Jackie Collins to self-publish

It's hitting the industry like a rash: Major authors are ditching their publishers to self-publish their own eBooks. Seth Godin, Stephen King, J.K. Rowling, and even billionaire Mark Cuban have gone the DIY route, and now mega-bestselling author Jackie Collins is joining the ranks

The Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America redirects its Amazon.com links to other booksellers

In recent days, Amazon.com decided to remove more than 4000 e-books from its website after a pricing dispute with IPG. The Independent Publishing Group is one of the largest independent distributors in the United States. While Amazon has the right to decide with what company it does business, its removal of many of our authors' books from its ordering system will have an economic impact on them. Our authors depend on people buying their books and a significant percentage of them have books distributed through IPG. Therefore, SFWA is redirecting Amazon.com links from the organization's website to other booksellers because we would prefer to send traffic to stores where the books can actually be purchased. To that end, our volunteers are in the process of redirecting book links to indiebound.org, Powell's, and Barnes and Noble. Many authors will be hit hard by this, so we encourage you to seek out new places to find their books. It is worth noting, that if a book is only available on Amazon, we are leaving the link in place. Our goal is to make sure that it is possible to order our members' fiction. Hurting authors to make a point about a publishing model is not a good practice, for anyone - SFWA

Bloomsbury Publishing selects Publishers Communication Group to represent Churchill Archive and Drama Online

Bloomsbury and industry consultancy Publishers Communication Group have announced an exclusive sales, marketing and customer service partnership for Bloomsbury's two newest ventures, the Churchill Archive and Drama Online. The two digital collections will launch during 2012 under the Bloomsbury Academic imprint of the London-based literary and reference publisher

2012 Best Translated Book Awards fiction longlist announced

The 25-title fiction longlist for the 2012 Best Translated Book Awards has been announced. This is the fifth year for the BTBA, which launched in 2007 as a way of highlighting the best works of international literature published in the U.S. in the previous year:

Leeches by David Albahari
Translated from the Serbian by Ellen Elias-Bursać
(Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

My Two Worlds by Sergio Chejfec
Translated from the Spanish by Margaret B. Carson
(Open Letter)

Demolishing Nisard by Eric Chevillard
Translated from the French by Jordan Stump
(Dalkey Archive Press)

Private Property by Paule Constant
Translated from the French by Margot Miller and France Grenaudier-Klijn
(University of Nebraska Press)

Lightning by Jean Echenoz
Translated from the French by Linda Coverdale
(New Press)

Zone by Mathias Énard
Translated from the French by Charlotte Mandell
(Open Letter)

Buzz Aldrin, What Happened to You in All the Confusion? by Johan Harstad
Translated from the Norwegian by Deborah Dawkin
(Seven Stories)

Upstaged by Jacques Jouet
Translated from the French by Leland de la Durantaye
(Dalkey Archive Press)

Fiasco by Imre Kertész
Translated from the Hungarian by Tim Wilkinson
(Melville House)

Montecore by Jonas Hassen Khemiri
Translated from the Swedish by Rachel Willson-Broyles
(Knopf)

Kornél Esti by Dezső Kosztolányi
Translated from the Hungarian by Bernard Adams
(New Directions)

I Am a Japanese Writer by Dany Laferrière
Translated from the French by David Homel
(Douglas & MacIntyre)

Suicide by Edouard Levé
Translated from the French by Jan Steyn
(Dalkey Archive Press)

New Finnish Grammar by Diego Marani
Translated from the Italian by Judith Landry
(Dedalus)

Purgatory by Tomás Eloy Martínez
Translated from the Spanish by Frank Wynne
(Bloomsbury)

Stone Upon Stone by Wiesław Myśliwski
Translated from the Polish by Bill Johnston
(Archipelago Books)

Scenes from Village Life by Amos Oz
Translated from the Hebrew by Nicholas de Lange
(Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

