CAIT: A Predictive Tool for Supporting the Book Market Operation Using Social Networks

A new predictive support tool for the publishing industry is presented in this note. It consists of a combined model of Artificial Intelligence techniques (CAIT) that seeks the most optimal prediction of the number of book copies, finding out which is the best segmentation of the book market, using data from the networks social and the web. Predicted sales appear to be more accurate, applying machine learning techniques such as clustering (in this specific case, KMeans) rather than using current publishing industry expert’s segmentation. This identification has important implications for the publishing sector since the forecast will adjust more to the behavior of the stakeholders than to the skills or knowledge acquired by the experts, which is a certain way that may not be sufficient and/or variable throughout the period.

The Paradigm of Finnish Reviews of "Without Dogma" by Henryk Sienkiewicz: Observations on the Issue of Intercultural Communication and the Functioning of Common Motifs of European Culture

The Paradigm of Finnish Reviews of Without Dogma by Henryk Sienkiewicz: Observations on the Issue of Intercultural Communication and the Functioning of Common Motifs of European CultureThe translation of Henryk Sienkiewicz’s novel Without Dogma into Finnish, entitled Anielka (1913), generated considerable interest in the Finnish press, evidenced by as many as twelve reviews of the work. The article analyses these reviews, describes them in terms of a paradigm and presents their functioning on the book market. Taking into account cultural distance between Poles and Finns, the reviews are approached as a testimony to intercultural communication, which was enabled thanks to community – the paradigm of European culture and its common motifs, such as the mal du siècle or l’improductivite slave, the latter highlighted by Sienkiewicz and particularly interesting for Finnish reviewers. Cultural distance turns out to be a factor that reveals new aspects of interpretation of Without Dogma and, more broadly, the specificity of Finnish thinking about Poland. Paradygmat fińskich recenzji Bez dogmatu Henryka Sienkiewicza. Obserwacje dotyczące kwestii komunikacji międzykulturowej i funkcjonowania wspólnych motywów kultury europejskiejPrzekład powieści Henryka Sienkiewicza Bez dogmatu na język fiński pod tytułem Anielka (1913) spotkał się z widocznym zainteresowaniem prasy fińskiej, czego poświadczeniem jest aż 12 recenzji tego dzieła. Przedmiotem zainteresowania autora artykułu są te właśnie recenzje, które poddał analizie i opisał w ramach paradygmatu oraz przedstawił ich funkcjonowanie na rynku księgarskim. Biorąc pod uwagę odległość kulturową Polaków i Finów, autor opracowania potraktował te recenzje jako świadectwo komunikowania międzykulturowego, umożliwionego przez wspólnotę, jaką stanowi paradygmat kultury europejskiej i jego obiegowe motywy, jak motyw choroby wieku czy wyeksponowany przez Sienkiewicza motyw l’improductivite slave, szczególnie interesujący dla recenzentów fińskich. Odległość kulturowa okazała się czynnikiem odsłaniającym nowe aspekty interpretacji Bez dogmatu i – szerzej – specyfikę fińskiego myślenia o Polsce.

Durable Goods Adoption and the Consumer Discount Factor: A Case Study of the Norwegian Book Market

We exploit a change in Norway’s fixed book pricing policies to construct exclusion restrictions with which to identify consumers’ discount factor. We assume that the policy change generated an unanticipated, exogenous shock to consumers’ expectations about future price cuts. Our findings suggest that consumers are much more impatient than would be implied by the real rate of interest, challenging the standard assumed rate of discounting in the extant literature on dynamic demand estimation. The high rate of consumer impatience is consistent with laboratory studies in the behavioral economics and decision-making literatures. This paper was accepted by Matthew Shum, marketing.

Z dziejów recepcji Luisa Vaz de Camõesa w Polsce: Adam Bełcikowski czyta "Luzjady" [Adam Bełcikowski, "Luzjady" Camõesa]

The paper presents Adam Bełcikowski’s study about 'Os Lusíadas 'by Luis Vaz de Camões. Bełcikowski’s text was issued in „Nowa Reforma” in Krakow (1891, nos. 26–27, 29–32, 35–37), soon after the release of the translation of 'The Lusiads' into Polish by Zofia Trzeszczkowska (Adam M-ski) on the Polish book market. The critic made an attempt at familiarising the Polish reader with the poem, indicating its ideological-artistic value.

Ghost Writers: Radcliffiana and the Russian Gothic Wave

Ann Radcliffe’s novels were extremely popular in early nineteenth-century Russia. Publication of her work in Russian translation propelled the so-called gothic wave of 1800-10. Yet, many of the works Radcliffe was known for in Russia were not written by her; rather, they were works by others that were attributed to Radcliffe. This article traces the publication and translation histories of Radcliffiana on the Russian book market of 1800-20. Building on JoEllen DeLucia’s concept of a “corporate Radcliffe” in the anglophone world, this article proposes a Russian corporate Radcliffe. Identifying, classifying, and analysing the provenance of Russian corporate Radcliffe works reveals insight into the transnational circulation of texts and the role of copyright law within it, the nature of the early nineteenth-century Russian book market, the rise of popular reading and advertising in Russia, and the gendered nature of critical discourse at this time. The Russian corporate Radcliffe assures the legacy and influence of Radcliffe in later Russian literature and culture, although a Radcliffe that represents much more than just the English author. Exploring the Russian corporate Radcliffe expands our understanding of early nineteenth-century Russian literary history through specific case studies that demonstrate the significant role played by both women writers and translation, an aspect of this history that is often overlooked.

