Category: publishing

“Seems that the US Justice Dept wants to destroy the world of books,” he wrote on his Twitter page.

“Anyone who thinks that fair pricing that allows authors to make a living is a cabal or cartel system is deep in the grip of Napsterism.”

And that’s not necessarily a good thing for authors – or readers.

Two tech/book reporters duke it out over Amazon, agency pricing and that antitrust lawsuit. (And what happens if Amazon is the only bookstore left?)

The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Olive Kitteridge says fiction “can remove us from the whirlwind, give us another rhythm and the chance to be more contemplative. At least I see it in that way. There is so much ‘stuff’ now. And more. And more and more coming at us in all directions. To an extent, that can’t be helped, but it is nice to have it slowed down.”

“Though the middle ground may eventually disappear – paperback fiction, for example – the ongoing rise of ebooks should actually encourage the making of beautiful physical books. Readers want the volumes they keep on their shelves to be as striking and as sensory as possible. And so, while most publishers are racing to keep up with the conquest of the screen, the true mavericks may well be people who are doing something very old-fashioned very well.”

It’s for “Binocular Vision, (Lookout Books), a story collection that has elicited praise from reviewers for its delicate and wry character portraits.”

“The newest owner of The New Republic magazine is Chris Hughes, a new-media guru who co-founded Facebook and helped to run the online organizing machine for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign.”

“The teaching of contemporary literature in universities is often, strangely, a fraught business when it comes to deciding which works should be prioritised and what contexts they should be taught in. Comparative with other contemporary works in the same language, from the same country? In terms of cultural co-ordinates, political and ethical similarities and differences? In terms of aesthetic and prosodic qualities or subterfuges? Or just because the teacher just likes or respects a particular work? “

“PayPal, the online payments arm of eBay Inc. has sparked a furor in the publishing world by asking some e-book distributors to ban books that contain “obscene” themes including rape, bestiality or incest.”

“What makes the Albatros bookmark so ingenious? It saves your place automatically, thanks to a light piece of polyester that follows you through each page. Once you affix it to the first and last pages of your book, you can shut your book without having to remember to insert a bookmark at the right page.”