Publishing // Current

Al Qaeda has a magazine!

Don't say the magazine industry is dead yet - there's still some space left for... more

afitzgerald
added this
5 days ago
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29 comments

Welcome to Kismet

http://conceding2kismet.weebly.com

conceding2kismet
added this
6 days ago
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0 comments

Nook Vs. Kindle: New Chapter In E-Reader Battle

E-books: Depending on your point of view, they're either the savior or the destroyer... more

atomiclegion
added this
18 days ago
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0 comments

Price War Over Books Worries Industry

A Friday afternoon retail-price-war sent markdowns so low that some worry it could end... more

knews121
added this
25 days ago
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Blockbuster Parodies!

Maybe it's because it's the end of the longest week we've ever had, launching Books on... more

atomiclegion
added this
1 month ago
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3 comments

Latest autobiography from Katie Price may be shunned by retailers

The fourth autobiography by Katie Price, 'Standing Out', is due to be released this... more

emmaboswood
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1 month ago
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2 comments

How Apple's Tablet Will Save, Rebirth, and Revolutionize Publishing.

Prior to delving into this post, ask yourself if you’re interested in: 1. Apple... more

k3ngee
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1 month ago
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0 comments

Get Booked: Is Dan Brown an evil Book Killer?

Thom Geier says it best, so I'll just let him begin:

"There’s been much fulminating in the books world lately that The Lost Symbol, Dan Brown’s eagerly anticipated follow-up to The Da Vinci Code, is bad for publishing. This week, former Publisher’s Weekly editor Sara Nelson even dubbed Brown a “Book Killer.” The theory is that Brown’s readers will only troop into stores (or go online) starting Sept. 15 to buy Symbol, probably at a deep discount, and they won’t buy anything else. Worse, the critics argue, the hubbub surrounding Symbol will drown out media coverage of other books — and eat into sales of those books too. So publishers have supposedly been shuffling the release dates of various titles so they don’t have to go head-to-head with the Dan Brown juggernaut."

Thom Geier's analysis:

"It doesn’t take a Harvard symbologist to see that this is mostly sour grapes and a whole lot of hooey."

You hear that? A whole lot of hooey. I like this guy.

"It reminds me of the stink that publishers raised over the Harry Potter series, successfully persuading The New York Times and other outlets to demote the titles from their adult best-seller lists so that J.K. Rowling titles wouldn’t hog up so many slots. Why do we have to compete with a book that appeals to a youth-skewing mass audience, beyond the usual Starbucks-sipping B&N crowd?, the publishers asked. That just isn’t fair! (Imagine if the movie studios tried something similar so they wouldn’t have to compete with the box office returns of G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra.)"

Mr. Geier goes on to point out that, although Dan Brown's new novel will almost undoubtedly jump to the #1 slot, it's effect on the book purchasing trends of other books will be minimal and, if anything, will draw in and audience that may include many "non-habitual book shoppers."

"The crossover with Jon Krakauer or Jonathan Lethem or Pat Conroy, some of the authors alleged to be “hurt” by Brown, seems infinitesimally small. (I’d love to see the Venn diagram of the overlap in readership, actually.)"

Brownie points if you can supply Master Thom with his Venn diagram.

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Sooo...
Booked Wants to Know:

Do you think Dan Brown is a Book Killer? Will you be reading his newest book, Lost Symbol? And which would be worse to meet in a dark alley: the Dan Brown Juggernaut or the J.K. Rowling Youth-Skewer?Thom Geier says it best, so I'll just let him begin: "There’s been much... more

Lrn_Willis
added this
3 months ago
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0 comments

Get Booked: Yann Martel's new novel is breaking boundaries in Holocaust literature

Yann Martel, author of the bestselling book, Life of Pi, and winner of the Man Booker prize in 2002, has recently sold the rights to his third book. It was bought up at auction last month by Spiegel & Grau, an imprint of Random House, the world’s largest publisher of consumer books.

So what's got people talking? In a nutshell,

"Like 'Life of Pi,' the new book is an allegory — this time, about the Holocaust — involving animals. It relates the story of an encounter between a famous writer and a taxidermist who is writing a play that features dialog between a donkey and a monkey imprinted on a shirt."

