Category: publishing

“Last week the St Lucia poet Derek Walcott used his talent in the pursuit of less lofty ideals as he reignited a simmering row with VS Naipaul by unveiling a stinging attack on the author – in verse… Walcott attacks what he sees as the Trinidadian-born Naipaul’s rejection of his Caribbean heritage in order to win acceptance from the British literary establishment.”

Book sales are expected to stay flat in the US this year, with trade paperbacks taking the biggest hit as baby boomers seek out large-print editions. “Religious books should keep growing, by more than 5 per cent annually,” and a DaVinci Code sequel could give the market a needed boost.

It’s an uncertain time for America’s publishing industry: things aren’t going badly, to be sure (revenue and sales figures are up slightly over last year,) but “in recent months, several large publishers have reported weak results.” Throw in a nosediving economy, and many in the business are worried about what’s to come.

“JK Rowling has written a short prequel to her popular Harry Potter books. But the 800-word tale will not be published – instead it will go under the hammer at a charity auction in London next month.”

“The controversy over plans to put recommended age ranges on the covers of children’s books ignited at the Hay festival yesterday, with authors speaking both for and against proposals due to be implemented by a wide group of children’s publishers later this year.”

“The production of traditional books rose 1% in 2007, to 276,649 new titles and editions, but the output of on-demand, short run and unclassified titles soared from 21,936 in 2006 to 134,773 last year.”

The Borders Group said its same-store sales fell and its losses narrowed in the first quarter, and Wall Street greeted Tuesday’s unveiling of the bookseller’s redesigned Web site with a sell-off of its shares.

New music websites “track down music similar to your existing tastes by finding people who like the same sounds as you. As we purportedly experience Facebook fatigue and Myspace exhaustion, web forecasters predict that the next phase of social networking will be all about specialist sites like these. And where music goes, books will follow, as a wave of new book-related social networking sites promise to do for readers what Lastfm did for inquisitive listeners.”

“Penguin has reported that e-book sales from the first four months of 2008 have surpassed the house’s total e-book sales for all of last year. According to the publisher, the spike is “more than five times the overall growth in sales, year-on-year, through April 2008.”

“Good blurbs set an expectation, and if people read the book and think that it sucks, then you’re just back where you started. You’re only as good as your book. And more often than skeptics think – your blurb, too.”