Seattle-area booksellers, moved by community support During coronovirus shutdown, say 'indie bookstores will thrive again' - The Seattle Times

Today Panzer decided to make his trip in the Catosphere closer to home (he lives in Washington state), so he stopped in at The Seattle Times Newspaper site. (The city of Seattle is located in Washington state.) With just a little digging in the posts, our inquisitive kitty boy found one about how indie bookstores are doing in the Seattle-area (Washington) with the coronavirus pandemic state-ordered shutdown.

According to the post by Moira Macdonald, Seattle-area (Seattle, Redmond and Mercer Island) independent bookstores are finding creative ways to continue to sell books. Bookstores are adding shopping carts to their websites so buyers can order their books online. Books are then either mailed to the buyer or can be picked up curbside outside the bookstore.  People are also calling in their book orders for mail or pickup. Book buyers are buying from their neighborhood indie bookstores to help keep them from closing permanently.

Don't worry. They'll be open soon.

Panzer says, "The neighborhood bookstore is where humans can go and hold a book in their hands. That's important to a lot of humans."

Note: This is a long-medium length post. Bring a cup of tea and a muffin for today's reading selection.

To read the post tootle over to Seattle-area bookstores

Dispute Arises Over 'No-No Boy,' a Classic of Asian-American Literature With a Complex History - The New York Times

Today, Panzer was shaken from his nap by booing and hissing coming from the Catosphere. Hopping in the Panzermobile, our brave kitty pilot followed all the noise to The New York Times site. There he found a post about Penguin Random House's Penguin Classics.

According to Alexandra Alter, there's a publishing disagreement between Penguin Random House's Penguin Classics and Shawn Wong, a University of Washington professor, the John Okada estate and the University of Washington Press. The disagreement surrounds Penguin Classics new publication of John Okada's 1957 novel No-No Boy. The novel a Japanese-American man who refused to serve in the US military in WWII. Shawn Wong believes his 1976 copyright of the Okada novel (and subsequent transfer of the copyright to the University of Washington Press) prevents Penguin Classics from publishing the novel. Penguin Classics believes that copyright only covers portions of the novel and they can publish the remainder of the novel. Penguin published the novel in May.

Hearing even more booing and hissing, our kitty boy traveled on to The Seattle Times site. With no digging at all he found a post there about the disagreement too.

According to The Seattle Times' Moira Macdonald, Penguin Random House has now contacted the Okada estate. The estate representative, however, is not interested in dealing with Penguin at this time. The University of Washington has paid the Okada estate royalties for the novel since it was published by them. Penguin has made no such offer. Several Seattle bookstores have pledged not to sell Penguin Classics' version of  No-No Boy. Several well-know authors have also voiced their disapproval of Penguin's actions.

I'm serious. Don't buy Penguin's version..

Panzer says, "Under no circumstances will this little kitty ever buy a copy of Penguin Classics' No-No Boy."

Note: The New York Times post is long. Bring a cup of tea and two muffins for today's reading selection. The Seattle Times post is also long. Bring another cup of tea and two muffins to read it too.

To read The New York Times post tootle over to No-No Boy

To read The Seattle Times post tootle over to John Okada's No No Boy

 

Amazon abandons plans to occupy huge downtown Seattle office building - The Seattle Times

Panzer stopped in at The Seattle Times newspaper today. With no digging at all our traveling kitty found a post about Amazon.

45,000 people? But not 1 cat.

According to Benjamin Romano and Mike Rosenberg, Amazon has cancelled plans to occupy a portion of a Seattle, Washington, office building the company had already signed a lease for. Amazon will instead look for another business(es) to sublease the 720,000 sq. ft. office space. While no specific reason was given, the company did say they are constantly re-evaluating decisions. The company employs 45,000 persons in Seattle and has another 9,000 job openings there as well. The post includes information about the city of Seattle's office space rental market too.

Panzer says, "45,000 jobs in Seattle? MeWOW!"

Note: This is a l-o-n-g, h-u-m-o-n-g-o-u-s post. Bring two gallons of tea and three dozen muffins for today's reading peop. You'll also want to bring a sleeping bag for a nap in the middle.

To read the post tootle over o Amazon

Amazon warehouse envoys rally to tweet upbeat comments about working conditions - The Seattle Times

Panzer took an unexpected trip into the Catosphere today. He was shaken from his afternoon nap by strange sounds coming from the Catosphere. Hopping into the Panzermobile and following all the noise took our sleepy kitty to The Seattle Times newspaper site. After a little digging around in the posts our kitty reporter found one about Amazon.