Hmm.

This complicated structure, combined with the high sticker price, is said to be the reason only three publishers bid on the novel. Yet even with its unorthodox structure, the currently untitled book (to be released sometime next year) is not without precedent.

"'I’ve noticed over the years of reading books on the Holocaust and seeing movies that it’s always represented in the same way, which is historical or social realism,' Mr. Martel, 46, said in a telephone interview from his home in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. 'I was thinking that it was interesting that you don’t have many imaginative takes on it, like George Orwell’s ‘Animal Farm’ and its take on Stalinism.' Mr. Martel said that although there had been a few works like “Life is Beautiful” in film or the “Maus” books by Art Spiegelman that had been more metaphorical, artists were generally “fearful of letting the imagination loose on the Holocaust.”

continued at link.
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Sooo...
Booked Wants to Know:

Many believe that the domain of the artist, or the writer, is without boundaries. Nothing can escape art, and nothing is off-limits to the one who creates it, even the most painful or controversial components of human existence and human history. Books have the power to change the way people think, and can consequently be used as positive tools or weapons with deadly consequences.

That said, are the real world outcomes of a book the responsibility of the author? If an author writes a book that inspires world peace, do we praise her/him? If an author writes a book that inspires World War III, do we condemn her/him? At what juncture, if there is one, does a book cease to be the offspring of one author and become instead the offspring of humanity?

Book it, and tell us what You think.Yann Martel, author of the bestselling book, Life of Pi, and winner of the Man Booker... more

Lrn_Willis
added this
3 months ago
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0 comments

Barnes & Noble Plans an Extensive E-Bookstore

our months after acquiring an e-book retailer, Barnes & Noble, the world's largest... more

fountaingoats
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4 months ago
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0 comments

OK! Magazine pays £300k for death photo of Michael Jackson

OK! magazine has paid $500,000 (£300,000) for exclusive US and UK rights to a photo... more

burukku16
added this
4 months ago
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13 comments

JK Rowling sued for plagiarism in £500m lawsuit

JK Rowling and her publisher are being sued for £500million for allegedly copying... more

burukku16
added this
5 months ago
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8 comments

New Erotic Magazine for Women Fails to Excite

This week, a new magazine seeks to fill the gap left by failed publications such as Playgirl - but can it really claim to be plugging into the complex sexual psyche of the modern woman? Olivia Lichtenstein investigates.

Filament, the brainchild of 30-year-old former education quango worker Suraya Singh, promises 'stimulating reading, saucy fiction, beautiful men'. It trumpets itself as 'The thinking woman's crumpet', an erotica magazine for women and an alternative to the celebrity-obsessed magazines that currently rule our news stands.

Lichtenstein says so far, so interesting. But then she turns the pages and there are the pictures of 'Boys'. Most of them are somewhat effeminate, and none of them is arousing. They are apparently intended as an alternative to the oil-slicked musclemen that proliferate elsewhere. The editor claims her 'research' has shown her these models represent the sort of men women really find sexy.

There's an article about Hard Core v Soft Core, which is so self-consciously academic that it's difficult to understand why its author, a lecturer in philosophy at a British university, feels the need to write under a pseudonym.

Elsewhere, an article about pubic hair promises to get to 'the (front) bottom of what women are doing to their pubes these days'. It's a perfectly straightforward article, but hardly illuminating and rather mundane.

The rest of the magazine is made up of articles with titles such as Singleness And Coupleness (is that even a word?), subheaded 'Does being single always mean sh****ng around'; picture stories of half-naked men given such cheesy sobriquets as Guiltless and Firebrand; and an agony column entitled Ask A Feminist.

There is also some pretentious poetry and softcore fiction.

'While I suppose we should applaud the editor's desire to provide an alternative to the many indistinguishable magazines for women, I'm not sure this one is the answer,' says Lichtenstein. 'Filament poses under an unearned and unwarranted banner of erotica.'

Priced at £7, she says it's far too earnest and dull, and reads like a geeky girl's idea of what might be sexy.

For more of Lichtenstein's review, click on the link above.

