‘Perspective on the Book Business’ Is there any industry so feverishly bent on surveying itself as publishing? This week, my colleague Philip Jones at The Bookseller in Taking a measure of the FutureBook audience has launched the 2015 Digital Census, results of which will be released in relation to the Author Day / FutureBook week of activity in… 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
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
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
Fair Contracts For Authors: Don’t Let Go Of Your Copyright
Novelists Inc. Plans Authors Guild Session There’s news this week from the roughly 900-member Novelists Inc. (NINC) organization that the Authors Guild will present a special session on rights reversion at NINC’s conference, 30th September to 4th October. Executive director Mary Rasenberger and staffer Ryan Fox will go to St. Pete Beach for talks with NINC members,… 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