LeGuin Shakes Up Book Awards

Nov 21, 2014 | News

Presented with a plaque for “lifetime achievement” in writing at the National Book Awards on Wednesday, Ursula LeGuin replied with a jeremiad on the state of publishing. The audience applauded – “bravely,” she noted. Clearly, the 85-year-old novelist of science...

Open Access And Societies – Case Studies For Success

Nov 19, 2014 | Copyright

While Open Access is helping mission-driven publishing societies to disseminate knowledge, it is also causing them to re-evaluate their financial business models. On Tuesday, October 21, Deni Auclair, Vice President & Lead Analyst, Outsell Inc.; Esmeralda Galán...

Congrats, You’ve Got a New Media Hit!

Nov 16, 2014 | Copyright

“Measurement is the first step that leads to control and eventually to improvement. If you can’t measure something, you can’t understand it. If you can’t understand it, you can’t control it. If you can’t control it, you can’t improve it,” declared H. James Harrington,...

Terms Reached For Hachette, Amazon

Nov 14, 2014 | News

On the same week that the New York Times reported he gave up a lavish private office for a 6-foot X 7-foot cube in an open-plan office, Hachette CEO Michael Pietsch announced conclusion of an e-book sales deal with Amazon. He says the deal is “great news for writers,”...

Transformation Of Translation

Nov 9, 2014 | International

More than four times as many people worldwide speak English than French, yet French culture certainly punches above its weight. This year’s Nobel laureate in literature is the French author Patrick Modiano, and more French writers have won the Nobel than writers of...

Happy Days For Debut Novelist

Nov 7, 2014 | News

In 2014, some things about the book business are as long gone as the days of Mad Men. Three-martini lunches, of course, as well an urban landscape dotted with bookstores. Also among the missing, or so we thought, were the hefty advances that signal the imminent...

Scholarly Societies And Creative Commons Licenses

Nov 5, 2014 | Copyright

Do you know your CC-BY from your CC-BY-NC-ND? As funders roll out mandates globally for Open Access archiving of public research, scholarly societies have a responsibility to understand the OA licensing options mean. No two licenses are the same. The one you choose...

The Song of Transparency

Nov 2, 2014 | Podcasts

As it enables greater access to information, technology sheds light in corners of the media industry long obscured by fog and shadow. In Washington last week, at the 14th annual Future of Music Policy Summit, musicians and music industry executives shared a stage with...

Publishers In No Hurry For Amazon Antitrust

Oct 31, 2014 | News

Over the summer, as Amazon and Hachette clashed on e-book pricing levels, calls were heard for the federal government to undertake antitrust action against the e-retailing giant. Distraught booksellers and outraged intellectuals alike have challenged the Department of...

Innovations in Global Rights Licensing

Oct 29, 2014 | Copyright

As traditional sales channels have declined in the digital era, publishers and other content providers have moved to market and distribute their work in innovative and flexible ways. Success in this new environment relies on automated licensing tools that support...