Category: publishing

In canceling publication of O.J. Simpson’s “If I Did It,” Rupert Murdoch created something of a waste-management dilemma. “Now, HarperCollins has nearly half a million books to destroy. If the books weigh about a pound each, that comes out to 200 tons of paper. I have one word for the publisher: compost. … So, here’s the plan: Give out one copy apiece of If I Did It to individual organic gardeners, and get them to sign a pledge not to read the book or sell it on eBay.”

“Riverdeep Holdings, an Irish educational software company, agreed yesterday to acquire the American textbook publisher Houghton Mifflin for $1.75 billion. Houghton Mifflin will be combined with Riverdeep into a new company, HM Rivergroup, which is based in Dublin.”

The literary award no author ever wants to receive has been announced yet again. This year’s honoree for Bad Sex In Fiction is Iain Hollingshead, who is appropriately chastened by the dubious honor. “Writing about sex is rather more technical, and less fun, than doing it. Either you descend into flowery metaphor or you indulge in the ‘naming of parts’. Both are more likely to be laughable than erotic… I blush to read my offending prose now.”

The shortlist of nominees is out for the prize formerly known as the Whitbread, and it appears that the judges “have marked its shift to sponsorship by the Costa coffee chain by shifting their taste towards the thriller. Two of the four books picked for the novels shortlist released last night for the inaugural £50,000 Costa award are marketed by their publishers as ‘gripping’, ‘tremendously exciting’, ‘gritty’ and ‘thrilling’.”

Toronto is losing two beloved second-hand bookshops, and the closings are a reminder of just how quickly the bookselling business is evolving. “The venues for physically presenting books are being superceded. It’s hard to imagine there will be any book collectors among young people, because they won’t have the opportunity to handle older books and acquire a taste for it.”

“Canada’s largest retail book chain, Indigo Books & Music, has agreed to carry a selection of books by self-published Canadian authors… There’s a selection process for all titles and those chosen will be displayed in ‘high-traffic areas’ of Chapters, Indigo and Coles stores ‘for at least 60 days — longer if the book keeps selling.'”

“It is a thoroughly unlikely publishing phenomenon. A book about Latin – that is, about how to learn Latin, with dozens of verb tables and explanations of the ablative absolute and the gerundive – has crept up, unexpectedly but persistently, as high as number 14 in the Amazon bestseller list in the all-important weeks before Christmas.”

Bestselling author Ian McEwen was accused this past weekend of copying the work of another writer in his novel, Atonement. But McEwen says that he only drew on historical record as background for certain scenes, and he further points out that he acknowledged the author he is accused of stealing from in his book, and says that he has been crediting her with filling in gaps in his knowledge at speaking engagements ever since Atonement was released.

Girls have never been a big focus of the comic book industry’s sales strategy. But that could be changing, as one of the dominant companies in the comics business begins a major push to get teenage girls reading what are now called graphic novels. “The stories will be far removed from the superheroes who more typically appeal to young males.”

A bidding war has erupted over a long-lost never-published manuscript by Eugene O’Neill. ” ‘The Screenews of War,’ one of the few short stories he ever wrote, is believed to have been penned 90 years ago but was quickly forgotten. Today, at least two major magazines and a book publisher are said to be intrigued by the 40-odd-page manuscript, which has been quietly circulated over the past week by the professor who made the astounding find.”