September 2009
10 posts
Social Publishing →
An interview with Richard Nash about “social publishing,” which he thinks is the way forward for smaller presses.
According to Nash, social publishing “is taking the book and making it much easier to have a conversation with the book and its writer, and have conversations around the book and its writer.”
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Further Complication Re: The Google Books Deal →
I understand the argument that Google Books could potentially create a private monopoly over out-of-print books online. But I just really want access to all those books.
Out of Print Favourites →
Bookfinder’s report on the most in-demand out-of-print books. I had no idea Salvador Dali had illustrated a copy of the Bible… now I want one too!
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Paying For Form, Not Content →
“Publishers of all types, from news to music, are unhappy that consumers won’t pay for content anymore. At least, that’s how they see it. In fact consumers never really were paying for content, and publishers weren’t really selling it either.”
This article makes an interesting argument (and very ‘book historical’ in that it explores how the meaning of...
Google and On Demand Books Team Up →
Lots of Google news these days! The internet giant just struck a deal with On Demand Books, the maker of the Espresso book printing machines, to allow it access to 2 million public domain books scanned by Google Books.
Google Makes Concessions to European Publishers →
Books out of print in the US, but still available in Europe will not be digitized.
The Future is Digital →
‘Administrators at Cushing Academy in Massachusetts “have decided to discard all their books and have given away half of what stocked their sprawling stacks – the classics, novels, poetry, biographies, tomes on every subject from the humanities to the sciences. The future, they believe, is digital.”’
Penguin Book Designs →
A flickr set of Penguin book layouts and what-not, giving some insight into how Penguin’s book designers went about their work.
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The Last Library →
An article on the controversy surrounding Google Books proposed settlement with publishers.
“Many are concerned that the settlement gives a private organization the sole right to essentially create and control a public good—a digital library—without explicit responsibilities to maintain that public good outlined in the settlement.”
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The Story of a Bankrupted Antiquarian Bookseller →
“What follows are diverting and cautionary reports on the Chapter 7 death and decay of an Austin rare-book dealership, written for the benefit of the chary startups among you by Bill Cotter, its former owner and sole employee. Cotter’s first novel, Fever Chart, will be published by McSweeney’s in August. The bankruptcy trustees will get half of his advance.”
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