The IPA London Congress: Confrontation and Debate

Dichotomies of local and global, major and modest, resonated throughout the International Publishers Association’s 31st Congress, convened in the run-up to London Book Fair. Read More

Canada Calling: BitLit and Shelfie at Three Years

  By Porter Anderson | @Porter_Anderson Publishing Perspectives Editor-in-Chief “It’s been nearly 3 years since I first picked up a phone and started calling publishers.” And Peter Hudson, founding CEO of BitLit in Vancouver, is in a good position to tell newcomers to the publishing startup scene what to expect: “Looking back, I understand why everybody I… Read More

In 2016, Adult Coloring Books: Only Half-Good For Publishing

Color Us Skeptical One of the things the book publishing industry produces best is confusion. Its gray areas (not unlike its Grey areas) are fogs of speculation, partial truths, gossip, and misty-eyed hindsight. Among the most beloved notions this year has been the idea that print books entered a renaissance in 2015. In bookseller’s dreams, consumers… Read More

Author Earnings: Springtime for UK indie ebooks

Welcome to the UK, Author Earnings Unlike the US, where collective indie ebook earnings long ago surpassed that of all Big Five authors combined, in the UK indie-published authors and Big Five published authors are still earning neck [and] neck. As we gather this morning (4th December) to open the fifth annual FutureBook Conference here in London, a new Author Earnings report… Read More

When rights go wrong: A #FutureChat recap

Post-Chatterie Following our #FutureChat on Is ‘out of print’ running out of time?, a couple of additional communications arrived, each worth note. From an author, an interesting point in a private communication about a possible role — and possible mishandling of it — for agents in the question of reversions of rights and contract reform in publishing. This author writes… Read More

Is 'out of print' running out of time?

Never being ‘out of print’ is not good news You can’t self-publish. Because you can’t get your rights back. And your book is nowhere to be seen. Kill the entire outmoded concept of “out of print.” Instead, the contract should define when book rights are being “inadequately exploited” and therefore available for reversion to the… Read More

Enhanced ebooks and steel filing cabinets

  Funny how #FutureChat can change your mind. Camille LaGuire, whose beret-ed avatar is familiar to many of us in our weekly discussion from The Bookseller and FutureChat, started Friday’s chat by announcing: Not sure I have much to contribute about the Future of Enhanced books discussion on #FutureChat today. By later in the day,… Read More

Why That Ebook May Cost More Than The Hardcover

It’s Not Over ‘Til The Big Dog Barks Indie publishing is still growing and it seems that established publishing is at a standstill. Mike Shatzkin’s column of August 5 may be the one in which we someday remember hearing a new sermon, the beginning of the endgame. But Shatzkin is not delivering a benediction yet: This… Read More