Chris Lavergne, publisher of Thought Catalog Books, knows what his social-savvy data is saying: Create ‘an experience that isn’t efficient.’ Read More
#MusicForWriters – Randy Gibson: 'This Feeling Of Eternity"
Randy Gibson is a sound-world architect. He’s best known in connection with the Avant Music Festival each year in New York. Read More
SELF-e And The World’s Authors: Is English Our Lingua Franca?
‘Keep Calm And Study English’ “Since the smashing success of the first Harry Potter novel—which was a No. 1 bestseller in Germany in its English version at one point—we have evidence of English, as a reading language, to be a global phenomenon.” Rüdiger Wischenbart is the Vienna-based publishing consultant who produces the Global eBook Report and directs… Read More
Gender Bias: Are You Aware Of Yours?
Just When You Think You’re Enlightened Now backpedaling in an almost comic retreat, officials of South By Southwest (SXSW) triggered a storm of controversy when they canceled two panels relative to online harassment such as the GamerGate community is infamous for. Amid searing criticism and cancellations by would-be SXSW-goers, SXSW Interactive chief Hugh Forrest issued an… Read More
Nielsen's #KidsBookSummit: Nobody Said YA Books Aren’t For Teens
When The Medium’s Message Gets Rough It was an odd turnabout in the annual Nielsen Children’s Conference. Led by Kristen McLean—among the most respected people in the business of quantifying and evaluating the young person’s reading scene—the conference was a crackling success. Smartly produced at New York’s pristine Convene Center in Lower Manhattan on a… Read More
The Authors Guild Survey’s Self-Selected Sample: More Fuel On The Fire?
First, The Bad News While some parts of the Authors Guild’s survey of writers’ income had been released earlier, the writer-advocacy organization has now produced its full report. The news, while not shocking to anyone near the publishing business, is nevertheless troubling. Some initial results, and then a bit of discussion follows. Writing-related income of… Read More
AuthorEarnings: Brought To You By Us, Your Breathless Media
My Hype Is Better Than Your Hype Sometimes it seems that almost no one in the publishing industry can deliver a message without a sticky gloss of agenda-laden hype on it. The latest AuthorEarnings report, prepared by the author Hugh Howey and his technologist colleague known as “Data Guy,” is a good case in point. Rather than opening… Read More
Scott Hawkins On Mount Char: Library Science And Angelology
‘The Closest Thing…To His Usual Loin Cloth’ When Julian Pavia at Random House/Crown tells me he’s got something I might look at, I pay attention. He’s Andy Weir’s editor and sent me Weir’s The Martian during the run-up to its release. I recommend you read it before the October release of the film. You’ll… Read More
Give Her Credit: Sarah McIntyre Torches For Book Illustrators
#PicturesMeanBusiness And So Does She Once you break yourself of tweeting to her as@Jabberwocks — she definitely is not Brown University’s dramatically lit all-male a cappella group — Sarah McIntyre is one of the most colorful forces of nature you’ll find in your Twitter stream. She is @Jabberworks. And yes, she’s talking to you. She’s attaching the hashtag#PicturesMeanBusiness.… Read More
Publishing’s Bad Infinity: Authors Guild Calls For Time-Limited Contracts
‘To Keep Pace With The Times’ We believe three basic changes are urgently needed: Time-limited contracts, A clause that provides for reversion of unexploited rights, and A specific new unchallengeable definition to replace historic “out of print” clauses that are not remotely relevant in the electronic age. As you’ll know if you’ve been following along… Read More