Category: publishing

“For years, the two auction giants have been at each other’s throats for art-market supremacy. As interest in buying art grew worldwide and the shrinking of art supplies from the past accelerated in the 1970s, getting a bigger market share became an obsession. To do so, every possible means of attracting art consignors was used.”

“The bottom line: At least on paper (does anyone still use that expression?), Barnes & Noble’s new e-empire seems to trump Amazon’s. In practice, however, there’s more to the story.”

JD Salinger’s son sued to prevent publication of a book that imagines a story sixty years after Catcher in the Rye. “The brief acknowledges Salinger’s desire may not be financial, but rather to stop any creative re-use of his works, but argues that copyright law does not favor such strict controls.”

“A new study shows that the website’s explosive growth is tailing off and also suggests the community-created encyclopaedia has become less welcoming to new contributors.”

“Please tell me it isn’t dead. In the search for the perfect e-book (and I am always on the hunt), the Readius was an intriguing contender. But several recent reports say the company developing it, Netherlands-based Polymer Vision, has run into financing difficulties and put the device on hold. That would be a shame, because the Readius is unlike any other e-reader I’ve come across.”

“Perhaps the kind of case you’re holding when looking at the screen of an e-reader shouldn’t matter. After all, a true reader gets lost in the words, whether on a screen or a page. Who notices the boundaries of the page? Does the case holding the screen make that much difference? But to me, the tactile experience of reading is relevant.”

Stephenie Meyer “has been served with a ‘cease and desist’ order sent to her publisher, Hachette Book Group USA, by lawyers acting for Jordan Scott. The letter claims that the latest volume in Meyer’s Twilight series, Breaking Dawn, which was published last year, ‘shows a striking and substantial similarity’ to Scott’s book The Nocturne‘.”

“Many in the book industry believe that paper books are destined to go the way of compact disks, made obsolete by a new, much cheaper digital platform.” Others argue that “E-books will take their place as a format … but there’s no reason for e-books to replace paper books. There are always going to be a large number of people who don’t want to read a screen, no matter how good it is.”

“With the issue of copyright reform at the forefront of the federal government’s agenda once again, the Writers’ Union of Canada has scored a major coup by enlisting Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff as its newest member. ‘I’ve been a working writer since I got out of university and earned my living as a freelance writer for 18 years … so I have a strong identification with the struggles of writers,’ said Ignatieff, who has been a member of the union in the past.”