NYT Declares Bezos Bigger Than Oprah

It's official: This weekend's New York Times story says that, rather than our friendly neighborhood bookstores, it's big companies like Amazon, Starbucks, and Costco that make Seattle the bookiest city in the U.S., and a bellwether for what sells across the country. That retailers, not elite book critics, are driving the publishing biz is a point I tried to make (none too successfully) at a recent industry event. Still, it's pretty remarkable to think that our most important literary tastemakers--considered from a commercial point of view--can be found in SoDo (at Starbucks) and the I.D./Beacon Hill (Amazon). So I guess the next question is, Will one of those two companies hire Michiko Kakutani away from the Times? She might just like it out here. That, plus the stock options.