At the beginning of the week it looked like the London Book Fair would be the story of the week. But by mid-week a tsunami had swept through the book world and there was only one story dominating the headlines. Read more
Some weeks there's just too much news for us to cover in a short column and this is one of those weeks, so for now the latest moves in the ongoing Google Settlement saga (see News Review 27 April 2009 and 16 November 2009) have to take precedence. Read more
Åsne Seierstad, the author of The Bookseller of Kabul, has been ordered to pay more than £26,000 in punitive damages. As Conor Foley in the Guardian put it, this news will be greeted 'as either a blow to artistic freedom of expression or a victory for the world's misrepresented and powerless poor. Read more
The estate of Adrian Jacobs, author of Willy the Wizard, has now widened its claim against Bloomsbury for plagiarism in the Harry Potter books to include J K Rowling herself, previously thought to be protected by a statute of limitations. Read more
You may be thoroughly bored with the Google Settlement (see last week's News Review) but it has a significant impact on authors' rights so it's worth making the effort to understand what it's all about. Read more
The New Google Settlement (see News Review 7 September) looks like a reasonable resolution of a thorny set of problems. Bowing to pressure from foreign governments and the US Department of Justice, the revised Settlement presented to the district Court in New York shortly before midnight on Friday limits the scope of the scheme to works registered with Read more
Stieg Larsson has been continually in the news ever since publication of his first book, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. The third part of the Milennium trilogy, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, has recently been published in the UK and the US. Read more
After a slow start, objectors have finally been getting their arguments against Google's plans in before the closing date of last Friday, 4 September. Read more
J D Salinger is suing the pseudonymous author who is planning shortly to publish a sequel Salinger's famous novel Catcher in the Rye presents what looks like a strong case of invasion of copyright. Read more
Google's recent class action settlement in the US will award sweeping rights to manage and sell digitised versions of every work published or made available in the US. The settlement allows Google - which has already digitised more than seven million books - the non-exclusive right to digitise every book published before 5th January this year. Read more
We specialize in writers based in Japan who are seeking publication overseas, but we are happy to receive submissions from any authors writing in English. We represent fiction and nonfiction for both adults and children, though we have a particular interest in books related to Japan and Asia in general.
'In our world authors may grumble at poor advances, royalties and meagre sales, but at least - in the main - the money flows, as it should, towards the author and availability in shops is a given. In the alternative reality of hybrid, subsidised or contributory publishing, it is authors who provide the investment in return for giving up their rights. The rewards can be dubious...
When I started writing what would become my debut novel, Happy for You, in 2015, the Cambridge Analytica scandal had not yet happened. I wanted to write about technology-specifically, internet technology-which, at the time, was still awash in techno-optimism, but which I was beginning to suspect was having some negative effects on my brain, on my sense of being. Read more
Joël Dicker is often dismissed as a popular fiction writer not to be counted among the literary greats of his era. On the other hand, almost everyone acknowledges his business acumen. The Geneva native is one of the ten most popular authors in the French-speaking world. Read more
The number of books read by children is increasing, analysis completed as part of the annual What Kids Are Reading Report (WKAR) from learning and assessment provider Renaissance Learning has revealed. However authors warn "recent years have seen a worrying decline in children and young people's reading enjoyment". Read more
At least once a month, there's a big discussion online about something or other that has happened in publishing. It might be about where novelists find inspiration, or how authors use sources in nonfiction, or the research practices of journalists versus academics, or the intent of a memoirist, or how much power and influence your average author has. Read more
Since my debut novel, Other People's Children, was published last April, I've been thinking a lot about who gets to tell which stories. Some of my readers don't seem to think that I should have been allowed to write the book that I wrote.
An online survey by the Society of Authors and the Writers Guild of Great Britain found that many authors end up out of pocket if they sign deals with ‘hybrid' publishers.
The international circuit begins each year with two spring fairs: the Bologna Children's Book FairThe Bologna Children's Book Fair or La fiera del libro per ragazzi is the leading professional fair for children's books in the world. and the London Book Fair, typically held in March and April, respectively. The several book fairs of the summer and fall follow: Beijing International Book Fair and Frankfurt Book FairWorld's largest trade fair for books; held annually mid-October at Frankfurt Trade Fair, Germany; First three days exclusively for trade visitors; general public can attend last two. held, respectively, in August or September and October. Read more
Approximately 130 people, as well as others listening online, attended the Book Industry Study Group's first in-person annual meeting in three years, held April 22 in New York City. The meeting focused on the impact of the pandemic and continuing efforts to make the industry more inclusive.