Category: publishing

The “Today Show” TV bookclub was born when Oprah canceled her popular hit-maker. But Today’s twist – inviting well-known writers to pick books for the show invites conflicts of interest. Some writers want to pick work by their friends (and why wouldn’t they?). But the show says it wants to rule out blatant conflicts of interest. Okay, but…

Who died this year? MobyLives has a list of writers whose lives ended in 2002. Their work….?

A new study prepared by a fellow at Columbia’s National Arts Journalism Program at Columbia University, takes a serious look at the evolution of the book industry in America. This is not a story of doom and gloom. “The number of new books published annually in the United States increased about 300 percent between 1975 and 2000, to 122,000 from 39,000. More people are buying better books than ever before – they’re also purchasing more books of questionable merit, but hey…

It’s difficult to imagine the Franffurt Book Fair not being in Frankfurt anymore. But that’s just what might happen, say the fair’s organizers, who are thinking of moving it to Munich. “In October fair management made a very public effort to get the Frankfurt hotels to revamp their often outrageous pricing policies. During the fair, most hotels double and triple rates and require six-day minimum stays.”

You might publish something on your server in New Jersey, but if it can be downloaded in, say, Australia, can Australians sue you? Apparently. “Suddenly, libel law is a speed bump on the information superhighway.” How can you protect yourself as a publisher in all the countries of the world?

America’s publishing houses are putting out record numbers of books by first-time writers. “Selling any novel is not easy, but rookie novels are an easier sell than most people would suppose. Publishers and editors are always searching for that new writerly voice. The hunt may be as important as the back list, for in the end the new voice, they hope, becomes a steady voice and eventually that’s what makes up the all-valuable back list — those books that bring steady sales to a publisher year after year.”

More than a month has gone by since Canadian author Rohinton Mistry cancelled the remainder of his U.S. book tour after being repeatedly singled out for “security searches” at American airports. In the U.S., it didn’t cause much of a stir, but in Canada, there was national outrage at the lengths to which the U.S. appears to be going to enhance “national security.” Now, a San Francisco bookstore which had scheduled a Mistry reading has gone ahead with the event, with local authors reading from Mistry’s work, in an effort to bring more attention to the author’s protest.

Okay – so everyone’s mad at Michael Kinsley for admitting he didn’t read all of the 400 books he was asked to judge for this year’s National Book Awards. Come on. Is it really such a big deal? I mean, who needs to read everything? The book that was supposed to win actually won, didn’t it? “Well, thank God we live in a country where admitting you’re ill–read and proud of it makes people buy more of your books!”

One of the frustrations of tracking the book industry has been getting accurate sales data. BookScan offers a solution and “allows publishers to improve their marketing efforts, while also managing their stock more effectively.” It’ll transform the publishing industry, many say. Yes it will, writes one refugee from the music world, where SoundScan revolutionized the tracking of music sales. But it might not be a good thing for those who love books…

People who value literature have often lamented the dominance of movies and television in today’s popular culture, fearing that such passive entertainment would eventually bury forever reading as an entertainment. But in the last few years, blockbuster movies such as Lord of the Rings and The Talented Mr. Ripley have sent moviegoers scurrying to bookstores in search of the titles that inspired the films. Publishers, naturally, love the trend.