Traditional books, dressed to kill… – The Observer – Robert McCrum
From the outside, the book trade looks staid, static and conservative, but inside the publishing jungle there’s a life-and-death struggle between E and P. This competition has begun to sponsor a literary bonanza. If ever there was a golden age of reading, this is it.
The flip-side of ebooks: they are encouraging more purchases of print books. What do you think? What is your opinion on E versus P?
HarperCollins has announced it has preempted rights to a three-book middle-grade series by director Chris Columbus, to be called House of Secrets. Columbus, the director of two Harry Potter movies and many other films, will co-author the books with YA writer Ned Vizzini (It’s Kind of a Funny Story). The first book is slated for spring 2013.
Read on for some more information about this series! Sounds very intriguing – I think I’d enjoy it, too.
If you’re a Nerdfighter like me, you probably already know all about John and Hank’s awesome TFiOS van and their tour across the country. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, continue on…
An abundance of fans (among them, some Katherines) will see Printz Award-winning author John Green on his 17-city tour for The Fault in Our Stars (Dutton, on sale Jan. 10).That day the Looking for Alaska writer and his younger musician brother, Hank, will launch their three-week road trip in a Sprinter van, decorated with the cover of the new novel (about two teens with cancer who fall in love) and quotes from Markus Zusak (“you laugh, you cry, and then you come back for more”) and Jodi Picoult (“an electric portrait of young people who learn to live life with one foot in the grave”). As the 34- and 31-year-old siblings travel, they will broadcast shows through their VlogBrothers YouTube channel.“I’m a pretty introverted person, but I decided to go on tour because I knew it would be good for the book,” says Green, who will leave his wife (a contemporary art dealer) and two-year-old son at home in Indianapolis. “It’s really important to launch the book as aggressively as possible. I also feel really strongly about trying to make the case for brick-and-mortar bookstores…. I think it’s crazy, crazy that book tours lose so much money. They shouldn’t. Book tours should be part of what keeps independent bookstores vibrant and profitable.”
As celebrities choose Amazon, is this the end for publishers? – The Independent – Guy Adams
The deal [between Amazon and James Franco], which was reported yesterday but has yet to be formally confirmed by either side, represents an ominous development for the industry, which in recent months has seen similar deals signed by the likes of New Age “guru” Deepak Chopra, self-help writer Timothy Ferriss, and the actor and director Penny Marshall.
For years, the rise of Amazon, which heavily discounts books, has been eating into the once luxurious profit margins enjoyed by mainstream publishers. There are therefore growing fears that the online giant could soon send their industry the way of the high street bookstore.
Personally, I scoff at big names like Amazon taking over, creating monopolies. One day they’ll collapse. But maybe I just haven’t had my tea this morning and am not thinking straight enough to feel worried.
Apple to Hold Event in NYC. Publishing, Advertising in the Mix? – PaidContent – Ingrid Lunden
Just like every other season, Apple is catching the public eye with some announcements. This time, however, it’s not about a brand new glitzy product.
The report notes that Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of internet software and services, will be leading the event. Cue oversees the iTunes Store, the App Store, Apple’s iBookstore, iAd and Apple’s iCloud service—and that has led to speculation that this event could be related to something within his remit, specifically around iAd or Apple’s publishing activities.
[…]
And even more specifically, the Good E-Reader blog claims that, in fact, the event will signal Apple’s move into self-publishing on the iBookstore. The move, to compete with self-publishing offerings from Amazon and Barnes & Noble, will give writers the option to publish work directly on Apple’s platform without having to go through a publisher or other third-party provider like Smashwords to do it.
Thoughts?
What’s Coming in 2012: Book Publishing – PaidContent – Laura Hazard Owen
Three things to note this year, according to Owen:
Indies Battle Amazon: By Becoming Publishers – Salon – Steve Almond
Independent bookstores are stepping up and creating their own small publishing hub to produce more titles. This is a unique competition with Amazon and the apparent threat of ebooks.
The leap into publishing by indies can be seen as the literary equivalent of the locavore movement. It not only emphasizes local writers, and local subjects, but also asks residents to support a local business with their dollars.
Teter is under no illusion about the forces arrayed against independent bookstores, not the least of which is the rise of electronic books. But she, along with her compatriots, is cautiously optimistic that small-scale publishing can be part of the answer, by providing an alternative to traditional publishers and Amazon, which are increasingly focused on books they can turn into national bestsellers.
As Kaplan reminded me, the true value of a great independent bookstore resides in its connection to a particular community: “If someone loves our bookstore, has been coming in for years, understands what we’re trying to do, and you can put a great book in their hands that was published by our store, I mean, who’s going to say no to that?”
Regardless of your stance on ebooks and ereaders, this is really neat!
Walter Dean Myers Named National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature – Publisher’s Weekly – Sue Corbet
Myers’s international reputation rests on a body of work that is big, bold, and varied – picture books, lyric poetry, fantasy, biography, and, perhaps most notably, realistic fiction that does not blink when it comes to depicting the lives of America’s urban poor. It’s the needs of those teens, in particular, that Myers plans to focus on during his two-year term as ambassador.
He will be a leader in encouraging children and young adults that reading is important, as well as raising awareness to literature for all ages.
According to USA TODAY’s Best-Selling Books list, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is No. 1!
Other books that made the Top Five list include The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and The Help.
Publisher’s vs Libraries: An E-Book Tug of War – The New York Times – Randall Stross
To follow along with the library/publisher/ebook trend today…
…we can also guess that the number of visitors to the e-book sections of public libraries’ Web sites is about to set a record, too.
And that is a source of great worry for publishers. In their eyes, borrowing an e-book from a library has been too easy. Worried that people will click to borrow an e-book from a library rather than click to buy it, almost all major publishers in the United States now block libraries’ access to the e-book form of either all of their titles or their most recently published ones.
When Borrowing Isn’t Free – Publisher’s Weekly – Peter Brantley
Wheeler’s is a private company developing an e-book platform that enables libraries to charge for e-book lending. And, another critical feature, it also offers support for the outright purchase of e-book titles from book distributors, versus licensing. In addition to clarifying the legal status of e-books in a library collection, “purchasing” the e-book also permits libraries to be more flexible with their funding, in comparison to paying recurring license fees. Further, the ability to charge patrons for e-book rentals generates friction in lending, and helps to compensate libraries for the costs of ebook purchasing.
Could an experiment in New Zealand help US libraries and publishers come together on ebooks?
Scribbles & Wanderlust 