According to Matt Day, Amazon now has more than a dozen "Amazon FC Ambassadors" tweeting on Twitter about how great the work environment in the warehouses is. The "FC" in their title stands for "Fulfillment Center" which is Amazon's name for its warehouses. The post says the Ambassadors don't have anything but praise for Amazon warehouse working conditions and their benefits. Some links are included to other posts including about working conditions, individual FC Ambassadors and the FC Ambassador program.

Who likes everything about their job?

Panzer says, "Hmm ... Who are these warehouse workers that they have time to be tweeting online?"

Note: This is a long post. Bring a cup and a half of tea and two muffins for today's reading selection.

To read the post tootle over to Amazon warehouse workers

Amazon expands its literary horizons, making big imprint in translation niche - The Seattle Times

I didn't know Amazon did that.

Today, Panzer made a trip to The Seattle Times newspaper site. There our kitty reporter found a post about Amazon. The post appeared first in the newspaper's print edition.

According to the post by Angel Gonzalez, Amazon has made a large impact in the literary translation market. In 2010 the AmazonCrossing division of Amazon began publishing English translations of foreign fiction titles. By the end of 2016 AmazonCrossing had 10 percent of the U.S. translation publishing market. The post includes a chart illustrating statics showing AmazonCrossing translated books from 15 languages in 2016.

Panzer says, "Hmm ... This little kitty can translate from cat speak to human speak for Amazon."

Note: This is a l-o-n-g post. Bring a thermos of tea and four muffins for today's reading session.

To read the post, tootle over to AmazonCrossingass

Bezos Confirms Plans for More Amazon Stores - PW (Publishers' Weekly)

Panzer was jolted from his after dinner nap by the sounds of clapping hands coming from the Catosphere. Our sleepy kitty pilot pulled himself into the pilot's seat in the Panzermobile. Following all the noise took him to the Publishers' Weekly site.

According to a post there by Jim Milliot, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has confirmed the rumors that Amazon will be opening more brick and mortar stores. Mr. Bezoa did not, however, say how many new stores or where they'll be located. He made the announcement at Amazon's annual shareholders meeting. The post includes a link to a post at The Seattle Times newspaper site where you'll find more news from the annual meeting.

Back to sleep for me now.

Panzer says, "Sales at the Seattle store must be good, if he's planning more stores than just the new one in California."

Note: This is a short post, but The Seattle Times post is long. You'll only need a cup of tea, if you only plan to read the Publishers' Weekly post; however, if you plan to read The Seattle Times post as well, you'll need to add another cup of tea and a muffin.

To read the post, tootle over to Amazon stores

Amazon Opens First Bricks and Mortar Bookstore - Publishers' Weekly

Amazon's dead tree books?

Panzer was shaken awake from his nap by shouting and clapping. Jumping into the Panzermobile, our yawning kitty found his way to the Publishers' Weekly site.

According to a post there by Judith Rosen, Amazon now has a bricks and mortar bookstore in Seattle, Washington. The store is 5,500 square feet located in the U-Village Mall. The store will sell books chosen from those at Amazon.com, Goodreads favorites, and Amazon staff members favorites. The store will also sell Kindles and other Amazon devices.

Panzer says, "The store is named ... Amazon Books! Pretty ingenious, huh?"

Note: There's a link in the post to an article about Amazon's new store in The Seattle Times newspaper.

To read the post, tootle over to Amazon bookstore

Foes want probe, but antitrust law favors Amazon

Doesn't look bad to me.

Panzer was tootling around in the Catosphere and he found a post he missed a couple of days ago.

According to Jay Greene at The Seattle Times newspaper site, it may be harder to prove Amazon is a monopoly than The New Republic magazine's Franklin Foer and Authors United's Douglas Preston might think. Mr. Greene addresses two salient points against Mr. Foer and Mr. Preston's assertion that Amazon is a monopoly. First: there is no argument that Amazon is the biggest dog in the pen ... but ... there are other dogs in there too. Second: the argument that Amazon causes harm to consumers is refuted by the fact Amazon wants to lower the prices of ebooks to the consumers.

Panzer says, "Lower prices makes sense to me."

To read the full post, tootle over to Foes want probe, but antitrust law favors Amazon | Business & Technology | The Seattle Times

Amazon Files To Build Two More Office Towers In Seattle

Let's go to Seattle and check this out.

Yesterday my kitty cat reporter told you Amazon's plans to expand its London headquarters. Today he has news about Amazon's plans for office expansion at the Seattle, Washington (U.S.A.) headquarters.

According to Jay Greene at The Seattle Times newspaper site, Amazon wants to add one city block with two more office towers to its plans for its downtown Seattle headquarters. This will be in addition to the three blocks Amazon has plans to construct six buildings on. That's a total of eight high rise buildings!

Panzer says, "Where will all the employees for those buildings come from?"

To read the full post, tootle over to Amazon files plans to build two more office towers downtown | Business & Technology | The Seattle Times