London Book Fair 2013

Special link: London Book Fair 2013

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Jackie Kay wins Scottish Book of the Year

Poet and author, Jackie Kay, has been awarded the 2011 Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust Book of the Year, in partnership with Creative Scotland, for her autobiography Red Dust Road

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

PA Bulletin 30th August 2011 (UK)

PA Bulletin 30th August 2011, from The Publishers Association, UK, is now available online #publisher #publishing

"Academic publishers make Murdoch look like a socialist"

Who are the most ruthless capitalists in the western world? Whose monopolistic practices make Walmart look like a corner shop and Rupert Murdoch a socialist? You won't guess the answer in a month of Sundays. While there are plenty of candidates, my vote goes not to the banks, the oil companies or the health insurers, but – wait for it – to academic publishers. Theirs might sound like a fusty and insignificant sector. It is anything but. Of all corporate scams, the racket they run is most urgently in need of referral to the competition authorities - George Monbiot. The Guardian

"10 Reasons Dick Cheney's New Book Belongs in the Crime Section (And What You Can Do to Get it There)"

Alternet: "Peace activists around the country are stealthily gearing up to visit bookstores, grab a stack of books, and deposit them where they belong"

2011 ReLit shortlists announced (Canada)

The shortlists for the 2011 ReLit awards have been announced. The annual awards recognize books published by Canadian independent literary presses. Winners will be announced at the Ottawa International Writers’ Festival in October. The nominees are as follows:

Novel

* The Cube People, Christian McPherson (Nightwood Editions)
* Book, Ken Sparling (Pedlar Press)
* Blood Relatives, Craig Francis Power (Pedlar)
* The Find, Kathy Page (McArthur & Company)
* Krakow Melt, Daniel Allen Cox (Arsenal Pulp Press)
* The Goon, Jerrod Edson (Oberon Press)
* The Bourgeois Empire, Evie Christie (ECW Press)
* One Bloody Thing After Another, Joey Comeau (ECW)
* Good Evening, Central Laundromat, Jason Heroux (Quattro Books)
* Sweet England, Steve Weiner (New Star Books)

Short Fiction

* The Devil You Know, Jenn Farrell (Anvil Press)
* Ravenna Gets, Tony Burgess (Anvil)
* I'm a Registered Nurse Not a Whore, Anne Perdue (Insomniac Press)
* Bats or Swallows, Teri Vlassopoulos (Invisible Publishing)
* There is No Other, Jonathan Papernick (Exile Press)
* Punishing Ugly Children, Darryl Joel Berger (Killick Press)
* I Still Don't Even Know You, Michelle Berry (Turnstone Press)
* Missed Her, Ivan E. Coyote (Arsenal Pulp)
* Ronald Reagan, My Father, Brian Joseph Davis (ECW)

Poetry

* The Inquisition Yours, Jen Currin (Coach House Books)
* Sweet, Dani Couture (Pedlar)
* Every Day in the Morning (Slow), Adam Seelig (New Star)
* A Good Time Had By All, Meaghan Strimas (Exile)
* The Good News About Armageddon, Steve McOrmond (Brick Books)
* You Know Who You Are, Ian Williams (Wolsak and Wynn)
* Marimba Forever, Jim Christy (Guernica Editions)

Sunday, August 28, 2011

2011 Royal Society Young People's Book Prize shortlist

The shortlist for the 2011 Royal Society Young People's Book Prize has been announced:

* The Icky Sticky Snot and Blood Book by Steve Alton and Nick Sharratt (Bodley Head)
* What's the Point of Being Green? by Jacqui Bailey (Franklin Watts)
* How the World Works by Christiane Dorion and illustrated by Beverly Young (Templar Publishing)
* What Mr Darwin Saw by Mick Manning and Brita Granström (Frances Lincoln Children's Books)
* The Story of Astronomy and Space published by Usborne
* What Goes On In My Head by Robert Winston (Dorling Kindersley)

