Category: publishing

“No technology gets it right on the first try, and dwelling on one device’s shortcomings misses the broader point. A visually tolerable digital reading experience is here. As the e-book iterates, that experience will just get better.”

“Japan’s weeklies and biweeklies, Tokyo Confidential’s prime sources, are in deep trouble, victims of changing times, an aging population, and maybe above all a growing immunity among readers to the weeklies’ stock in trade — outrage. Nothing shocks us any more…”

Declare a “word of the year” of course…

“The suggestion that journalism has become more like fiction is a pretty ancient insult but, in the past, was used to accuse reporters of fabrication. Now, though, something deeper and weirder frequently occurs in which, even when facts are accurately reported, they seem, in the proper sense of the word, fabulous.”

“The fact is that regardless of what the title actually is, the Christmas compendium of facts, useful or not, is the kind of book that you buy for someone because it’s trendy and because you don’t know or like them or feel obliged to buy them something – someone whose relationship to you ends with ‘in-law’, or that weird colleague you pull out of the Secret Santa draw.”

Science fiction is “the necessary literary companion to science. How could fiction avoid considering possible futures in a world of perpetual innovation? Which is why this widely despised genre should be read now more than ever. Unfortunately this does not seem to be a great time for the production, never mind the reception, of SF.

“Paperspine launched last week with 150,000 paperback titles and four subscription plans, ranging from $9.95 to $24.95 a month. Subscribers can check out up to five books at a time. Like Netflix there are no late fees, and members return books in a prepaid envelope.”

Children’s Laureate Michael Rosen makes the charge. “Inspectors in England found most pupils liked poetry but had only a limited knowledge of classic poems. Schools often concentrated on preparing children for exams at the expense of teaching poetry, the report said.”

The American market for Spanish-language books and translations has exploded in just the last few years. Actually, it might be more accurate to say that, in the last few years, booksellers and publishers have begun to notice the huge potential audience for such titles. So what sparked the revolution? It all started with The DaVinci Code…