The Shadow-Boxing Woman by Inka Parei
Translated from the German by Katy Derbyshire
(Seagull Books)

Funeral for a Dog by Thomas Pletzinger
Translated from the German by Ross Benjamin
(W.W. Norton)

Scars by Juan José Saer
Translated from the Spanish by Steve Dolph
(Open Letter)

Kafka’s Leopards by Moacyr Scliar
Translated from the Portuguese by Thomas O. Beebee
(Texas Tech University Press)

Seven Years by Peter Stamm
Translated from the German by Michael Hofmann
(Other Press)

The Truth about Marie by Jean-Philippe Toussaint
Translated from the French by Matthew B. Smith
(Dalkey Archive Press)

In Red by Magdalena Tulli
Translated from the Polish by Bill Johnston
(Archipelago Books)

Never Any End to Paris by Enrique Vila-Matas
Translated from the Spanish by Anne McLean
(New Directions)

Boys now reading as well as girls, study suggests

Boys appear to have caught up with girls on reading ability, research into what children are reading for pleasure suggests. A study of which books more than 210,000 UK children are reading suggests boys no longer read at a lower level of difficulty than girls. Concerns that boys lag behind girls has been frequently expressed. Roald Dahl remains the most popular children's author. He is closely followed by Roderick Hunt, author of the popular Magic Key series, which is part of the Oxford Reading Scheme. Diary of a Wimpy Kid author Jeff Kinney and the creator of Horrid Henry Francesca Simon were also hugely popular

This much I know: Jacqueline Wilson

The author, 66, on lusting after rings, having no interest in food and the 15,000 books in her house

Berenstain Bears co-creator Jan Berenstain Dies

Jan Berenstain, who with her husband, Stan, wrote and illustrated the Berenstain Bears books that have charmed preschoolers and their parents for 50 years, has died. She was 88

Anthony Horowitz: Do we still need publishers?

At an event hosted by children's booksellers The Book People last week, Anthony Horowitz gave a talk questioning the role of the publisher in today's literary world

2012 Audie Awards finalists (USA)

The Audio Publishers Association has announced finalists for its 2012 Audie Awards® competition, the only awards program in the United States devoted entirely to honoring spoken word entertainment. Winners will be announced at the Audies Gala on June 5, 2012, at the New-York Historical Society in New York City. Comedian, actor, writer, and director Michael Showalter will emcee the event

A Guide to Publishers in the Library Ebook Market - The Digital Shift

The ebook library lending policies of the Big Six publishers garner most of the attention, because public libraries regard access to best-selling titles as a critical service. However, it may help to scan the landscape not only for the "Big Six" trade publishers but also for the "fairly large" and the "not so big" and the "further afield" in order to get a fuller sense of publishers' participation in the overall library marketplace. The list is meant to be a helpful, not comprehensive, resource. The focus is whether or not publishers are in the library ebook marketplace. It is not meant to be a listing of all possible ways to acquire ebooks for a library collection

Scottish Children's Book Awards 2011 winners

Ross Collins, Ross MacKenzie and Nicola Morgan have been named as this year's winners of the Scottish Children's Book Awards 2011, Scotland's largest Children's Book Prize (each winner receives £3,000 ) which is voted for exclusively by Scottish children themselves. The winners were announced today during a special ceremony at Edinburgh's Royal Lyceum Theatre, attended by 600 young people from all over Scotland

Writers' Trust of Canada Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing finalists

The finalists for the Writers' Trust of Canada Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing, which will be awarded April 25 in Ottawa, have been announced:

* The Last Act: Pierre Trudeau, the Gang of Eight, and the Fight for Canada by Ron Graham
* Nation Maker: Sir John A. Macdonald: His Life, Our Times; Volume Two 1867-1891 by Richard Gwyn
* Trudeau Transformed: The Shaping of a Statesman, 1944-1965 by Max and Monique Nemni (translated by George Tombs)
* Empire of the Beetle: How Human Folly and a Tiny Bug Are Killing North America’s Great * Forests by Andrew Nikiforuk
* Imaginary Line: Life on an Unfinished Border by Jacques Poitras

