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Writers and Editors (RSS feed)

Nonfiction--the long and the short of it

The 2013 conference of the American Society of Journalists & Authors was discouraging in most ways, encouraging in some, and offered much to learn. Being a writer-entrepreneur is more important than ever. Some trends, in a nutshell:

• Nobody knows where things are going to shake out in book publishing, things are changing so fast and in so many ways, but self-publishing has definitely  Read More 
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Amazon, E-books, and the Future of Publishing (updated)

Recent reports on Amazon's apparent march toward world domination, and book publishing's efforts to survive (more recent articles first):

Amazon as a threat to steal big titles from big publishers is still a ways off (Mike Shatzkin, Shatzkin Files, 10-23-12). Do read the whole article, which is interesting, but here's a sample: "But, for now, it would seem that B&N definitely did the right thing for their own good by boycotting  Read More 
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Mike Shatzkin on bookselling's past, present, and future

Mike Shatzkin's predictions about what's going on in book publishing and bookselling, and his histories of the trade (from mass market paperbacks through eBooks), are both compelling and unnerving. Technology, curation, and why the era of big bookstores is coming to an end (Shatzkin Files, 6-7-11) Read More 
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Agents as publishers--a new conflict of interest

In the UK, literary agent Ed Victor set up Bedford Square Books to publish e-book and print-on-demand versions of books that were out of print or for which rights had reverted to the author. Within days, this news (Ed Victor set up publishing imprint by Charlotte Williams, The Bookseller 5-10-11) became a trend and people in the industry began itemizing the ways in which a) it represents a major conflict of interest and b) publishing is changing radically. Read More 
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With Bookish, Publishers Compete with Amazon for Direct Sales

Three publishers (Simon & Schuster, Penguin, and Hachette), frustrated that few book buyers visit their company sites, have created Bookish.com, hoping it will become a destination for readers the way Pitchfork.com is for music lovers and IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, and Netflix Read More 
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Librarians feel gobsmacked by HarperCollins restriction on e-book loans

HarperCollins' policy to restrict e-book use in libraries (to 26 loans per e-book) has many librarians set to boycott HarperCollins e-books, reports the NY Times As Library E-Books Live Long, Publisher Sets Expiration Date (Julie Bosman, 3-14-11). Some librarians welcome the  Read More 
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Will the e-book revolution have the same effect the paperback revolution did?

I was fascinated by Mike Shatzkin's March 13 blog post on The Shatzkin Files, Ebooks are making me recall the history of mass-market publishing, a history of how the mass-market paperback revolution changed book publishing, comparing  Read More 
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Nathan Bransford explains the e-book price wars

In his piece on Why Some E-Books Cost More Than the Hardcover, former agent Nathan Bransford provides an excellent history and explanation of the price wars publishers are fighting with the online gorilla, Amazon, to preserve the value of e-books and level the playing field, so that brick and  Read More 
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Authors Feel Pinch in Age of E-Books

"The new economics of the e-book make the author's quandary painfully clear," writes Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg in the Wall Street Journal. "A new $28 hardcover book returns half, or $14, to the publisher, and 15%, or $4.20, to the author. Under many e-book deals currently, a digital book sells for Read More 
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E-book sales taking off

Volume of Kindle book sales stuns Amazon's Jeff Bezos (USA Today's tech columnist Edward C. Baig interviews Bezos). The comments are as interesting as the article. An avid book reader, for examples, says, ". I have no way  Read More 
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