Ahead of his or her presentation at Digital Book World (#DBW16) on March 9, a look at “Data Guy’s” sales-estimate project, Author Earnings, by Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief of Publishing Perspectives. 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
BiblioBoard, Pressbooks partner on library-based self-publishing
‘A much stronger role for the library in the future of the book’ US library digital patron-services provider BiblioBoard and Canadian online book-production specialist Pressbooks are forming a new partnership called Pressbooks Public, designed to let libraries offer e-book-publishing services to their local authors. The timing of the coordinated effort by Pressbooks and BiblioBoard is significant: the beta version… Read More
Looking for Truth in Time of Hype
‘There’s Never Been a Better Time To Be A Writer’ You’ve read that line, of course, we all have. Sometimes here at Writer Unboxed. I’ve seen this mantra frequently over the past few years in blog posts, conference reports and news items. And I don’t disagree there’s been a lot to celebrate. This is… Read More
Pottermore or less?
A new route across the techno-terrain The news conjured from Fortress Rowling by our wizardly Bookseller editor Philip Jones is that “in the coming weeks” (nice hedge—you know how Web development goes), the Web site so powerful that it got Amazon to play quidditch is undergoing some deep change. If all is as Jones is being… Read More
Crowdfunding As An Antidote To Vanity Publishing: Colborne and Pubslush Join Forces
‘All The Backend Experience’ “The conversation was along the lines of ‘Pubslush has the marketing smarts that Colborne needs, and Colborne has all the backend experience that Pubslush is short on.’” Toronto’s Greg Ioannou was one of the very few people not surprised last week, as news got around that his company and author-crowdfunder Pubslush… Read More
Introducing The FutureBook's #AuthorDay 2015
The problems and the promise: Authority As The Bookseller’s c.e.o. and publisher Nigel Roby is saying this evening at our launch event in London, The FutureBook Conference is in its fifth anniversary. And, as Europe’s largest publishing industry conference, it addresses a broad audience. Roby: “So many dimensions to modern publishing, and so many groups who have… Read More
When the agent is the author: Andrew Lownie on Guy Burgess
‘A lot of new material’ “Being an author myself again has made me a better agent I believe,” Andrew Lownie tells me. Not nearly the sinister combo of student-and-spy, fortunately, the literary agent Lownie nevertheless is an accomplished chameleon whose colours can switch to those of an author as easily as putting on a red sportcoat. His… Read More
#WhatsABookWorth?
‘An integral part of our emotional lives’ What’s a Book Worth? is asking readers to film themselves talking about a book that means a lot to them and share those thoughts on 28th September, using the hashtag #WhatsABookWorth, the title of the book and its cover price. It is also encouraging readers to write a short… Read More
Can authors compete with 'non-competes'?
‘An unacceptable restriction on authors’ livelihoods’ No publisher would agree, at an author’s request, to forgo publishing another author’s book on a particular subject. So why should an author assume a similar obligation? But it happens all the time. Of all the contract-reform issues being discussed today around publishing and its contracts with authors, the non-compete… Read More