JK Rowling to pen first novel for adults

Author JK Rowling has announced plans to publish her first novel for adults, which will be "very different" to the Harry Potter books she is famous for. The book will be published worldwide, although no date or title has yet been released. "The freedom to explore new territory is a gift that Harry's success has brought me," Rowling said. The writer published seven Potter books, which have sold more than 450 million copies around the world. The books, about a boy wizard, became a worldwide phenomenon and were turned into eight blockbuster films starring Daniel Radcliffe

Barney Rosset dies at 89; publisher fought censorship

Rosset founded Grove Press, which took on American censorship laws in the '50s and '60s and championed the work of William S. Burroughs, Tom Stoppard and Malcolm X

Jim Riordan obituary

Jim Riordan, who has died aged 75, described himself as "a working-class oik from Portsmouth" yet he became the academic world's foremost authority on sport in the Soviet Union, as well as a respected voice in Russian studies and a translator and children's author

The Oxford Companion to Downton Abbey

Oxford University Press: Now that Series One and Two, plus the Christmas Special, of Downton Abbey have aired in the US and Canada, we've decided to compile a reading list for those serious-minded viewers who'd like to learn more about Edwardian England, World War I, life in an aristocratic household, and what lies ahead for the Crawleys and their servants

The Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award 2012 longlist

The longlist for The Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award 2012 has been announced:

# Diana Athill - 'A Hopeless Case'
# Kevin Barry - 'Beer Trip to Llandudno'
# Evgenia Citkowitz - 'Business Class'
# Will Cohu - 'Two Bad Thumbs'
# Emma Donoghue - 'The Hunt'
# Jackie Kay - 'These Are Not My Clothes'
# A L Kennedy - 'Late in Life'
# Jean Kwok - 'Where the Gods Fly'
# Barrie de Lara - 'Dinner at Benutti's'
# Tom Lee - 'The Current'
# Toby Litt - 'The Sandy'
# Alison MacLeod - 'The Heart of Denis Noble'
# Martin Malone - 'Valley of the Peacock Angel'
# Robert Minhinnick - 'El Aziz: Some Pages From His Notebooks'
# Linda Oatman High - 'Nickel Mines Hardware'
# Alison Pimlott - 'Five Year Diary'
# Tamara Pollock - 'Elsa'
# Alex Preston - 'The Bridge Over Shuto Expressway No. 1'
# Lionel Shriver - 'Prepositions'
# Johanna Skibsrud - 'Fat Man and Little Boy'

Radical alternatives to conventional publishing

A new breed of radical publisher has emerged in recent years, with writers responding very quickly to current events. Here, some of their authors explain what marks them out

John Wiley & Sons buys Inscape Publishing from Sentinel Capital

Sentinel Capital Partners has sold Inscape Publishing to John Wiley & Sons in a deal valued at $85 million. Minneapolis-based Inscape provides assessment and training products that develop interpersonal skills

Gallimard wants to buy Flammarion

Antoine Gallimard expressed interest in buying the group Flammarion, the Italian RCS is preparing to sell

Frances Coady out as Picador restructures

Frances Coady, who has been overseeing Macmillan's Picador imprint since 2000, is leaving the company. PW has learned that Coady will be stepping down on March 2. In a memo, Macmillan CEO John Sargent said the trade paperback imprint will now report to FSG head Jonathan Galassi and Holt president Steve Rubin. According to Sargent's memo, the move was necessary because the "structural/financial model" of Picadaor "has become less meaningful." The change in operating structure, Sargent wrote "will clafify hardcover/paperback editorial responsibility for key titles and give the originating publishers greater control." - PW

