‘Fake Reviews Are Still Rife’ Three summers ago, in August 2012, one of the hottest stories of the year came from the book-retail sector. The author John Locke had confirmed to The New York Times’ David Streitfeld that he had paid for reviews, lots of them, starting with 50 reviews of his books for $1,000. The… Read More
Story Terrace comes to the UK in June: 'Everyday people's' memoirs
‘Drinking a glass of wine on a terrace’ Editor’s Note: One of the newer publishing-related startups at London Book Fair this year was Story Terrace. Launched last November in The Netherlands, it’s planned for a UK rollout in June. Story Terrace’s business? It “consigns the life stories of everyday people to a compact book with… Read More
16-24-Year-Old Readers And Their Books: #PorterMeets Luke Mitchell
With all the pleasure any good teenager has in proving his elders wrong, the 16-to-24-year-old age group might seem at times to delight in confusing marketers. And at Thursday’s The Bookseller Children’s Conference, in London, some of Luke Mitchell’s comments to the audience will help sort out what may be behind that demographic’s role in… Read More
UK author income survey: Another publishing bombshell
The topic of our Friday #FutureChat this week, 11 July, will be the ALCS survey news. Join us live on Twitter at 4 p.m. London time, 11 a.m. New York time, 8 a.m. Los Angeles, 5 p.m. Berlin, 3 p.m. GMT. Brace for impact The key survey revelations commissioned by the UK’s Authors’ Licensing & Collection… Read More
What If Boys Can't Find the Right (Reading ) Stuff?
The basic premise of what Nottingham-based author Jonathan Emmett is laying out here: The preponderance of women in the curation and presentation of so much of children’s material may have something to do with a perceived lack of content that’s as interesting to boys as it is to girls. Read More
Framing #FutureFoyles in London
From February 19, 2013 An excerpt from my series of Ether for Authors columns on publishing at Publishing Perspectives, appearing Tuesdays. Framing #FutureFoyles in London Here is one thing no one will deny about the events hashtagged #FutureFoyles in London: here was unabashed dedication, enthusiasm, love and hope — loud, rackety, even strident… Read More
What We Leave Behind
From February 5, 2013 An excerpt from my series of Ether for Authors columns on publishing at Publishing Perspectives, appearing Tuesdays. Table of Contents Tick-TOC: Optimism Ahead What We Leave Behind: ‘There Is No Midlist’ But More Optimism: An International Startup Showcase Tick-TOC: One Week To Go It would be enough to know simply that… Read More
Ether for Authors: eBook Prices at Rock Bottom
Writing on the Ether is a collection of news and perspectives on publishing. It is written by journalist and critic Porter Anderson for Jane Friedman and it appears at JaneFriedman.com each Thursday. Sponsorship opportunities are available and offer generous promotion. Join us on Tuesdays at Ed Nawotka’s and Frankfurt Book Fair’s Publishing Perspectives for the new Ether for Authors column. Read More