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
Reader Analytics: Not All Authors Want To Know
Your Soul Vs. Data? When Jellybooks’ Andrew Rhomberg wrote at Digital Book World recently about publishers having a Fear of Data in an age of digital metrics, I thought that taking that issue to authors would be a worthwhile exercise. And I tried it out on some trusted colleagues by making it the “Provocations in… 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
New Trajectory partnerships include PanMac UK ebook distribution to China
‘A relationship with new English language readers’ Boston-based Trajectory has announced a suite of new partnerships, capped by one that will take the Pan Macmillan UKcatalog into China. “China is a key focus for Pan Macmillan,” said PanMac’s international director Jonathan Atkins in a prepared statement, “and we are very excited by the potential for growth… Read More
Booktrack's Paul Cameron: 'We want to immerse you, not interrupt, you'
‘Today, we have 2.5 million users’ Five years in — and with a new $5 million round of Series B financing in place — the New Zealand-based Booktrackis at that point at which a start-up begins to show staying power. Late last week, it was announced that the company has become a partner in the Google for… Read More
Do you fear reader analytics?
Just a day before we got the news this week that Authonomy was to be closed by HarperCollins UK, London-based entrepreneur Andrew Rhomberg had posted at Digital Book World his Fear of Data column. In that piece,Jellybooks’ Rhomberg writes: The availability of reading data is probably causing more angst than any other because it strikes at… 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
With booksellers' pressure: DRM is now soft in Germany
‘An Ever-Widening Industry Consensus’ Today, most of Germany’s main publishing forces are, or soon will be, hard-DRM-free. This morning, we had the first reports from Buchreport: Random House Germany has joined the other leading publishers there, citing “an ever-widening industry consensus.” At The Bookseller, we have Anja Sieg’s report here. As of 1st October, Verlagsgruppe Random House has announced… Read More