Category: publishing

“With its new rules, Apple’s made it somewhat more difficult for anyone selling content for the iPad to do it from the iPad. Apple is willing to be the portal for those sales, but on its own terms — and those are tough for most publishers to swallow.”

“The society, founded in 1909 to promote British poetry, has been troubled by divisions which have seen its president, director and others resign. Arts Council England said the upheaval at the society meant it did not comply with its funding agreement.”

“Sarah Thornton took legal action over Lynn Barber’s 2008 review of her book Seven Days in the Art World. Ruling in London’s High Court, Mr Justice Tugendhat said the Daily Telegraph review was “spiteful” and contained serious factual errors.”

“I kind of miss the days when we had less perfect information, and when it could feel really exciting to see someone buying or reading or browsing something you knew was just going to rock their world, and to risk a conversation with them on the basis of that.”

“It used to be like clockwork in the book business: first the hardcover edition was released, then, about one year later, the paperback. But in an industry that has been upended by the growth of e-books, publishers are moving against convention by pushing paperbacks into publication earlier than usual, sometimes less than six months after they appeared in hardcover.”

“Book-apps aren’t just being made by traditional book publishers: independent app developers are also piling into the space, albeit often working with out-of-copyright content like nursery rhymes and fairy tales. Meanwhile entertainment brands like Disney – who have been involved in the books business before through licensing deals – are now publishing their own book-apps directly.”

“Macmillan Publishers has been banned from participating in World Bank tenders for a minimum of three years after being ordered to pay more than $17.7m (£11m) for paying officials to win an education deal in South Sudan.”

“Newspapers and other media companies have been publishing quickie books to take advantage of news stories for some time now — but the ease with which content can be turned into a Kindle single via Amazon’s platform means a book can be produced within hours instead of days or months.”

“At present, all told (estimates vary), there are some 250 arts and books festivals in the UK promoting the buzz of live authorship. At the top end, there’s a lot of money flying about. Hay, now going global, turns over about £9m-£10m; Edinburgh approaches £2m; Cheltenham £1.49m and Bath £1.3m.”

“Backed by a top team of Silicon Valley software engineers and New York media mavens, the man who invented the Internet is now promising to “change the way we read books.” And few of the many enthusiasts who have had the chance to “read” the Our Choice app will disagree.”