All Episodes
Shades of Grey… And Green
Random House parent company Bertelsmann has put a cap on a record year for the global publishing giant with an announcement that worldwide revenue at RH rose almost 23%, while the companies’ profits operating margin jumped almost 76%. “Those are both astounding...
Academic Publishing: Obsolete
“If it ain't broke, don’t fix it.” It’s not a proverb that applies to much of publishing in 2013, particularly scholarly publishing. Advances in technology; demands for greater information access; and challenges to academic hierarchy have combined to put authors,...
Copyright Reform Next?
Publishers prepare to pack for London, while the Supreme Court sends John Wiley & Sons packing with a copyright-related ruling that the First Sale doctrine applies as well in Bangkok as it does in Berkley. Ahead of the London Book Fair, running from April...
A New Brand Of Book News
On the minds of many publishers today is the challenge of branding. Many an observer has noted the light touch of branding in the book business – After all, few readers ever ask for the latest book by Random House or HarperCollins. At F+W Media, by contrast,...
Millionaires By the Book
With the tide of e-book sales rising fast, the number of million-selling digital titles has likewise swelled. That’s good news for authors and their publishers, and lest we forget, heartening too for all makers of devices. Yet bookstore owners can take heart as well:...
A New Type of Literary Agent
Pitching and selling book projects to editors over lunch in Manhattan dining clubs. If that’s your picture of a literary agent’s life, it’s time for a make-over. A radical make-over, in fact. Literary agents have long occupied a place on the edge of publishing;...
Tech-Based SXSW Festival Goes Literary
Live and learn. In 2009, book business representatives took their show on the road to Austin and were met with a hail of digital brickbats. Four years on, the techies and the booksters have found common ground at the upcoming SXSW Interactive Festival. “In 2009, the...
Cory Doctorow On When Computers Disobey
Imagine your computer is designed to disobey you – even worse, to hide things from you. Arthur C. Clarke imagined such a computer in 2001: A Space Odyssey. The HAL 9000 “super computer” famously sabotages a deep space mission when it turns on the human crew. As one...
In Books, Everyone’s Declaring Independence
Across the publishing industry, all the players are proudly declaring independence. Authors have cut ties with publishers and agents and found success in more than “50 shades.” Determined to survive in their brick-and-mortar forms, “indie” booksellers are fighting for...
The Battle For the Books
Courtrooms, like football fields, are stages for transformation. At times, opposing sides clash over principle. Otherwise, they fight for profit. There are good guys, and there are bad guys, umpires, and cheerleaders. At the conclusion of such contests, we hardly...
Sherlock Holmes, RIP
In a famous case, Sherlock Holmes seemed to meet his demise. Yet the character survives, and for a detective 126 years old, he manages rather well to this day in part because of an apparent quirk in copyright law. One scholar, though, wants to put an end to Holmes as...
‘Social Media Audit’ for Authors, Publishers
In short order and forever, Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites have changed the ways that individuals seek and find information about products, people, and organizations. Creating a Facebook or Twitter account is only the start, of course. Real change...