Category: publishing

The internet has revolutionized education. But it’s not all positive. “Since the Internet became readily accessible to students in the 1990s, it has become in some ways the educator’s worst enemy. In secondary schools and universities alike, students are taking advantage of the fact that ready-made papers are only a few clicks away. An entire industry has sprung up to provide free homework or – at a price – papers purported to be custom-made. But now teachers are fighting back.”

Myrna Blyth used to edit the Ladies Home Journal magazine. Now she’s written a book that criticizes the whole genre of women’s magazines. “It is the most sustained attack on women’s magazines since Gloria Steinem started Ms. in 1972 and suggested that the typical women’s magazine was just a “survival kit” for the unliberated and edited for advertisers, not readers. But Ms. Blyth’s book is all the more powerful because it comes from someone who until recently reigned as one of the queens of women’s magazines, selling millions of copies with the same practices she now finds so distasteful.”

“The young women of Ireland are storming the global market for ‘chick-lit’. A new breed of Irish female authors in their 20s and 30s, from both Northern Ireland and the Republic, have become hot properties and publishers like Penguin are queueing for their signatures.”

What has happened to serious British newspapers? They’ve dumbed down. “It is undeniable that our broadsheet newspapers are a good deal less serious-minded (without being any wittier) than they were little more than a decade ago. No doubt most readers are perfectly happy with this state of affairs, but not everyone is. The question is how many people really yearn for a grown-up newspaper that provides honest reporting and intelligent commentary without the trivia and pap that is generally also served up.” Stephen Glover thinks there’s an audience of about 100,000, so he’s raising money to give it a try.

“The oldest copy of Shakespeare’s Hamlet remaining in private hands (published in 1611) was put on show in London yesterday before going to auction in New York next month for an expected £1 million to £2 million.”

Iran has a rich tradition of literature, yet Americans see little of it. If the American government has its way, they’ll see even less. The US government has “warned publishers they may face grave legal consequences for editing manuscripts from Iran and other disfavored nations, on the ground that such tinkering amounts to trading with the enemy.”

The San Francisco Public Library intends to change its book tracking system from bar codes to RFIDs. “Several consumer and public interest groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, oppose the widespread introduction of RFID without careful limitations on how and where it is used.”

A few years ago it was rare to hear authors and publishers talking about alternative copyrights. But thanks to success stories and the efforts of copyright reform groups like the Creative Commons organization, the publishing industry is beginning to warm to the idea of some rights reserved.”

“Apart from the justly renowned big guns, there are two kinds of writer at work in the English-speaking world today. First, there is the ‘writer’, who enjoys wide media coverage and is an expert manipulator of soundbite culture. The ‘writer’ has virtually no readership and keeps him or herself in play by the constant massaging of the literary media. Then there is that almost-forgotten figure: the writer, who stays at home, keeps regular hours, does the work, accumulates a readership and is virtually invisible.”

“The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown, has been on sale for nearly a year now, and—assuming no unexpected plot twists—it should become the fastest-selling adult fiction title ever by March 18, when its publication anniversary rolls around. Apologies to all the religious-thriller, art-history-driven reading groups out there, but, uh, how the hell did an unknown author writing on an obscure subject make publishing history?”