Category: publishing

“It makes sense that, when confronted with the complex systems that produce, promote and sell books, we need to isolate one element: whether to idolize (The Author) or condemn (ghostwriting). But this impulse causes us to miss the more pressing problems in our political book culture.”

“The days of accumulating every important title and artifact under the scholarly sun are over for Harvard’s labyrinthine system of 73 libraries. Facing an unprecedented budget crunch, the university cancelled print copies of more than 1,000 journal titles last year in favor of online subscriptions. And Harvard is turning toward other universities to collaborate and share acquisitions, all while trying to maintain its libraries’ stature in an increasingly digital world.”

“The host of literary heavyweights to descend on the Guardian Hay festival may be more used to reviewing substantial literary works, but messages of 140 characters or fewer are set to share the festival stage this year in the search to find the most beautiful tweet ever written.”

“Saul’s latest idea, stirring up yet again tempers in Canada and curiosity farther afield, is that his country, and in some ways similarly Australia, cannot be explained or understood using the language imported from the European Enlightenment.”

“It will become harder and harder for the big publishing companies to publish quality things for niche audiences. But people are already hiving off and starting up small independent presses, which will start to create quality books for niche markets.”

“Box by box, decades of past scholarship are being packed up and emptied from two old libraries, Physics and Engineering, to make way for the future: a smaller but more efficient and largely electronic library that can accommodate the vast, expanding and interrelated literature of Physics, Computer Science and Engineering.”

“The service, which will launch this summer, will allow authors and publishers to convert their digital files to the ePub format, which is used by Barnes & Noble’s Nook and other e-reading devices. PubIt! titles will be sold on BarnesandNoble.com’s e-bookstore, and will be available for browsing inside the brick and mortar stores through the Nook.”

“The story of an army major who travels to a decaying Irish hotel in 1919 to meet his rashly acquired fiancee, Troubles was one of six novels published in 1970 to be shortlisted for the Lost Booker, intended to reward books that were ineligible when they were published, thanks to a shift in the fledgling prize’s schedule that year.”

“The scene, a re-enactment of the movie [‘Ghostbusters,’] was a prank by the group Improv Everywhere. And the library was in on it. The performance was part of the library’s campaign to fight against a proposed $37 million budget cut.”

Imagine this happening at Flushing Meadows. “Matt Harvey will write a poem every day during the two-week competition in south-west London next month. The Championships Poet 2010 will publish his verses – about anything from racquet stringers to strawberries and cream – online and in podcasts.”