Momentum is a new way of publishing

Pan Macmillan Australia has launched a new digital-only imprint, Momentum

International publisher alliance shuts down piracy site

The Bookseller: "An international alliance of publishers, including Cambridge University Press, Elsevier and Pearson Education Ltd, has served successful cease-and-desist orders on a piracy operation with an estimated turnover of £7m. The two platforms, sharehoster service www.ifile.it and link library www.library.nu, had together created an "internet library" making more than 400,000 e-books available as free illegal downloads. The operators generated an estimated turnover of €8m (£6.7m) through advertising, donations and sales of premium-level accounts, according to a report by German law firm Lausen which helped co-ordinate the alliance"

Elsevier increases sales and profits

The Bookseller: Elsevier increased sales and profit in 2011 as the company said the decline in print sales was off-set by growth in medical research and electronic solutions. The academic publisher saw its underlying sales grow by 2% to £2,058m for the year to 31st December 2011, from £2,026m in 2010, while its underlying operating profit increased by 4% to £768m from £724m, due to "increased efficiency" at the company

Central European crime wave sweeps publishing

At various times since the fall of the Iron Curtain there have been outbreaks of fear that hordes of criminals would cross the Czech, Polish, Slovak, Slovene and Hungarian borders to pillage the wealth of Western Europe. In 2012, it looks as if this long awaited crime wave is actually coming to pass, though in the form of premium quality crime fiction

Amanda Knox signs $4million book deal as HarperCollins

After months of tense battling between 20 publishers desperate for a big money windfall in the long run, Amanda Knox finally has a book deal. Knox, 24, of Seattle, Washington, has signed for a reported $4million with HarperCollins to write about her murder conviction and acquittal in Italy. While the deal will be respite for her family who spent $1million just dealing with her trial, it will provoke anger from her alleged victim's relatives

Red House Children's Book Award 2012 winners

The winners of the Red House Children's Book Award 2012 are:

Books for Younger Children

* Scruffy Bear and the Six White Mice by Chris Wormell, published by Jonathan Cape

Books for Younger Readers

* The Brilliant World of Tom Gates by Liz Pichon, published by Scholastic

Overall winner

* A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness, published by Walker

Publisher pushes boundaries with launch of Zlatan Ibrahimović interactive biography app

Swedish Bonnier R&D has worked alongside footballer Zlatan Ibrahimović to create the first truly interactive biography app, which will be available exclusively for the iPad. The app is based on the bestselling book I Am Zlatan, completely re-imagined for touchscreen. It is believed to be the first biography of its kind, and certainly the first developed for a football superstar

Frederick Forsyth wins the 2012 CWA Diamond Dagger

The CWA has announced the 2012 winner of its prestigious Diamond Dagger award, with the honour going to thriller writer Frederick Forsyth. Chair of the CWA Peter James said, "Frederick Forsyth is a hugely deserving recipient and The Day of the Jackal remains one of the greatest thrillers of our times. He has set a new standard of research-based authenticity with his writing, which has had a major influence both on my work and on many of my contemporaries in the crime and thriller field. We are very thrilled that he has accepted this award."

The Agatha Award Nominees

The Agatha Award Nominees have been announced! The awards will be presented at Malice Domestic in Bethesda, MD on April 28, 2012.

Best Novel:
The Real Macaw by Donna Andrews
The Diva Haunts the House by Krista Davis
Wicked Autumn, by G.M. Malliet
Three Day Town, by Margaret Maron
A Trick of the Light, by Louise Penny

Best First Novel:
Dire Threads (A Threadville Mystery), by Janet Bolin
Choke, by Kaye George
Learning to Swim: A Novel, by Sara J. Henry
Who Do, Voodoo? (A Mind for Murder Mystery), by Rochelle Staab
Tempest in the Tea Leaves (A Fortune Teller Mystery), by Kari Lee Townsend

