedic medicine, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Acupuncture, Herbology, Biophysics, and Homotoxicology. Currently, he is teaching in the Italian College of Osteopathy (C.I.O) as well as the Italian School for Oriental Medicine (ScuolaTao), in convention with University Sapienza of Rome. He is also the director of the Holonomics cooperative project. His many years of experience have brought him to a revolutionary understanding of human neurobiology which is clearly explained in his new book: The Evolutionary Glitch.

Publisher: Loving Healing Press

Published on: January 2010

What this book is about?
Ever wonder what it is that keeps holding you back?
Deep within the constructs of your brain, a superimposed identity has been formed. This "glitch", embedded in your neural network through the evolution of brain development, is an acquired Persona which perpetuates itself by constantly creating problems and limitations in your life. The Personal thinks for you, acts for you, and even learns for you, but it is NOT the real YOU! In this revolutionary book, you will discover which of the six major types of Personas you have unwittingly acquired, and you will learn how to free yourself from the power it has over you. Like a remedy for an illness,

The Evolutionary Glitch serves as a guide to confronting and rising above the root of your problems. Drawing on ancient wisdom as well as the latest discoveries in neurobiology and quantum physics, The Evolutionary Glitch will radically change the way you see yourself and the world around you.

Learn the skills you need to...

Uproot the Persona you have acquired

Break the problem-causing patterns in your life

Follow the "signs" in your life

Identify your true nature

Do what you were born to do

If you are ready to discover what is hidden behind the mask of your Personal, free yourself from your problems, and live your life with purpose and direction, The Evolutionary Glitch could be the most important book you've ever read.

What we think about it?
Reading this book I found myself thinking many times thinking about Ken Wilber's books. Like Wilber, Garoli's unique work is insightful, complex, inspiring and embedding Eastern and Western philosophy. Like Wilber's work, this book is taking you to an interesting journey of self-exploration that you know where it starts and you have no idea where it will end.

This book, at least for me, was something that should be consumed in small pieces to get the most out of it. I read sentences such as "While your Persona lies strong, your deductive capabilities are too biased and cannot function as a reliable source of observation" and need to put the book aside for a little while and digest what I just read. If I compare it to food, this is by no means a light snack or a quick lunch, but more of a long and gratifying French-style dinner.

Garoli presents in this book an holistic approach based on physics, philosophy, neurobiology and physiology uncovering the 'glitch' in our nervous system and providing a detailed road map to get ourselves better and get rid of these flaws.

If you're willing to dig deeper into yourself and explore the roots of your own persona, break down familiar patterns and find ways it seems we already lost to natural well being, this book is for you. It doesn't have in it the secret for happy life or some vague promise to fix all your problems in 12 simple steps, but it does include an invitation to a unique journey inside your own mind and body that can result in beneficial self-discoveries.

Last but not least, this book is printed on FSC-certified paper!

Disclosure: We received a copy of this book from the publisher.

If you're looking for other interesting green books, please check out the Green Books Campaign's page at www.ecolibris.net/greenbookscampaign2010.asp .

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

The Guinness World Records - how one ebook can save printing 1.15 billion pages a year?

I read some good news for the environment today: Chris Meadows reported on TeleRead that Guinness World Records was just published in an e-book edition, including "288 pages of 4,000 world records, including new and updated versions, as well as classic records."

Why it's good news for the environment? Because no matter how uncertain we are about the greenness of e-books (and we still are), there are some books that should be transformed to e-book format no matter what. Guinness World Records is one of them.

Now, don't get me wrong. I loved this book when I was a kid, but I'm not sure how many people still open the book to find information on these records at the age of the Internet. According to Amazon.com "Over 100 million copies have sold since the first edition was published in 1955. Nearly 4 million copies are sold every year in more than 100 countries and in 25 languages."

Quick calculation brings me to 1.15 billion pages that were printed for this book in 2010 alone. That's a lot of trees as well, which can be saved if this information will be available electronically. It's not just the fact that it's a thick book that makes it a good candidate for e-book format, it's also and mainly the fact that it's updated every year. In such situations, I believe that with the exception of libraries, it's a win-win-win for the consumers, the publisher and the environment to have this book only available as an ebook.

The eBook edition is published by Hachette Book Group, which also distributes the print edition.
Samantha Fay, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Guinness World Records had this statement quoted on eBookNewser: “We are all excited at Guinness World Records to debut our first eBook in North America. We have watched the rise of the eBook market with interest, and in Hachette found the perfect partner to faithfully convert our complex and inspiring title so the 2011 Edition can be enjoyed for the first time in digital form.”

Well, I hope that we'll have many more years of interesting records, such as the longest banner flown by a helicopter (4,166.72 m²), collected by Guinness World Records and provided to us electronically with a new record of trees cut down to print the Guinness World Records - zero.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!