Category: publishing

“Chinese social network Douban is hosting a competition for readers to translate excerpts from David Mitchell short stories ‘The Gardener’ and ‘The Massive Rat’.”

“Every e-reader is, by design, capable of tracking your reading page by page: bookmarks, highlights and all. Individual policies about the retention of this information, and who it might be shared with, are worryingly unclear.”

“Helping print journalism adapt to a changed era is becoming a cause de jour among the technology elite.”

“Two years ago Samantha Shannon was a shy 19-year-old intern. 480 pages and a £100,000 advance later, ‘The Bone Season’ looks set to become a global bestseller and she’s being likened to JK Rowling.”

“The findings echo recent census figures, which revealed that the number of people in Wales able to speak their own language fell from 21 per cent in 2001 to 19 per cent in 2011.”

“They’re fun, and I think there’s a value to kids coming to the library and having fun and having a place where they can hang out with each other. There aren’t a lot of safe places teenagers can go, so it’s important to give them that, even if it isn’t the most educational experience.”

“What if there were a drug I could take to make me a better storyteller, or more prolific with a hyphen, or able to slice through a 300-page edit in half the time?”

“The concept was innovative; the reward tiers were thoughtfully designed; North communicated clearly and enthusiastically with backers at every step of the process; and the project not only delivered what was promised but improved upon the initial concept. As the book arrives in backers’ mailboxes this month, it’s worth asking: Is it a good book? Is it $580,905 good?”

“A group of California book buyers is testing in court whether its acceptable for writers to lie outright. They are asking for $5m (£3.2m) to compensate them for buying books by disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong which they thought told his true story, when in fact much of what was written later turned out to be mendacious.”

“Let literary snobs mock. (Madame Bovary Blue, anyone? Jane Eyre Ecru?) New authors who want to find readers will find creative ways to attract them.”