Friday, August 26, 2011

Playwright Sir David Hare wins 2011 PEN/Pinter Prize

This year’s PEN/Pinter Prize is to be awarded to the playwright, Sir David Hare. The judges this year were Hanif Kureishi, Lady Antonia Fraser, Gillian Slovo, Claire Tomalin and Michael Billington. David Hare will be presented with his prize at a public event at the British Library on 10 October. English playwright and theatre and film director David Hare has received huge critical acclaim over the last 40 years. Many of his plays offer a portrait of contemporary Britain and some of his notable works include Plenty (Faber and Faber, 1978),The Absence of War (Faber and Faber, 1993) and The Blue Room ¬(Faber and Faber, 1998). His numerous awards include a BAFTA, a Golden Bear and an Olivier Award. He was knighted in 1998

Stephen King story free for influential Klout users

Scribner will publish an eBook-only edition of Stephen King's new short story "Mile 81." The $2.99 eBook short story also features a free excerpt from Stephen King's next novel 11/22/63, which is slated for release in November. To promote the release, the publisher will team up with the social media measurement site Klout. Scribner will give away free downloads of the story to influencers in Klout's Perks program. In exchange, Klout will encourage these folks to Tweet about the eBook

Give bricks-and-mortar bookselling a future

Faced with the Amazon juggernaut and high rents, bookshops are battling to survive. 'Use them or lose them' is the message

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Ngaio Marsh Award 2011

Blood Men by Paul Cleave won the 2011 Ngaio Marsh Award. The award was presented at the "Setting the Stage for Murder" event in Christchurch, New Zealand

2011 Dayton Literary Peace Prize finalists

Finalists for the 2011 Dayton Literary Peace Prize, which celebrates the power of literature to promote peace, include:

Fiction

* The Surrendered by Chang-rae Lee (Riverhead)
* How to Read the Air by Dinaw Mengestu (Riverhead)
* Beneath the Lion's Gaze by Maaza Mengiste (Norton)
* The Gendarme by Mark Mustian (Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam)
* Kapitoil by Teddy Wayne (HarperCollins)

Nonfiction

* Crossing Mandelbaum Gate: Coming of Age Between the Arabs and Israelis, 1956-1978 by Kai Bird (Scribner)
* Little Princes by Conor Grennan (HarperCollins)
* Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand (Random House)
* For Us Surrender Is Out of the Question by Mac McClelland (Soft Skull Press)
* In the Place of Justice: A Story of Punishment and Deliverance by Wilbert Rideau (Knopf)
* The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson (Random House)

Winners will be honored at a ceremony in Dayton, Ohio, on November 13

Tor/Forge to publish science fiction novels in association with NASA

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and Tor/Forge Books will develop and publish "NASA-inspired works of fiction," agency officials announced

How to get ahead in academic publishing: Q&A best bits

How do you market your manuscript or transform your thesis into a book? We round up the advice given by our panelists in our publishing live chat - Guardian

New company, Booktrack, plans to release ebooks with soundtracks

Booktrack, a start-up in New York, is planning to release e-books with soundtracks that play throughout the books, an experimental technology that its founders hope will change the way many novels are read. Its first book featuring a soundtrack is "The Power of Six," a young-adult novel published by HarperCollins, soon to be followed by "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," "Jane Eyre," "Romeo and Juliet" and "The Three Musketeers"

Notting Hill bookshop fights closure with poets and writers

Poets and writers are engaged in fighting to save a west London bookshop which served as the backdrop for the on-screen romance between Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant in the film Notting Hill. The Travel Bookshop, which is due to close in two weeks unless a last-minute buyer can be found, is offering all its stock at half price

Bloomsbury buys El Clasico

Bloomsbury has bought a non-fiction title about one of the great footballing rivalries in the modern game, between that of Real Madrid and Barcelona - The Bookseller

BBC Books to develop series around TV's Sherlock

BBC Books is to launch a publishing programme around Bafta-winning TV series "Sherlock", which was inspired by the adventures of Arthur Conan Doyle's Victorian detective Sherlock Holmes. The titles will each feature the show's branding and introductions by key members of the "Sherlock" team, including co-founders Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss - The Bookseller

One Day sells 60,000 copies in seven

David Nicholls' One Day (Hodder), the adaptation of which hits cinemas later this week, was comfortably the bestselling book at UK booksellers last week. The novel, first published in 2009, sold 60,410 copies across all printed editions at UK booksellers last week, outselling the next most popular book, Lee Child's Worth Dying For (Bantam) by more than two copies to one - The Bookseller