Best Non-Fiction
Books, Crooks and Counselors: How to Write Accurately About Criminal Law and Courtroom Procedure, by Leslie Budewitz
Agatha Christie: Murder in the Making: More Stories and Secrets from Her Notebooks, by John Curran
On Conan Doyle: Or, The Whole Art of Storytelling, by Michael Dirda
Wilkie Collins, Vera Caspary and the Evolution of the Casebook Novel, by A. B. Emrys
The Sookie Stackhouse Companion, by Charlaine Harris

Best Short Story
"Disarming", by Dana Cameron (in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine)
"Dead Eye Gravy", by Krista Davis (in Fish Tales: The Guppy Anthology)
"Palace by the Lake", by Daryl Wood Gerber (in Fish Tales: The Guppy Anthology)
"Truth and Consequences", by Barb Goffman (in Mystery Times Ten)
"The Itinerary", by Roberta Isleib (in MWA Presents the Rich and the Dead)

Best Children's/Young Adult:
Shelter by Harlan Coben
The Black Heart Crypt by Chris Grabenstein
Icefall by Matthew J. Kirby
The Wizard of Dark Street by Shawn Thomas Odyssey
The Code Busters Club, Case #1: The Secret of the Skeleton Key by Penny Warner

Best Historical Novel:
Naughty in Nice by Rhys Bowen
Murder Your Darlings by J.J. Murphy
Mercury's Rise by Ann Parker
Troubled Bones by Jeri Westerson
A Lesson in Secrets by Jacqueline Winspear

2012 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature winner

When They Come for Us We'll Be Gone: The Epic Struggle to Save Soviet Jewry by Gal Beckerman (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) has won the 2012 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature, sponsored by the Jewish Book Council and recognizing the role of emerging writers in examining the Jewish experience. The prize, which carries an award of $100,000, is given to works of fiction and nonfiction in alternating years. The runner-up is Moses Montefiore: Jewish Liberator, Imperial Hero by Abigail Green (Belknap Press of Harvard University) and will receive a $25,000 prize. Beckerman, an opinion editor at the Forward, and Green, a lecturer at Oxford, will receive their prizes at a ceremony in Jerusalem on April 11

Jewish Book Week 2012 (UK)

Jewish Book Week 2012 - over 100 speakers pack the events programme of panel discussions, meet the author sessions, workshops and spoken-word performances - 18 - 26 February - UK

The Biggest Book Show on Earth (UK)

The Biggest Book Show on Earth is part of World Book Day: the biggest celebration of authors, illustrators, books and reading of its kind. On 1 March children of all ages, as well as schools, bookshops, libraries will all come together to appreciate reading. Very loudly and very happily! Millions of book vouchers will be distributed to children and teens on the day (more than 14 million, in fact). They can use them to pick one of EIGHT free new books or get £1* off a full-price book. It’s all about getting kids closer to the books and authors they love, and letting them discover more books they'll love every bit as much

Pan Macmillan launches e-book list (Australia)

Pan Macmillan has become the first major book publisher in Australia to launch a digital-only list. An initial 22 e-books will be available on its Momentum site with new titles under $10 and previously published titles under $5. The first releases include new books by bestselling Australian authors Andy Griffiths and Greig Beck plus a debut novel by Indian writer Mini Nair

22nd Abu Dhabi International Book Fair 2012

22nd Abu Dhabi International Book Fair 2012 - 28 March to 2 April, 2012

2012 Lionel Gelber Prize shortlist

Finalists have been named for the $15,000 Lionel Gelber Prize, which celebrates the best nonfiction books on foreign affairs. The winner of the prize, which was founded in 1989 by Canadian diplomat Lionel Gelber, will be announced February 27 and receive the award, as well as deliver the annual Lionel Gelber Prize free public lecture, March 15 in Toronto. The 2012 shortlisted titles are:

* A World on Fire: Britain's Crucial Role in the American Civil War by Amanda Foreman (Random House)
* Berlin 1961: Kennedy, Khrushchev, and the Most Dangerous Place on Earth Frederick Kempe (Putnam)
* Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China by Ezra F. Vogel (Belknap/Harvard University Press)
* George F. Kennan: An American Life by John Lewis Gaddis (Penguin)
* On China by Henry Kissinger (Penguin)

