O to be in England, now that April’s there. And in 2012, in London, the scene is not nearly as idyllic as in Browning’s verse: The great metropolis is in the final throes of preparation for Olympic game and royal jubilee festivals. It has not gone without notice, though, that the city was host this week to the annual London Book Fair.
“I was taken with the talk by Jim Griffin, managing director of OneHouse LLC, who spoke of what he called the ‘Tarzan economics’ of the digital age, where companies ‘cling to the vine that keeps them off the jungle floor,’ while having to reach for the next vine to move them forward,” Publishers Weekly features editor Andrew Albanese tells CCC’s Chris Kenneally. “One thing he said really caught my attention: he expects publishing will more toward actuarial models, like for radio licensing of recorded music, where you pay into pools of money and that money is then distributed to content owners via collective licensing.”
In her review of this week’s reviews, Rose Fox has something sweet to say about Alexander McCall Smith’s latest, A Conspiracy of Friends, the third book in the Corduroy Mansions series. This “confection,” says the PW reviewer, is “short on plot but teeming with charm.”
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Every Friday, CCC’s “Beyond the Book” speaks with the editors and reporters of “Publishers Weekly” for an early look at the news that publishers, editors, authors, agents and librarians will be talking about when they return to work on Monday.