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Facet Publishing release new text books

Facet Publishing have announced the release of the new textbooks; Innovations in Information Retrieval: Perspectives for theory and practice, Knowledge Management: An introduction and Reference and Information Services in the 21st Century: An introduction, 2nd edition revised

Fortune tellers defrauded bestselling author of $20 million, feds say

Fortune tellers alleged to have defrauded bestselling author Jude Deveraux of $20 million

James Tait Black Memorial Prizes

Debut novelist Tatjani Soli and theatre critic Hilary Spurling have won the James Tait Black Memorial Prizes, Britain's oldest literary awards. The winners have been announced by broadcaster Sally Magnusson at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. The prizes are awarded annually by the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures at the University

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Future marks launch of 100 digital edition

Specialist magazine publisher Future has announced the launch of its 100th digital edition for Apple's iPad

BBC brings Good Food subs to iPad

BBC Magazines have become the latest big name to sign up to Apple's subscription rules for magazines, offering their Good Food title both through the BBC subscriptions website and within the app store

2011 Shamus Award nominees

The Private Eye Writers of America have announced the nominees for the 2011 Shamus Awards. Winners will be announced in St. Louis at a private Private Eye Writers of America banquet

Friday, August 19, 2011

Not the Booker prize 2011: the shortlist

This year's Not the Booker Prize shortlist:

* Jude in London by Julian Gough
* The Dead Beat by Cody James
* King Crow by Michael Stewart
* Fireball by Tyler Keevil
* Spurious by Lars Iyer
* English Slacker by Chris Morton

Thursday, August 18, 2011

James Patterson tops Forbes author list

Thriller writer James Patterson is the world's highest-paid author after earning $84m (£50.9m) in the past year, according to Forbes magazine. His estimated earnings dwarf those of second-placed author Danielle Steel, who made $35m (£21.2m) from May 2010 to April 2011, the survey says

Shanghai Book Fair 2011

The Shanghai Book Fair 2011 is now open

Microsoft cancels its Reader e-book app

Microsoft will discontinue support of its e-book reader app, the company announced. No new content for the pioneering app will be sold after November 8, and the company will end support next year, Microsoft announced on its Reader site - CNET

E-books threaten livelihoods of aspiring writers

The growing popularity of e-readers could threaten the future of English literature because up-and-coming writers will not be paid enough to make ends meet, a prize-winning author, Graham Swift, has claimed - Telegraph

Lane Anderson Award shortlist announced (Canada)

The Fitzhenry Family Foundation has announced the shortlist for the 2010 Lane Anderson Award. The prize recognizes two Canadian books - one for adults, one for young readers - published in the field of science. The winners, announced on September 14, will receive $10,000 each.

Adult reader finalists:

* Einstein Wrote Back: How Einstein Changed Everything by John W. Moffat (Thomas Allen Publishers)
* Keeping the Bees by Laurence Packer (HarperCollins Canada)
* The Ptarmigan's Dilemma: An Exploration into How Life Organizes and Supports Itself by John and Mary Theberge (McClelland & Stewart)

Young reader finalists:

* Evolution: How We and All Living Things Came to Be by Daniel Loxton (Kids Can Press)
* The Sea Wolves: Living Wild in the Great Bear Rainforest by Ian McAllister and Nicholas Read (Orca Book Publishers)
* Ultimate Trains by Peter McMahon; Andy Mora, ilus. (Kids Can)

Bob Books launches new online self-publishing bookshop

Bob Books, the UK-based premium photobook company, has announced the launch of Bob Bookshop. Already the UK's biggest purveyor of digital photobooks, anyone will now be able to use this innovative new online self-publishing platform to share and sell their books online. The Bob Bookshop is an exciting way for people to become self-published authors and share their books with family, friends and the world. Book authors have full control over their books and can even add their own author mark-up on cost to earn from their sales

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

An Evening with Jo Nesbo (London, UK)

An Evening with Jo Nesbo - The Prince Charles Cinema, 7 Leicester Place, London, WC2H 7BY - Tuesday, 23 August 2011, 7:30PM

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Book video: Peter Ackroyd: Foundation: The History of England Volume 1

