Category: publishing

“Just a decade ago, the trend in the bookstore industry was to fit nooks and crannies with big chairs for browsing, which, it was hoped, would spur buying. The idea was to recast the bookstore as a community place or an extension of the home. But now the availability of so-called ‘soft’ seating – overstuffed chairs and sofas – is on the decline at some bookstores, done in by various complications: homeless squatters, overly enthusiastic young lovers, food trash left behind.”

“What is clear now is that the library is moving toward a nimbler, more democratic model, focused somewhat less on what have traditionally been the library’s prestigious real estate — the research libraries — and more on the institution’s online and local presence.”

The internet changes everything. “Just as with continental drift, we know it’s happening, but we’re not sure where everything is going to end up. The case of the Deathly Hallows, though, demonstrates that there is one section of the media which is still resistant to the attentions of file-sharing. And it is books. If you really thought you saved yourself the cost of buying the book by downloading and printing it, you’ll find all you’ve done is shift the cost to yourself – and, probably in a few months, to the optician who’ll sell you new spectacles for your weary eyes.

The latest mash-up of old media and new technology comes in the form of a comic book designed and published exclusively to be read on cell phone screens. The comics industry has been slow to embrace digital media, and the project’s creators hope that their “book” will make a splash at this month’s big industry convention.

“One in 10 parents struggle to understand the bedtime stories they read to their children, a survey by adult learning organisation Learndirect has found. Almost a quarter (23%) skip passages they cannot read or invent words to get to the end of a sentence, the poll found. A third of parents also admit to difficulties in helping their children with their maths homework.”

“The real reason that publishers miss good books is no secret, and it is nothing to do with literary judgement, knowledge of first lines or acquaintance with the classics. It is the same reason that film companies miss great scripts and record labels fail to sign up the most interesting bands. It is the numbers game – the sheer volumes of paper (and now, worse still, the email attachments), that cross our desk every day. Every year 200,000 books are published. This is far too many, and really the first duty of every publisher should be to publish fewer, rather than more, new titles.”

“Since the fall of 2005, Google has joined several large West Coast companies such as Microsoft, Starbucks and Yahoo in hosting authors for weekly, sometimes daily, book-selling events that were once the sacred realm of bookstores. Although writers have long given lectures at universities and community centers, growing demand for them at the office is forcing publishers to rethink the traditional author tour and inducing booksellers to create ties with the corporate campus next door.”

“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows sold 2.7 million copies in the UK and 8.3 million in the US. The previous record for the fastest-selling book was held by the sixth Harry Potter novel, which sold nine million in its first day in 2005.”

“All the outrage surrounding this particular book notwithstanding, contemporary publishers impose these blackouts not in the interest of readers but to protect the carefully planned publicity campaigns they create for books on which they have advanced large sums of money. This is the economic imperative that leads publishers to withhold the contents of even nonfiction manuscripts that contain news that the public has a vital interest in knowing. It’s also why newspapers, including this one, routinely break those embargoes without any pang of conscience.”

“Fifteen years after David Sedaris began baring his soul in magazines and on public radio, a new generation of writers has emerged, galvanized by the Internet. Much of their work is highly revealing, exploring relationships and other emotional material. But if this seems endemic to our voyeuristic culture, the larger question is why so many writers want (or need) to expose themselves.”