Lemony Snicket to publish a series of autobiographical accounts

A Series of Unfortunate Events author to launch autobiographical All the Wrong Questions sequence this autumn

Foyles launches new eBook app

London-based bookseller Foyles has released a new eBook app for Apple's iPad and iPhone and devices powered by Android. The free app is powered by Txtr and allows users to import books protected by Adobe’s DRM system which they may have purchased from other booksellers

American Booksellers Association says 'no' to Amazon Publishing

The American Booksellers Association is the latest to weigh in on Amazon's publishing program following the decision by Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, and Indigo Books not to carry their titles. On Wednesday the organization's for-profit subsidiary, IndieCommerce, began removing all Amazon titles from its database

Waterstones Children's Book Prize 2012 shortlist

The shortlist for the Waterstones Children's Book Prize 2012 has been announced

Anne Rice at Google to discuss "The Wolf Gift" on February 24

Anne Rice, author of Interview with the Vampire, The Witching Hour, and Angel Time: The Songs of the Seraphim will be at Google's headquarters in Mountain View to discuss her latest book, The Wolf Gift, on Friday, February 24 at 10AM PST

Books-A-Million won't carry Amazon titles

Books-A-Million has joined with Barnes & Noble and will not carry Amazon Publishing titles, including those published under Houghton Mifflin Harcourt's New Harvest imprint

Pit Pony author Joyce Barkhouse dies

Joyce Barkhouse, the Nova Scotia-based children's author who wrote Pit Pony, has died. She was 98

Young 'lack attention for Dickens'

Modern-day children are not being educated to read with the attention span necessary for a Dickens novel, a leading expert said as the country prepares to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of the revered author

Barnes & Noble announces finalists for the 21st Annual Discover Great New Writers Awards

Barnes & Noble, Inc. has announced the six finalists for its 2011 Discover Great New Writers Awards. The winners in each category, fiction and nonfiction, receive a $10,000 prize and a full year of additional promotion from Barnes & Noble. Second-place finalists receive $5,000, and third-place finalists, $2,500. The finalists are:

Fiction:
* Alan Heathcock, Volt (Graywolf Press)
* Alice LaPlante, Turn of Mind (Atlantic Monthly Press)
* Scott O'Connor, Untouchable (Tyrus Books, a division of F+W Media, Inc.)

Nonfiction:
* Annia Ciezadlo, Day of Honey (Free Press)
* Joshua Cody, [sic] (W.W. Norton)
* Michael Levy, Kosher Chinese (Henry Holt & Co.)

The winners will be announced on Wednesday, March 7, 2012 at a private awards ceremony. The Discover Awards honor the best works featured the previous calendar year in the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers program

Junglee is an online shopping service by Amazon

Junglee is an online shopping service by Amazon which enables customers to find and discover products from online and offline retailers in India and from Amazon.com. Junglee organizes massive selection and multiple buying options from hundreds of sellers, and leverages Amazon's proven technologies and millions of customer reviews to help customers make smart purchase decisions

Shadow culture minister Dan Jarvis is "in the process of developing" a plan for libraries (UK)

Libraries across the UK face closure: why won't the government intervene? Shadow arts minister Dan Jarvis has a plan – even if Ed Vaizey doesn't - Guardian

Theo Walcott backs Daily Mirror's We Love Reading campaign

Theo Walcott backs Daily Mirror's We Love Reading campaign

DSC Prize for South Asian Literature 2012 winner

The DSC Prize for South Asian Literature 2012 was awarded to Singapore based Sri Lankan author Shehan Karunatilaka for his book Chinaman (Random House, India), a novel that explores cricket as a metaphor to uncover a lost life and a lost history. Chinaman skilfully uses sport and the notion of fair play to look at Sri Lanka in a fresh and exciting way