A Brazilian Perspective on Audiobooks

This paper presents a Brazilian perspective on audiobooks. It contextualizes the past and current realities of the format in the country, on the basis of surveys coordinated by national associations connected to the book market and of archival research we have undertaken, and shows some examples of recorded literary works and recent initiatives in audiobook production. The ‘acoustic-editorial project’ idea is proposed as a way to highlight and deepen the materiality and production process of audiobooks, and to understand the editorial elements through which the listening experience is created. Authors from book history, bibliography, communication theory, and audiobook studies influenced this investigation and strengthened our construction of audiobooks as a research object.

Queen Victoria’s "Leaves from the Journal of Our Life in the Highlands": Illustrated Print Culture and the Politics of Representation

QueenVictoria published her first Highland memoir in 1867, a sentimental narrativeof royal life dedicated to Prince Albert entitled Leaves from the Journal ofOur Life in the Highlands.  Inresponse to the popularity of this edition, the publisher Smith, Elder and Co.released a lavishly illustrated edition in late 1868 to capitalize on theChristmas gift book market.  It featuredseventy-nine illustrations after works by various artists andphotographers.  When scholars have turnedtheir attention to the Queen’s journal, they have produced rich andsophisticated discussions of gender, monarchy, and celebrity, especially asthey relate to royal domesticity in the Scottish Highlands.  Yet these readings have rarely extended tothe illustrated version of the text. This article will consider the conjunctionof monarchy, the Scottish Highlands, and illustrated print culture in theillustrated Leaves through two different types of images:  steel plate engravings after watercolors bythe artist Carl Haag and wood engravings after watercolor sketches of Highlandgames by the Swedish artist Egron Lundgren. Each positions the male Highlander as a central figure in constructingthe dynamic of royal family life, sovereignty and empire.  Catherine Hall and Sonya Rose have recentlyexplored what it meant for the British to be “at home with the Empire,” asking“Was it possible to be ‘at home’ with an empire and with the effects ofimperial power or was there something dangerous and damaging about such anentanglement?” In the course of this article I will argue that theseillustrations constructed the male Highlander as a site of familiarity withinthe bounds of the nation, while simultaneously signaling his otherness andproximity to the more far-flung reaches of empire.   As a result, Leavesis as much about empire as it is aboutdomesticity, even as it eschews direct references to current events of theperiod that directly threatened both.   

Prof. M. Ya. Breitman. Dictionary of clinical terminology based on the latest Russian and foreign sources. Issue IV. Ed. Practical Medicine 1929. Price 4 rubles

With the publication of the 4th edition of the dictionary by prof. Breitman, we have completed a great work on medical lexicography. One can disagree with the author's peculiar spelling like "gynecology", "Pasteur", etc., but one can in no way dispute the value and necessity of this manual for our time. The absence of such reference books on the book market, as well as the doctor's ignorance of a foreign language, often puts him in a difficult position when he wants to establish the exact pronunciation, spelling or meaning of a clinical term. Therefore, the dictionary of prof. Breitman will undoubtedly serve for a long time to be a reliable reference in all matters concerning clinical terminology. It is very good that the author also gives an indication of the pronunciation of surnames and proper names. At this point, everyone may be puzzled. The dictionary will solve them. In this note, we will allow ourselves to note some errors and controversies regarding terms in the interest of correcting them for the 2nd edition.

Online Book Trade in Siberia and the Far East

The article analyzes the activities of regional Internet companies offering books in Siberia and the Far East. The research methodology is based on the combination of comparative-typological analysis and landscape-reconstructing approach. Use is made of monitoring results of bookselling enterprises in the region within the framework of the federal project “Cultural Map of Russia”. It is shown that online sales are a dynamically developing channel of the traditional (printed) retail book market in Russia. Based on the identification and analysis of the main characteristics of enterprises offering books on the Internet (location, subject of the Russian federation, assortment, degree of integration, structure of the enterprise, etc.), the most common groups of enterprises in the regional book market are identified: internet divisions of publishing houses; multi-profile online stores; online book stores without retail divisions; online stores of bookselling enterprises. As the most common type in the regional market, the Internet divisions of wholesale and retail independent and online bookselling enterprises are identified. The features of the presentation of a specialized book on the Internet are revealed. The main areas of specialization of federal, regional and local companies offering book products on the Internet along with other products are identified: educational and office supplies, educational games and toys, business and technical literature, etc. The trends and promising directions of development of the regional online book trade are revealed. Diversification of activities and multichannel are defined as the key trend in the development of the regional book market.

The ‘D-Books’ of Daryaganj Sunday Book Market

Daryaganj Sunday Book Market, popularly known as Daryaganj Sunday Patri Kitab Bazaar, is a weekly informal market for used, rare, and pirated books that has been operating on the streets of Old Delhi for the past fifty years. In this essay, I focus on one of the circuits that has been flourishing in this market, that of pirated or ‘duplicate’ or D-books. In order to examine the forms in which piracy thrives in the present-day Patri Kitab Bazaar, and the reasons behind it, I compare two types of pirated books found here: a low-price self-help manual in Hindi and a ‘D’ copy of an English novel by popular Indian author Chetan Bhagat. As I examine the essential role that ‘randomness’ plays in the constitution of pirated texts, I suggest that there is organization to this apparent lack of pattern or unpredictability. Such permutation of order and chaos resonates with the location of the bazaar – a site that thrives on the serendipity of the streets.