It’s the end of February, my first month of being a ‘real person’. And I’m a slight nerd about this publishing stuff. I read newsletters and news updates from a couple of sources. (Mostly book2book, The Bookseller and Shelf Awareness but also the Guardian book blog, Richard Curtis’s blog, Publishing Talk, Publisher’s Weekly, The Chronicle, The Huffington Post and a multitude of other sites they link to).
I’m actually much better at keeping up to date now when I don’t really need to than I was back when studying and supposed to be keeping up to date. So I’ve decided to put together some interesting (to me) news from the last month in the publishing world.
[book2book - http://www.booktrade.info] [The Bookseller - http://www.thebookseller.com] [Shelf Awareness - http://www.shelf-awareness.com]
Amazon vs. the world
This was a fun diversion. There have been many good blogs and articles about this over the last month, I’m not going to list or link them all. The gist of the story is:
Macmillan decided to argue with Amazon over the default Kindle e-book price of $9.99. Amazon in response removed all the buy buttons from Macmillan titles, both physical and electronic copies (including Booker prize winner ‘Wolf Hall’). Amazon sort of capitulated but it took them the bones of a week to actually put the buttons back. And people are still discussing ebook pricing, Amazon cyber-bulling and monopolising and a multitude of other silliness. Amazon fail even worse than when they deleted electronic copies of Orwell’s ‘1984’. My favourite outcome is an author site that has sprung up to track Amazon’s button stealing tactics – http://whomovedmybuybutton.com/
iPad or iNotsomuchdownwiththeiPadfad?
Yay! It’s shiny! It has a touch screen! It’s like a mini laptop only no keyboard! Except for the magic of typing on the screen! Oh, that screen is gonna get dirty real fast.
Hmm… I haven’t splashed out on an iPhone yet so I’m not sure of the wonderfulness of Apps. Although they sound interesting, I feel no desire to rush out and try them. The iPad does look like a fun gizmo to browse the web on and will probably even be nice to read iBooks on. I shall wait to see if this 10 hours of battery life turns out to be wishful thinking. The name, as pointed out by college humour here: http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1928558 is just too easy to poke fun at. I want to play with one. But if I had an internet device that didn’t stand on its own or have handles or wasn’t clunky enough to require a special area in my bag – you can bet I’d drop it, scratch it, leave it at the bottom of my handbag getting covered in gunk, step on it after letting it fall to the floor and a multitude of other disasters which is why you don’t trust klutzes with technology. I’m not shelling out $499 for something I either wouldn’t use or that I would break through over use. But if anyone wants to lend me one to watch a movie on or read an ebook, feel free.
Piracy the good, the bad and the DRM
The internet age old debate is still going strong in the publishing world. An interesting take on piracy as good for books can be found here – http://www.beyondthebookcast.com/wp-images/OLearyDBWTranscript.pdf (though the things mentioned in the interview as positives are probably only relevant for fiction titles *shakes fist at students who pirate academic titles despite understanding where they’re coming from*) And the ‘dark side’ DRMaholic crazed ‘evil publishing’ aspects of the arguments against piracy and for DRM can, of course, be found many places. The Tools of Change conference in New York had plenty to say on the subject – http://www.thebookseller.com/news/113616-copyright-piracy-and-anti-drm-dominate-tools-of-change.html The human cost of piracy is given a voice in this article by an author who has been the victim of piracy called ‘Are Pirate-site Downloaders Better Than Muggers, Pickpockets and Shoplifters? This Victim Doesn’t Think So’ – http://www.ereads.com/2009/04/are-pirate-site-downloaders-better-than.html
Irish Publishing
O’Brien seem to be going from strength to strength and have announced new representation in the UK. Little Island have a great new website and some good kids titles on the way – http://www.littleisland.ie/ Mercier Press on the other hand (who I desperately wanted to hire me this time last year as they are Cork based and have some lovely fiction titles) have fallen foul of Arts Council cuts in funding and have had to cancel or postpone some of their forthcoming titles. I hope they bounce back. And Easons (Irish bookseller) are holding themselves together by not paying out Christmas bonuses, a move endorsed by the unions – http://www.thebookseller.com/news/112855-union-seeks-meeting-with-easons-management.html
Scottish Publishing
Publishing Scotland has been having a mini mud-slinging contest at the results of a recent Literature Working Group recommendation. Accusations of bias have been flung on both sides and the creepy undercurrent is that the Independent Publisher’s Guild is trying to gobble up Publishing Scotland. Scottish authors have started to weigh in – http://news.scotsman.com/politics/Writers-hit-out-at-cuts.6082494.jp Not sure what side I’d come down on as I haven’t read the report or the objections in too much detail but it’s interesting to have a bit of a shake up during turbulent times.
Google Book Settlement
We’ve been talking about this for quite a while. And finally we’re coming to a close (at least to the American side of the saga). Google Books – good for anyone besides Google? Good for everyone? I’ve changed my mind on this a few times so I’ll keep on sitting on the proverbial fence. The ‘free spirited, all information should be available to everyone’ side of me thinks it’d be fantastic to have so much information available online. The ‘I get paid by people who get paid to do lots of work involving writing content that should be monetarily rewarded for’ side of me thinks it’s Google profiting from other people’s hard work. And continuing their bid for ruling the world. Not that their thirst for world dominance is going to stop me buzzing or waiting for wave to get good. Several major British authors, agents and publishers have opted out of the revised Google Book Settlement as revealed by documents presented in the US Google case – http://thepublicindex.org/docs/amended_settlement/Allen_declaration2.pdf Basically, for out of copyright or ‘orphaned’ works – yes it would be great to have them all available in one place. But an online library of Alexandria it can’t be because of in copyright and protected works. While in some cases I see copyright as restrictive, it does exist for a reason and Google can’t ignore that.
