The Dropping of the Shoe
If you follow the book publishing industry as much as I do, you know that yesterday was a dark day. In what many are calling “Black Wednesday”, a few key publishers announced employee layoffs and/or...
View ArticlePerishing by Dead Tree Publishing
Just read a great post from Clay Shirky, a guest blogger at Boing Boing. Clay’s is a response to an article written in the New York Times by James Gleick, who advises book publishers to walk into the...
View ArticleOff to NYC
I’m looking forward to my trip to NYC tomorrow. This will be my third time attending O’Reilly’s Tools of Change for Publishing conference. Each one has been a worthwhile experience. I’m especially...
View ArticleHarperCollins Dumps Print
Actually, they are dumping their print catalogs. Starting this fall, HC will forgo the traditional bound catalog in favor of a digital one. Hard to believe this decision wasn’t made years ago. HC’s...
View ArticleAn Author’s Perspective on the Book Publishing Industry
Dr. Gary S. Goodman, best-selling author of 12 books, warns prospective writers to be aware of the current state of the book publishing industry. (1) Distribution through bookstores has never been...
View ArticleHarvard University Press: Publishing on the Quick
What do you do when you have to get a book out fast in order to capture the buzz of a current event? You pull out all the stops to get it done, then you have to know when to quit. Harvard University...
View ArticleGoogle Book Settlement: Devil’s in the Details
Seems as time goes by, more people are coming to grips with what’s in the Google Book Search Settlement. Everyone knows the basics of the agreeement – Google pays $125 million total to publishers, of...
View ArticleCambridge University Press: Too Old to Fail
In this era of government bailouts, you’ve no doubt heard the phrase “too big to fail”. Most of the time this phrase is aligned with banks and insurance companies who are so interconnected with other...
View ArticleOn Royalties and Advances
Since I’m in the business of paying royalties, not collecting them, I’ll refrain from a lot of comment on the whole royalty advance issue and whether there’s any rhyme or reason to it all. The...
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What’s a Typewriter?
The Abrams booth at Book Expo America ’10. I’ll give them an “A” for creativity, but really, what the heck is that thing? Wikipedia calls it a Typewriter. I mean, I know what a laptop looks like, and I...
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