Foundation marks the launch of an extraordinary six-volume history of England, telling the English story from Neolithic times to the end of the twentieth century. This first book takes the reader from the building of Stonehenge to the death of Henry VII, the first Tudor king

Quarto buys Frances Lincoln

Co-edition publisher Quarto has bought illustrated publisher Frances Lincoln for £4.5m. The cash deal was announced this morning (16 August) as Quarto also revealed its interim results for the six months ending 30 June 2011. Sales were up 5% to $72.5m (£44.4m) and profit before tax increased 21% to $1.4m (£857,000) - The Bookseller

Book sales slump £1m in riot-riddled week

Spending on printed books slumped £1.1m last week, as the UK riots caused retailers to shut stores early and the public to avoid the high street. Although bookshops remained largely unscathed during the rioting, spending slumped by 4% on the previous week, to £26.6m, and was down 9% (£2.6.m) on the same week last year. With digital books continuing to steal sales from traditional booksellers, spending on printed books last week hit a six-year low for the month of August - The Bookseller

ALPSP North American Chapter: Challenges of Copyright Compliance - A Publisher Perspective

ALPSP North American Chapter: Challenges of Copyright Compliance - A Publisher Perspective - Wednesday, 5 October 2010, online 2:00 - 5:00pm EST (7:00pm - 10:00pm GMT)

Monday, August 15, 2011

Book video: Gerald Steinacher: Nazis on the Run (Oxford)

Gerald Steinacher, author of Nazis on the Run, talks about the surprising discoveries he made when researching the ways in which some Nazis tried to evade justice after WWII #book #videos #Nazis

Video trailers sell literature to the Internet generation

A proper Edwardian miss grows increasingly irritated with her swain's inability to come out with a proposal of marriage. The reason he's stammering soon rears its ugly tentacles and drags him into a lake where he's quickly dispatched. This is the popular video trailer for the romance/horror mashup novel Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, which has more than 310,000 hits on YouTube, plus multiple links to blogs and Facebook pages. The book, which came out in the fall of 2009, has sold more than 225,000 copies. Book publishers launching their fall seasons this month are madly producing trailers in the hopes they'll get a similar response, creating advance buzz in an ever-enlarging market hooked up to the Internet - The Star

PA Bulletin 15th August 2011 (UK)

PA Bulletin 15th August 2011, from The Publishers Association, UK, is now available online #publisher #publishing

2011 Citizen Book Prize longlist (South Africa)

Pan Macmillan South Africa has unveiled the 2011 Citizen Book Prize longlist. The Citizen Book Prize is the only South African literary award voted for by the people. The winner gets R10,000 from the Citizen and, either publication by Pan Macmillan SA or a spot on a top SA creative writing course

Sunday, August 14, 2011

EBSCO Publishing to provide employees with electric vehicle charging stations

Employees at EBSCO Publishing in Ipswich, Massachusetts wondering whether to invest in an electric car have a new incentive. EBSCO has installed two Electric Vehicle Charging Stations at the company's downtown headquarters - the very first commercial-grade charging stations in Ipswich

Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. in Grand Rapids celebrates 100th anniversary

Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. is in a unique position as it celebrates its 100th anniversary this month: In a century of business, it has had only two presidents. The first was founder William Bernardus Eerdmans, who led the company for 52 years. His son, Bill Eerdmans Jr., has held the reins for 48 years

Renovation, the 2011 World Science Fiction Convention (USA)

Renovation, the 2011 World Science Fiction Convention - August 17-21 - Reno, Nevada, USA

Friday, August 12, 2011

Book Slam South @ The Grand (Part 1) (UK)

Part one of our South London Summer Shenanigans sees us hosting a new fiction special with some of the UK's finest young novelists - August 15, 2011 - London, UK

Virago acquires second Paula McLain title

Virago has acquired a second book by Paula McLain, author of this year's The Paris Wife, which told the story of Ernest Hemmingway's first wife. Associate publisher Ursula Doyle acquired UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada and the US, to the title through Caspian Dennis at Abner Stein - The Bookseller

High street bounces back for Bloomsbury

Bloomsbury has said sales have bounced back significantly from a "soft" spring thanks to e-book downloads and greater sales through the high street - The Bookseller

