Watching for a day when ‘generosity flows in both directions,’ ALLi’s leadership assesses new development—and division—in the self-publishing sector. Read More
2016: An International Coalition of Author Advocacy Challenges Publishing Contracts
The author contract battle goes global Dated today, 5th January, the Authors Guild’s open letter to the Association of American Publishers leads the loudest call yet for contract reform in publishing’s relations with authors. This is a coordinated campaign being mounted by the world’s key author-advocacy organisations. The letter’s signatories include the UK’s Society of Authors, the Authors Licensing… Read More
A message to #FutureBook15 from #AuthorDay
To work together, not as antagonists The Bookseller’s Author Day conference opened this year’s FutureBook Week on Monday (30th November). It was the inaugural staging of a conference expressly meant to bring together publishing professionals, traditionally publishing authors, and self-publishing authors. Our term for the conference’s intent is “issues-driven,” by which we meat that it was not… Read More
Rebecca Smart joins Author Day speakers
Conference note: While anticipation is building for #AuthorDay on Monday (30th November), we’re closing bookings Friday (27th) for #FutureBook15, hurry to get your seat. PRH-Ebury’s chief on ‘What Publishers Tell Us’ I’m incredibly pleased to announce that Rebecca Smart will join our rich speakers’ lineup for Author Day on 30th November at 30 Euston… Read More
#FutureChat today: Have we manifested your concern?
Emma Barnes and Alastair Horne to present their manifestos at FutureBook 2015 We’re delighted today to announce that the #FutureBook15 manifestos chosen for presentation at The FutureBook 2015 Conference on the 4th of December at the Mermaid in London are those by Alastair Horne of Cambridge University Press and Emma Barnes of Bibliocloud and Snowbooks.… Read More
#AuthorDay – ask-the-agents
Friday 3-5 p.m. GMT live on Twitter, hashtag #AuthorDay The Author Day conference on 30th November at 30 Euston Square in London has become a double-barreled event, thanks to the generosity and cooperation of several key supporters of the effort. Our central issues-driven discussion at the core of the conference will be ringed with one-on-one meetings with: Editors… Read More
Divisions and support at #AuthorDay
Open submissions, face-to-face feedback New developments in our Author Day (#AuthorDay) planning for 30th November are helping us to bring elements of practical author support, one-on-one networking, and advice into the mix alongside our issues-driven core discussions. Quickly: Publishers and editors from Pan Macmillan and from HarperCollins’ divisions Harper Fiction, The Borough Press and Harlequin will… Read More
What makes a good indie book cover?
Duck and cover By this time next year, there will not be fewer mobiles in the world; there will not be fewer videos uploaded to YouTube; or fewer ebooks published; or fewer tweets sent into the ether. There will not be fewer authors—and there may not be any more readers. That’s my colleague Philip Jones… Read More
Now booking seats: FutureBook's #AuthorDay
‘Respective strengths’ To look at some of the major news about authors last week, you’d think we might have titled our new conference “Show Me The Money.” Between the US Authors Guild’s release of its first survey since 2009 of author income, “The Wages of Writing,” and Hugh Howey and Data Guy’s delivery of the latest AuthorEarnings… Read More
Reaching for accord: Authors' Contracts and Controversies
Authors approaching accord Two venerable author advocate groups, the UK’s Society of Authors and the Authors Guild in the USA, have recently stepped into the limelight to announce that they are fighting for fairer contracts between publishers and authors. The impetus for these actions seems to come from reports that authors’ median incomes have dropped precipitously since 2009, while publishers have fared… Read More