The week in publishing (February 6 through February 12)
Posted By Sue Collier on February 14, 2012
Here’s some of the latest in industry news and views:
From Mashable Business: Amazon to Open Retail Store [RUMOR]
In what may be a sign that 2012 really is the year of the apocalypse, revered online retailer Amazon is rumored to be opening a brick-and-mortar retail store.
From Publishing Perspectives: Are We Verging on a Digital Rights War?
Today’s feature story on Dzanc Books’s rEprint series, which publishes backlist from notable authors as e-books, notes: It was a simple idea, and yet one that apparently nobody else in publishing had thought of — Gillis kept expecting other firms to start competing with Dzanc for e-book rights but for about two years [Dzanc's co-founder Steven Gillis] had the field largely to himself: “Finally other publishers are getting involved. I see this as a sign that our idea was proven correct.”
From The Book Seller: Self-published author claims Kindle top spot
Self-published crime writer Kerry Wilkinson claimed the top spot in the UK Kindle bestseller chart for the last quarter of 2011, Amazon has revealed, as speculation mounts that the online retailer is planning to open its own physical store to push its exclusive book sales.
From Writers Beware Blogs: Publishers’ Desk: Display or Misplay?
Over the past few months, I’ve gotten a number of questions from writers who’ve received spam–excuse me, invitations from a website called Publishers’ Desk. Its motto is “Bringing Authors and Publishers Together,”
From Taleist: Announcing the Taleist 2012 Self-Publishing Survey
There are self-publishing authors like JA Konrath, Amanda Hocking, John Locke and (on a smaller but perfectly formed scale) Joanna Penn who are generous with their figures but they’re selling books from the tens of thousands to the millions. So does that mean you’re a failure if your figures are more modest? Or are you actually doing better than most? What is the average royalty earning for self-publishing authors? How long does it take for a self-published book to reach peak sales?
From Publishers Weekly: Read With Caution! 9 Books That Cause Irrational Phobias
One of the many benefits of books is that they provide catharsis. They have the rare power of purging stress and bad emotions through the experiences we find in them. But some books can have the exact opposite effect, producing the howling fantods in a reader. For those phobic victims, we’ll wait for your screaming to die down and nod in appreciation of the power of these nine books.
From GalleyCat: Librarians Respond to Penguin’s Decision to End Library eBook Lending
Yesterday Penguin revealed that they will no longer offer eBooks to libraries through OverDrive, “due to new concerns about the security of our digital editions.” Meanwhile, librarians around the country have debated the issue. San Rafael Public Library acting director Sarah Houghton posted a free sign in Google Docs for librarians to share with patrons. We’ve embedded the pointed sign above–what do you think?
From Publishers Weekly: ABA’s IndieCommerce Site Dropping Amazon Publishing Titles
On Wednesday the American Booksellers Association’s for-profit subsidiary, IndieCommerce, began removing all Amazon titles from its database. The actions followed decisions by Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million and Indigo to not carry Amazon Publishing titles.
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