HarperCollins reports best year since 2008

HarperCollins has had its best financial year since 2008, with e-book sales accounting for 10% of total revenue during the past four weeks, its c.e.o. has said. Victoria Barnsley was speaking as parent company NewsCorp reported its financial results overnight. The media conglomerate no longer strips out performance for HarperCollins and there was no mention of the publisher - The Bookseller

Thursday, August 11, 2011

City Reads at Brunswick Festival (UK)

City Reads is an annual citywide reading initiative conceived to spread a love of books and ideas to the widest possible audience throughout Brighton & Hove. The project is run by Collected Works: a Reader Development agency based in Brighton. The concept is simple: selecting one book by one author for the whole community to read, discuss, debate and creatively engage with in a series of special events, workshops and performances. 6 to 10 October - The Old Market, Hove, Sussex, UK

2011 PEN Awards recipients

The winners and runners up of the 2011 PEN Awards have been announced. Highlights include:

PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize ($25,000): Shared by Susanna Daniel for Stiltsville (Harper Perennial) and Danielle Evans for Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self (Riverhead)

PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award ($10,000): Siddhartha Mukherjee for The Emperor of All Maladies (Scribner)

PEN/W.G. Sebald Award for a Fiction Writer in Mid-Career ($10,000): Aleksandar Hemon

PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction ($10,000): Robert Perkinson for Texas Tough: The Rise of America’s Prison Empire (Metropolitan Books)

2011 New England Book call for entries

The 2011 New England Book Festival has issued a call for entries to its annual program celebrating the best books of the holiday season. The New England Book Festival will consider non-fiction, fiction, biography/autobiography, children's books, young adult, how-to, cookbooks, science fiction, photography/art, poetry, gay and compilations/anthologies. All entries must be in English. Our grand prize for the 2011 New England Book Festival winner is $1500 cash and a flight to our awards ceremony in Boston, to be held in January, 2012 at the Omni Parker Hotel

Hayya Naqra! (Let’s Read!) brings books to Palestine’s neediest

Plans are underway to launch a scheme to promote reading among young Palestinian children in the West Bank early next year. Called Hayya Naqra! (Let’s read!), the program will seek to improve the education, care and development of Palestinian children. It takes its inspiration from two reading charities on either side of the Atlantic - the US's Reading is Fundamental and the UK's Bookstart, the latter a scheme that provides free book packs for babies and very young children - Publishing Perspectives

Pseudo-agents take advantage of India’s aspiring authors

A new breed of shady Indian literary agents offering a roster of dubious services are preying on naive aspiring writers - Publishing Perspectives

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

New US lawsuit accuses Apple of E-Book price fixing

Hagens Berman, a consumer rights class-action law firm, today announced it has filed a nationwide class-action lawsuit claiming that Apple Inc. is guilty of illegal price fixing related to the Agency Model for pricing e-books. HarperCollins, Hachette, Macmillan, Penguin and S&S are also named in the suit - Publishing Perspectives

Queen Victoria turns vampire in Orbit acquisition

Orbit has bought a fantasy trilogy about Queen Victoria, who sits on the throne in the present day as the queen is an immortal vampire. Commissioning editor Anna Gregson bought UK and Commonwealth rights to God Save the Queen, plus two more titles in the series, from Tracy Williams at Hachette Book Group USA. The books are written by Kate Locke and are about an England ruled by a vampire monarchy for the past 170 years. The first book is scheduled for release in July 2012. - The Bookseller

Polygon buys novel by Private Eye contributor

Polygon has bought a novel by the Private Eye writer and cartoonist Barry Fantoni. Publishing director Neville Moir bought UK & Commonwealth rights to Harry Lipkin through David Riding of MBA Literary Agents. The book, described as "an intoxicating blend of Raymond Chandler and Woody Allen", is about the world's oldest private eye, who is based in modern-day Miami. It will be published as a small format hardback in summer 2012. - The Bookseller

Amazon bypasses Apple rules with Cloud Reader app

Amazon has launched a Kindle Cloud Reader app, just two weeks after it, along with other e-booksellers, was forced to remove links to its Kindle store from its native app by Apple. The company said the new tool could be used through Safari for iPad, Safari on desktops and Google Chrome browsers. Readers can access their e-books on or offline. The web app means customers can browse their Kindle books on the iPad and other devices and also make Amazon purchases from within the app. - The Bookseller