Most Exciting Time to be a Reader
I read a wonderful article by Jason Pinter in the Huffington Post (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jason-pinter/is-this-the-most-exciting_b_463200.html) called ‘Is This The Most Exciting Time Ever For Book Lovers?’ and I have to say that I agree. There’s so much going on all over the world in terms of books and ebooks and ereaders and new literature and more awareness of the cultural, social and historical importance of books and reading and information sharing. It’s a great time to be alive and to be keeping half an eye on future developments. Screw the taboo – I’ll shout it loud and proud – I LOVE BOOKS J And having been trapped in an airport for 3 hours at one stage this month, even the most crass, “chart” fiction focused small bookstore can be a joy to browse in. Also, just to kill an hour the other evening I ended up on the floor of a Waterstones reading Ogden Nash’s poetry while grinning to myself. I find I’m mostly cured of the ‘need’ to purchase a book every time I enter a bookstore. But in 3 out of the 4 I’ve been in this month I’ve spent money and I never feel it’s money badly spent. I discovered a new word I fell in love with too – ‘fossicking’ (it basically means rummaging or seeking). In the Guardian Book Blog where the author talks about the joy of browsing in real bookstores – http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2010/feb/22/browsing-books-robert-graves
Espresso Book Machine
I want an espresso book machine (http://news.shelf-awareness.com/mv/a1/837322.html#3810088) – ideally a large one for here in the office to run off marketing and sample copies of books. And a smaller, cheaper, quieter version at home for when I have my own library. I want one that will let me feed in cool material to use as a cover. And one that comes with an InDesign like programme to make my own personalised covers for much loved books. Ah, I can but dream. While you’re at it – where’s my personal instant teleportation device?
LBF Build-up
I had fun at the London Book Fair last year. It had some really interesting seminars, it was fun to chat to people and get free copies of some new titles and drink cheap bubbly at large trade publisher’s stalls. But this year, I can’t justify going. I’ve looked at the events on offer and while I would be interested in going to some of them personally, none of them seem relevant to me professionally. Maybe some other time. However, if any of you circle members are heading down London way for it, I think meeting up in a nice pub near Earl’s Court for food and chat would be a good plan and that trip I can justify. So roll on April.
Self Publishing and Social Media – ooh, aah…
I’m a little surprised at how many news stories and blogs seem to be covering ‘self publishing’ and using ‘social media’ as shiny new concepts. Maybe as an internet generation child it just seems like old news to me. I’m used to the facts and figures of facebook users being trotted out as ‘staggering’ while totting up the amount of hours I spend and finding that I’m within the average range. (Although yes, the fact that if FB were a country it would be the third largest in the world is pretty cool). Self publishing is becoming more refined in its methods, better at managing costs and marketing itself as a legitimate publishing option. Authors are tweeting, taking advantage of Amazon’s direct deals and managing fan communities online. But surely this has been going on for long enough now that we don’t need it highlighted every other day? The internet is awesome, if you aren’t keeping up with the trends already then wading into the social media stratosphere now may not be the best option. Hire a young person to figure out some internet stuff for you and learn more before you believe the hype. The same goes for people thinking they can make a huge profit self publishing or that they’ll never be accepted by a mainstream publishing house – research is key. But most of the stuff I’m reading about this stuff seems to be more ‘olds’ than ‘news’.
Misc/Personal
J.K. Rowling is yet again being accused of plagiarism over a 32 page book called ‘Willy the Wizard’ that came out in 1987 that she insists she has never read. It has a wizarding contest where people overcome obstacles. And there’s some sort of scene in a bathroom where the hero gets a clue. But I sincerely doubt that’s where Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire came from. I hope the courts will agree.
Terry Pratchett has given the Richard Dimbleby lecture this year (the first novelist to do so). He talks about assisted suicide, Alzheimers etc very poignantly. Because of his PSA (the form of Alzheimers he has) – Tony Robinson reads it for him. The lecture can be viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUE3pBIuAGk&feature=related
I’ve noticed since consciously entering the blogosphere that many people are hanging around here that I didn’t know about. I guess since facebook gives me those titbits of information so consistently I never looked for more depth in people’s online personas. I’ve been proved wrong yet again. Turns out a few of you are dipping your toes in the water while others have been swimming around for years.
Also – this wonderful little blog from a sci-fi/fantasty author is setting out to deal with misconceptions about publishing – http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2010/02/common-misconceptions-about-pu.html My favourite sentence from this first instalment: They’re colossal multinationals, and during the 1980s they went on a buying spree, acquiring smaller (often family-owned or private) publishing companies in a giant game of publishing pokemon.
A big cheer for Fishman for his insights into his world 
P.S.
If skimming through a sampling of publishing news like this gets your juices flowing, I recommend The Book Depository’s blog on Monday – The Bookseller Redux is usually informative and entertaining. http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/blog (Also, since Amazon has been revealed as the epitomy of evil, these guys make a wonderful alternative. They have 11,000 free ebooks, good competitons, free worldwide delivery and cheap but not ridiculously cheap prices. And no, I don’t work for them)
P.P.S.
I’m shuffling sideways in work from the Humanities Production team to the Technical and Professional Production team. I’m excited because I’ll have new formats to deal with and possibly more colour books but on the other hand I’m nervous about leaving the section I was getting comfortable with and my friendly team. But ce sera sera.
