“Lady Gaga, one of the web’s commanding giga-stars – with 21.5m followers on Twitter (Stephen Fry has a mere 4m) – has recommended a book, on Facebook. “Lüc Carl Buy his book. HE’S AWESOME!!!!! Great memoir about losing weight on your own terms.” Within a matter of hours, more than 15,000 people had “liked” it, a pretty reliable indicator of a coming “viral” success.”
Category: publishing
E-Books Helping Thwart Chinese Censorship
“A new phenomenon in China – fiction published exclusively online – is giving young writers the opportunity to get their work read quickly and free from censorship.”
US Justice Department Sues Apple, Publishers Over E-Book Pricing
The lawsuit alleges that Apple and the publishers conspired to limit e-book price competition, causing “e-book consumers to pay tens of millions of dollars more for e-books than they otherwise would have paid.”
What Happened To Our Politically Adventurous Novelists?
“Some politically committed authors immediately come to mind, such as Dave Eggers – for his novels on Sudanese refugees and post-Katrina New Orleans, and his establishment of children’s reading groups – but the paucity of their number reinforces how few there are.”
What Happened To Philosophy In Fiction?
“What is the modern equivalent of the philosophical novel? How, if we happened upon one, might we recognise it? Assuming it is not enough for there to be a passing reference to Wittgenstein or Kant, or for pages to be sprinkled with words like “epistemological” and “ontological”, what does it look like?”
What’s The Difference Between A Foreword, A Preface And An Introduction?
“The terms foreword, preface (from Latin praefatio, ‘speech before’), and introduction (from Latin introducere, ‘to lead in’) all seem to be saying ‘Me first.’ But each has a particular meaning in book publishing – allowing for a fair bit of overlap – and there is a traditional order for presenting them.”
Why Literature Needs To Be Disruptive
“Texts have become detached from robust criticism. The role of the serious, independent literary critic with their own orientation in the world, part of a critical culture which holds writers up to clear standards, has fallen away – often seen as an outmoded, elitist bourgeois affliction best blotted out. The results are far from desirable.”
Audiobooks – As Good As Reading?
“Audiobooks are good. They’re enjoyable. They’re wonderfully efficient. But I wonder if the audiobook experience is quite as full and as nuanced as reading. Is the world I create as a listener as rich as the one I form as a reader?”
What’s Killing Indie Bookstores? The Publishers
If it weren’t for digital rights management – and the Big Six publishers’ desperate need to cling to it – we might have a viable independent bookstore online e-book seller by now.
Amazon: Cuddly Indie Sponsor Or Snake In The Grass?
“Amid the public and private rancor, the massive e-retailer is very quietly trying to make friends in the book world. Its strategy is simple and employs a weapon Amazon has in overwhelming supply: Money.”