The Incredible Resilience of Books Veteran American publisher Peter Osnos says that despite challenges faced by the publishing industry and past predictions, the written word has not seen its last day.
Links of the week July 9 2012 (28)
Our new feature links to interesting blogs or articles posted online, which will help keep you up to date with what's going on in the book world:
16 July 2012
In the mid-1980s when I joined Random House as an editor, there was widespread angst in the publishing industry about the growing role of mall-based bookstores -- Walden and Dalton were then the major chains -- because they emphasized bestsellers and genre categories such as science fiction and romance over literary titles and serious nonfiction. A trend toward discounting, led by Crown Books based in Washington, was another worry, opening the way to price competition instead of the traditional acceptance of prices set by publishers. Walden, Dalton, and Crown are all now gone, along with Borders, which was then becoming the up-market retailer because of its commitment to so many varieties of books and its innovative inventory system.
Seth Godin's self-publishing experiment is over Keith Murphy in the Mobylives blog on why famous self-publisher Seth Godin is returning to traditional publishing - after using Kickstarter to get pledges for 10,000 copies.
Seth Godin is returning to Portfolio, his former publisher, two years after jumping ship in favor of self-publishing and selling his books directly to readers. Godin announced yesterday that his self-publishing experiment was over, and that he would release three new titles through Portfolio starting in January. The move comes after Godin used Kickstarter to gauge interest in his upcoming book projects. By the end of the day on June 18th Godin had signed up pledgers for 10,000 copies of his lead title, The Icarus Deception.
Making E-books Is Harder Than It Looks Andrew Zack in the Huffington Post on why ebooks are more expensive to produce than people think.
As the Department of Justice faces off with the major publishers and Apple, I want to offer up a simple statement that likely contradicts what most readers believe: Making e-books is harder than it looks. As a literary agent, I fell victim to the same false conclusions I think most readers do, that e-books are easily produced from paper books. But that's not quite true.
$7,000 Fine for Sharing "WordPress For Dummies" on BitTorrent A New York federal court ruled in favor of John Wiley & Sons, one of the world's largest book publishers. Robert Carpenter from Poughkeepsie, New York, has been ordered to pay the publisher $7,000 in damages for sharing a copy of WordPress All-in-One For Dummies on BitTorrent, thus becoming guilty of both copyright and trademark infringement.
A New York federal court has ordered a rare default judgment in favor of John Wiley & Sons, one of the world's largest book publishers. Robert Carpenter from Poughkeepsie, New York, has been ordered to pay the publisher $7,000 in damages for sharing a copy of "WordPress All-in-One For Dummies" on BitTorrent. According to Judge William Pauley, the man is guilty of both copyright and trademark infringement. bittorrent for dummiesLast fall, John Wiley and Sons became the first book publisher to go after BitTorrent users in the US. And the publisher didn't stop at just one. In recent months Wiley has filed more than a dozen mass BitTorrent lawsuits involving a few hundred John Doe defendants in total.
9 July 2012
‘Open access' move puts thousands of UK jobs at risk STN News reports that up to £1billion of income and thousands of jobs could be placed at risk as a result of a move by Downing Street to allow Google and other digital search engines ‘open access' to the nation's best academic and scientific research.
Up to £1billion of income and thousands of jobs could be placed at risk as a result of a move by Downing Street to allow Google and other digital search engines ‘open access' to the nation's best academic and scientific research.
A report commissioned by 10 Downing Street sociologist Dame Janet Finch will say that open access to public-funded research ‘offers significant social and economic benefits'.
Authors Guild Sees Return of Predatory Pricing if DoJ Deal Stands The US Authors' Guild argues that the Justice Department needs to rethink its settlement and to find a new way to "stop the alleged collusion without requiring publishers to allow Amazon to resume predatory pricing.
With the time to submit comments to the Department of Justice about its settlement with Hachette, HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster over its e-book pricing fixing case almost up, the Authors Guild filed its comments late Monday and minced no words in saying that the agreement would be a huge victory for Amazon. %u201DThe Guild does not support the DOJ%u2019s proposed e-book settlement. We believe it will allow Amazon to resume its predatory pricing practices, discouraging competition in the e-book marketplace,%u201D was how the Guild summarized its view of the deal.
British bookseller Tim Waterstone shares his fond memories of where people used to buy books in New York in 1979-and how that led him to launch his eponymous bookstores in the U.K.
I first lived in New York in 1979. Used as I was to British bookselling of that time, which was dominated by the century-old chain of WH Smith%u2014newspaper, magazine, tobacco, and toy sellers, as much as books%u2014the Manhattan bookstores struck me as cultural treasures. Certainly, the Barnes & Noble flagship store on Fifth Avenue was just a vast remainder outlet (as were all their stores in those days), but the Doubleday chain%u2014yes, a chain%u2014gave the city a quality of bookselling I thought then unmatched anywhere else in the world. The stock was eclectic and intelligent, the staff opinionated and knowledgeable, and the opening hours, reaching deep into the evening, perfect for the bustling evening life of the city.