Category: publishing

“Harper Lee’s sister says the author of To Kill a Mockingbird has indeed co-operated with a memoir about her. And the publisher has set a release date: fall 2013.”

“There are books on our shelves we haven’t read and doubtless never will, that each of us has probably put to one side in the belief that we will read them later on, perhaps even in another life. The terrible grief of the dying as they realise their last hour is upon them and they still haven’t read Proust.”

Here is the case for human librarians: You, the information consumer, don’t want to go insane.

“Oprah’s Book Club launched quietly in 1996, and a nod soon became a sure shot to the bestseller list and a windfall for publishing as a whole.”

“Why commit yourself to one gigantic classic when you can read a whole lot of small classics in the same period of time, racking up at least as much intellectual cachet while you were at it?”

“John Malone, the cable mogul who owns a mishmash of assets such as home-shopping channel QVC and a German cable operator, for some reason just offered $1 billion in cold cash to buy book retailer Barnes & Noble.”

“Since April 1 of this year, Amazon sold 105 Kindle e-books for every 100 print books sold, hardcover and paperback combined. Kindle e-book sales, which do not include Amazon’s popular free e-book downloads, have been bolstered by the popularity of the newest, cheapest Kindle.”

Dismissing the Pulitzer prize-winning author, Carmen Callil said that “he goes on and on and on about the same subject in almost every single book. It’s as though he’s sitting on your face and you can’t breathe”.

“I hope the prize will bring me to the attention of readers around the world who are not familiar with my work. This is a great honour and I’m delighted to receive it.”