Granta hits iBookstore

Granta Publications has put its books onto the iBookstore, with all digitised titles from Granta Books and Portobello now made available. Marketing and digital development director Iain Chapple said: "We are committed to taking great writing to the widest readership and this move represents the latest exciting development in our digital strategy." - The Bookseller

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Model, Amanda Smith, sues publisher for spiking 'misery memoir'

A former model, who hoped to tell all in a "misery memoir" documenting her personal struggle with depression, alcohol addiction and abusive relationships, is locked in a legal battle with her former publisher after it alleged her work contained "libel or privacy issues on almost every other page". Amanda Smith has sought £1.8m in damages in the High Court from Headline Publishing Group, who refused to print her book, Toxic, due to be released in May 2008. Smith alleges she was not given sufficient warning that her work was legally contentious and accused the publisher of fraud and breach of copyright - The Independent

Publishing industry sales rose 3.1% in 2010; Trade E-book sales the big winner

Total book publishing revenue rose 3.1% in 2010 to $27.9 billion and posted two-year growth of 5.6%, according to figures released by BookStats, the joint AAP, BISG program developed to create a comprehensive analysis of industrywide sales. As expected, the gain was due almost entirely to increases in digital products which offset declines in all print formats. Among the major formats, e-book sales across all categories rose 38.9% in 2010, to $1.62 billion

After much ado, a Google book deal in France

A few days ago Google signed an agreement with the publisher Hachette Livre under which tens of thousands of French-language books will be pulled out of ink-on-paper purgatory and provided with a digital afterlife - NYT

Russian Publishing 101: What You Need to Know

These days there is more buzz about Russian books than there has been since the days of Glasnost and Perestroika. At the London Book Fair in March, Russia was the guest of honor; Russia was again the guest of honor at the Salone Internazionale del Libro di Torino in Italy in May; and in 2012 Russia will once more be a guest of honor, this time at BookExpo America in New York - Publishing Perspectives

Monday, August 8, 2011

Publishers need to "stand firm" against digital giants

Literary agent Andrew Wylie has said publishers need to "stand firm" in the face of digital companies like Amazon and Apple or risk being locked into an insupportable business model that is unable to reward writers. In an interview with BBC Radio 4 "The World at One", the literary agent said publishers were moving to the demands of "digital distributors" such as Amazon and Apple. He said: "I think if they allow the digital distributors to set the music, then the dance will become fatal." - The Bookseller

Sunday, August 7, 2011

eBook sales now account for 14% of Penguin's revenues (UK)

Book publisher Penguin has announced eBook sales have increased by over 130% and now represent 14% of its worldwide revenues. The growth of Penguin's eBook business was revealed this week as the publisher announced its results for the first half of 2011. Across all product types sales were £457m with operating profit standing at £42m

Guardian launches new ebook range for Kindle and iBooks (UK)

British newspaper The Guardian has announced a new ebook range for the Kindle and iBooks. The Guardian Shorts range will feature 'detailed guides to topical news stories, public policy, sports and cultural events' and has launched with an account of the paper’s role in uncovering phone hacking by the News of the World

The Institute for the Future of the Book

The Institute for the Future of the Book seeks to chronicle this shift, and impact its development in a positive direction. The Institute is a project of the Annenberg Center for Communication at the University of Southern California, and is based in Brooklyn, New York. We're a small think-and-do tank investigating the evolution of intellectual discourse as it shifts from printed pages to networked screens. There are independent branches of Institute in New York, London and Brisbane. The New York branch is affiliated with the Libraries of New York University

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Canadian Culinary Book Awards 2011 short list

Cuisine Canada and the University of Guelph released the shortlists for this year's Canadian Culinary Book Awards. Vancouver's Whitecap Books leads the list of nominees with five titles in the running, including 3 Chefs and Quinoa 365, a familiar sight on Canadian bestseller lists since the book's publication in April 2010

Rumor: Vogue's new "secret" website will be a digital archive of every single issue ever

Fashionista: "Vogue has been conspicuously embracing technology and new media lately. To wit: Anna pronouncing at the Webby awards that "geeks can be chic." A "Vogue influencers" network of bloggers. A recent re-boot of the glossy's website. The under-promoted Voguepedia feature on said website..."

