“WikiLeaks chief Julian Assange said in an interview published Sunday he had signed deals for his autobiography worth more than one million pounds (12 million euros, 1.5 million dollars).”
Category: publishing
Crowsourcing Scholarly Projects
“Starting this fall, the editors have leveraged, if not the wisdom of the crowd, then at least its fingers, inviting anyone — yes, that means you — to help transcribe some of the 40,000 unpublished manuscripts from University College’s collection that have been scanned and put online. In the roughly four months since this Wikipedia-style experiment began, 350 registered users have produced 435 transcripts.”
British Government Reverses Itself, Will Continue To Fund Children’s Book Program
The charity, which has been running since 1992 and has been state-funded since 2004, was told in the week before Christmas that it would lose its entire £13 million grant in England.
A Switcheroo On UK Government’s Children’s Books Program? Shame!
“Ignore the obvious self-interest of authors in promoting reading, and expecting the taxpayer rather than publishers to fund it. There’s a bigger point: what, more than the original Booktrust project, could better exemplify the Big Society which Mr Cameron tirelessly promotes?”
When Fake Authors Write Real Books
They’re fictional characters who are cast as writers. Then their shows become popular and the audience expects to read their books…
93-Year-Old Surprises By Topping French Best-Seller List
“Proving that age is no boundary to publishing success, the French book world has been taken by storm by a surprise Christmas bestseller: a political call to arms by Stéphane Hessel, 93. The unlikely publishing sensation is a former resistance hero whose 30-page essay, Indignez-vous!, calls on readers to get angry about the state of modern society.”
Why Is British Government Quitting Books For Kids Program?
Britain’s poet laureate has accused the government of behaving like “scrooge at his worst” after ministers decided to axe all funding for a free book scheme that benefits 3.3 million youngsters a year.
The Power Of A Prison Library
“In the public debate about our penal system, prison libraries tend to be a point of controversy. The problem with the public discussion about libraries in prison is that it’s the wrong discussion.”
The Tools Of Writing – Do They Make Us Better Writers?
“Is the computer really a better pencil? Will it lead to better writing? There is a faction that thinks otherwise.”
Will Christmas Sales Of E-Book Readers Propel E-Book Sales?
“E-books now make up 9 to 10 percent of trade-book sales, a rate that grew hugely this year, after accounting for less than half that percentage by the end of last year. Publishers are predicting that digital sales will be 50 percent higher or even double in 2011 what they were in 2010.”