Would you buy a magazine like this? If you were to design an 'erotic' magazine targeting women, what would you include in it?This week, a new magazine seeks to fill the gap left by failed publications such as... more

burukku16
added this
5 months ago
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1 comment

"The Jewel of Medina" author condemns UK 'censorship'

"Sherry Jones, author of a controversial novel about the child bride of Muhammad, has accused British publishers of being too afraid to publish her book in the wake of a firebomb attack on the office of Gibson Square, the London-based publisher which had been set to release it last year.

Her novel, The Jewel of Medina, was initially acquired for a six-figure advance by Random House US, but dropped by the publisher last summer after it was warned that the book's subject matter "might be offensive to some in the Muslim community, but also that it could incite acts of violence by a small, radical segment". It was later acquired and published in America by small US publisher Beaufort Books. Gibson Square bought UK rights, but dropped the book following an arson attack on the home and office of its publisher Martin Rynja. Last week three men were found guilty of conspiracy to recklessly damage property and endanger life.

Jones has now revealed on her blog that despite attempts to find a new UK distributor for The Jewel of Medina, "everyone, it seems, is too afraid". "Although the extremists lost in court, they have apparently won where it really counts – in the UK's book stores," she wrote. "The 'thugs' have accomplished their task — and freedom of speech, the first freedom to go when fascism gets a foothold, has taken a blow in the western world."

She called on "the people of Great Britain" to "speak out against those who are limiting their right to read, think, speak, listen, debate, discuss, criticise". "I hope the people of the UK can find the power, and the courage, to raise an outcry against censorship," she said. "Now it's time for the rest of us, including moderate Muslims and the press, who cherish our culture and our freedom, to raise a cry louder than that of radicals, so we don't lose that most precious, and crucial, of freedoms."

British publishers, however, disputed her claim that they were too afraid to publish The Jewel of Medina. "I've read the reviews and it sounds absolutely awful – beyond being offensive. If it were good we would actively consider publishing it, but an anachronistic bodice ripper – why would we be interested?" said Jon Wood, Orion publishing director.""Sherry Jones, author of a controversial novel about the child bride of Muhammad, has... more

St_Alia_10191
added this
6 months ago
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0 comments

"What is the future of arts journalism?"

Rick Stein, Executive Director for Arts Orange County, writes, "The irony was not lost upon me today when, after reading the latest article that wonders aloud if one of our major national newspapers can survive, I happened upon a paid advertisement for the NEA Arts Journalism Institute at Columbia University.

A single blogpost couldn’t possibly address the topic in depth, so I hope simply to prod some reflection and discussion.

I’ll take as a given that the internet has already emerged as the principal journalistic medium. (You may argue with that, but then it’s more about whether it’s “there” yet or simply still “en route.”)

The question then becomes “what is the role of arts journalism in this new landscape?”

Some observers say that audiences no longer want to be told what’s worthy of their attention, instead preferring to curate their own arts-going experiences and reach their own conclusions about them. (Not a good sign for arts journalists OR artistic directors, either.)

Some speculate this is a product of the waning attention spans since the “baby boom” and a desire for “choice” that has led to hundreds of cable channels and the flexibility to play them back whenever the mood strikes.

Others cite the growing belief that participating in an art form at any level of competency surpasses the experience of observing (and supporting) the work of skilled professionals.

It is even leading to a re-thinking by some foundations about where to direct their funds in order best to serve the long-term future of the arts in America — a direction that cuts out of the picture traditional arts institutions, since “quality” is no longer the goal.

Interestingly, the notion that critics are despised by artists is a truism not validated by reality. Agree or disagree with their conclusions, the arts community nonetheless hungers for a meaningful discussion about the value, context and quality of its work that experienced observers and skilled writers provide.

As everyone knows, such writers are increasingly being shed by publishers struggling to keep their shrinking companies alive. And while the internet has provided even wider potential audiences for arts journalists, it has not yet produced a viable business model that can finance their employment. The easily accessible blogosphere has also made it possible for every dilettante with time on his hands to appoint himself a critic — caveat emptor (and mea culpa?).

So, are arts journalism institutes, like Columbia’s or USC’s, breeding grounds for the futile pursuit of a vanishing profession?

I hope not."Rick Stein, Executive Director for Arts Orange County, writes, "The irony was not lost... more