Book video: Jaycee Dugard: A Stolen Life (S&S)

#jayceedugard The first thing you need to know about Jaycee Dugard's book, is it is indeed a very difficult thing to read. It is a beautifully written, pull no punches account of the 18 years she spent in captivity with a very sick man, Phillip Garrido #books #video

Direct-to-consumer - it's the way to go

The distance between publishers and readers has, traditionally, been a big one. It has been based on the simple understanding that publishers acquire/commission manuscripts and edit them, printers turn them into books and booksellers sell those books. Readers can usually tell you about the books they're reading, the authors of those books, the bookshops from which they bought the books and/or the libraries from which they borrowed them. But if you ask: "Who is the publisher?" you'll probably get a blank stare. There has, traditionally, been no direct link, no relationship, between publishers and readers. All this is changing, for several reasons...

Inkling raises $17M for digital textbooks

Inkling, the San Francisco-based maker of interactive iPad textbooks, has raised $17 million in Series B funding led by Tenaya Capital and including Jafco Ventures, Pearson Education and Sequoia Capital

Ebooks now 15% of Simon & Schuster revenue

CBS posted their Q2 financial report, and one of the high points was Simon & Schuster. In spite of profits being down 3% last quarter ($183 million from $189 million Q2 2010), ebook revenues were up. They’re now reported as being ~15% of revenue for that quarter. That works out to about $27.5 million, which is a pretty penny. It's more than double last year's reported sales

Friday, August 5, 2011

Literary holidays: the Reading Retreat in Suffolk (UK)

There's nothing quite like devouring a few well-chosen books on holiday, especially in an inspiring setting in a new enterprise on the Suffolk coast, finds Joanne O'Connor - The Telegraph

The true price of publishing

Ebooks have reignited the question of what we're really paying publishers for – the physical product, or what's written inside? - Guardian

Live webchat: John Bradshaw: In Defence of Dogs

John Bradshaw, the author of the hotly debated In Defence of Dogs, will be chatting between 1pm and 2pm GMT on Friday 5 August

Ned Kelly Awards 2011 shortlist (Australia)

The Crime Writers' Association of Australia has announced its shortlist of nominations for the 2011 Ned Kelly Awards:

Best First Fiction:
• Prime Cut, by Alan Carter (Fremantle Press)
• Line of Sight, by David Whish-Wilson (Penguin)
• The Old School, by P.M. Newton (Penguin)

Best Fiction:
• The Half-Child, by Angela Savage (Text Publishing)
• The Diggers Rest Hotel, by Geoffrey McGeachin (Penguin)
• Bereft, by Chris Womersley (Scribe Publishing)

S.D. Harvey Short Story:
• "Southern Hemisphere Blues," by Robert Goodman
• "Hemisphere Travel Guides: Las Vegas for Vegans," by A.S. Patric

True Crime:
• Abandoned: The Sad Death of Dianne Brimble, by Geesche Jacobson (Allen & Unwin)
• Wasted, by Ross Honeywill (Penguin)
• Honeymoon Dive, by Lindsay Simpson and Jennifer Cooke (Macmillan)

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Book video: Jill McGivering - The Last Kestrel (HarperCollins)

The Last Kestrel is a deeply moving and lyrical story of disparate lives - innocent and not-so-innocent - caught up in the horrors of war. It is a book which will resonate with fans of The Kite Runner and The Bookseller of Kabul

DBW Insights: Brian Murray, CEO of HarperCollins

In this exclusive interview, Brian Murray, CEO of HarperCollins, discusses the thinking about books beyond their print containers, return on investment and keeping up with the pace of innovation, and the HarperCollins's 26-lend policy for ebooks in libraries

Bob, Angel Tube cat, gets book deal

The book will be called A Street Cat Named Bob: How One Man and His Cat Found Hope on the Streets of London and will be published in March 2012

