Category: publishing

“Even critically acclaimed literary novels often have a short shelf life in hardcover, with one-half to three-quarters of the books shipped to stores often being returned to the publisher, unsold. That has a growing number of publishing companies, from smaller houses like Grove/Atlantic to giants like Random House, adopting a different business model, offering books by lesser-known authors only as ‘paperback originals,’ forgoing the higher profits afforded by publishing a book in hardcover for a chance at attracting more buyers and a more sustained shelf life.”

British writers have joined a campaign to rejuvenate public libraries. “The Love Libraries scheme aims to give them a makeover, transforming them into a ’21st century reading service’. Revamps in the pipeline include more online borrowing, flexible opening hours and a review of book stocks. Recent research has shown that adults are losing interest in lending libraries, with one in five having never visited their local library.”

Author DBC Pierre came out of nowhere a few years back to capture the Man Booker Prize for his debut novel, Vernon God Little. The book was praised for its cutting satire and hard-edged tone, and Pierre himself became the subject of much gossip and speculation on both sides of the Atlantic. Now, with his second novel on the verge of release, the author is hoping that he can avoid what he calls “second novel syndrome,” a condition which has afflicted countless other successful authors in recent years.

Controversies over James Frey’s memoir and Dan Brown’s trial on plagiarism haven’t dented Random House’s book sales. “Random House reported a 19 percent gain in operating profit to a record 166 million euros ($200.4 million) on Wednesday on 2 percent revenue growth to 1.83 billion.”

Turkmenistan’s leader says if his country’s citizens want to go to heaven they should read his book three times. “A person that reads Rukhnama becomes smart … and after it, he will go straight to heaven. I asked Allah that for a person who reads it three times – at home, at sunset and at dawn – to go straight to heaven.”

Shanghai and London are exchanging subway poetry. “Under the deal, which took years to thrash out, the London Underground – which has displayed poems for 20 years – is displaying lines from some of China’s great wordsmiths: Li Bai, Du Pu and Po Chu-i. Next month the mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, will launch a similar programme in Shanghai with Wordsworth’s Daffodils, Blake’s Auguries of Innocence, Jamie’s The Blue Boat and Bullock’s Butterfly.”

The PEN American Center is expected to name Ron Chernow, the best-selling biographer of J. P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller and Alexander Hamilton, as its next president. “Chernow will succeed the novelist Salman Rushdie, who has served as the group’s leader for two years. Mr. Rushdie, who is credited with having helped to reshape the PEN American Center’s role in defending freedom of expression and open cultural exchange after Sept. 11, proposed Mr. Chernow as his successor.”

Summing up the plaintiffs’ case of plagiarism against Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown, Jonathan Rayner James QC sounds more like a man complaining about a verdict he knows is coming than someone marshalling evidence. He said Brown had been “unco-operative” in court. “He had almost no recollection of matters that related to issues of timing.”

“To the astonishment of glossy magazine types everywhere, a small journal in Virginia garnered not one nomination, as is sometimes politely handed down to such journals, but six. This made the Virginia Quarterly Review the second-most-nominated magazine, behind the Atlantic, which received eight, and ahead of The New Yorker, Harper’s, New York, and National Geographic, all of which received five. It was as if a scrappy farm team had demolished the Yankees in an exhibition game.”

The lawyers defending Dan Brown from plagiarism charges wrapped up their case: “The ideas are of too general a nature to be capable of copyright protection. Many of the ideas complained of were not original to The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail. They were merely copied from others. The claimants were doing themselves exactly what they complain of in Mr Brown.”