2011 SCIBA Book Award finalists announced

Southern California Independent Booksellers Association's booksellers have selected the 2011 SCIBA Book Award Finalists in six categories. Each year SCIBA awards books in the following categories; fiction, non fiction, mystery, art, architecture & photography, children's novel and children's picture book. SCIBA's award recipients are the best in their category, loved by Southern California booksellers & represent the incredible literary talent in Southern California

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Sydney Writers' Festival 2012

@SydWritersFest - Sydney Writers' Festival is Australia's finest literary celebration featuring 400 Australian and international writers participating in over 300 events

Neil Gaiman's Guide to the Edinburgh Book Festival

@neilhimself - This is an extended extract from Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer's guide to the Edinburgh festivals - exclusively available in this week's Big Issue. On sale until August 7, it also features Gaiman's interview with Iain Banks and Palmer taking on controversial US comedian Margaret Cho, as well as lots of tips to get the best out of your Edinburgh experience

The Green Carnation Prize longlist deadline extended

Due to the phenomenal number of submissions for the Green Carnation Prize 2011 it has been decided that, after a meeting with the judges last week, the deadlines for the Green Carnation Prize 2011 are to be extended

Ebury reveals 'Less Ordinary' digital list

Ebury has launched a digital imprint, initially focusing on abridged versions of Ebury's narrative non-fiction titles, called Lives Less Ordinary. Deputy publisher Andrew Goodfellow is behind the new range of digital shorts, which has begun by releasing 10 titles. The titles will be from 3,000 to 20,000 words, and will be priced under £1.99 on a sliding scale, according to length - The Bookseller

Digital sales double at Simon & Schuster, international "booming"

Digital sales more than doubled at Simon & Schuster in its second-quarter but did not offset the decline in print. However, the publisher reported an increase in profits of 12% off the back of the shift to digital and strong international growth - The Bookseller

Facebook buys innovative e-book publisher Push Pop Press

Facebook has bought the innovative e-book publisher Push Pop Press but will not use the company to publish e-books. The giant social networking website will instead use PPP's platform and technology to give "people even richer ways to share their stories". Push Pop Press made headlines earlier this year with its Al Gore app Our Choice, which the company claimed used a "new, groundbreaking multi-touch interface", allowing the reader "to experience that content seamlessly". - The Bookseller

Fourth Stieg Larsson novel rumours dismissed

Claims that Swedish author Stieg Larsson wrote a fourth novel are wide of the mark, his partner has revealed. The Millennium trilogy writer died before books including The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo were published. Eva Gabrielsson told BBC Radio 4's Woman Hour that there was "not much truth" in reports that he left another novel on a laptop. She said while he had written some new pages, there was not enough to shape another novel - BBC

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

The Spanish Hammett Prize

The top award of the Semana Negra (Noir Week) festival in Gijón for best crime novel published originally in Spanish (Castilian) in 2010, the Hammett Prize, went this year to Ricardo Piglia (Argentina) for Blanco Nocturno (Nocturnal Target)

Monday, August 1, 2011

Publishers help ease book cost burden for parents

Pupils will again be able to pass their schoolbooks on to younger siblings under new measures being introduced to reduce the financial burden on parents. Among the initiatives is an agreement by publishers not to revise any edition of a book within four years of publication, and that the book will remain in print throughout the four years. A recent survey found that books for a child in primary school cost an average of €125 a year, with the cost rising to €238 a year for a child in secondary school - Independent.ie

Kashmir to launch literary festival as Indian reading revolution takes off

Kashmir, the heart of India's long-running conflict with Pakistan, is to launch a literature festival to revive its image and boost India's growing publishing industry - The Telegraph

National Occupational Standards for Publishing being updated

Skillset is updating the National Occupational Standards for Publishing to include journals and the latest digital developments and they want to know what you think. This important project comes at a critical time for the industry, when digital developments provide both threats and opportunities. As a result, ALPSP is fully supporting the project and we urge all members to take part. Skillset would like to invite you to attend one of a series of focus groups being held in September 2011. The focus groups will provide Publishing professionals with an opportunity to share best practice and discuss their roles and experiences with their peers. It will also enable Skillset to get the views of people from across the industry. For that reason these events tend to be very popular and spaces are limited

PA Bulletin 1st August 2011 (UK)

PA Bulletin 1st August 2011, from The Publishers Association, UK, is now available online #publisher #publishing