One in 4 Americans read eBooks

One in 4 Americans read eBooks, Mediabistro, April 29, 2011

Too bad only 1 in 3 Americans still read books at all. Bitter? Moi?

Hackenbush hits the bookstore

Well, actually a bookstore and only for a limited time and in Pittsburgh. Nevertheless, if your out Pittsburgh way, stop by for a look.

Fleeting Pages Bookstore will be open from May 7 until June 7, 2011 at the former Borders in the East Liberty neighborhood of Pittsburgh. Location: 5986 Penn Circle South, Pittsburgh, PA.
Fleeting Pages Bookstore, FleetingPages, April 22, 2011

If you’ve ever wanted to find Wapshott titles in a bookstore and you’re in or near Pittsburgh, well, this is your chance from May 7 to June 7.

Please cross-post and spread the word. It’s one thing to have a bookstore; it’s another to have customers.

Jason Epstein is my hero

“‘Physical books is the way [great texts] have been preserved and handed down for 5,000 years, and I think that’s not gonna end now,’” Epstein said.”

~snip~

“The idea for the Espresso Book Machine emerged in the late 1990s, as book texts were being digitized. Epstein asked himself who would want to read War and Peace on a computer monitor?

“‘There had to be a device that would permit you to receive a digital file on demand and create it in the form of a book,’ Epstein said.”
Publishing Guru Bets on Book-Making Machine, by Ilya Marritz, WNYC, April 1, 2011

In the 80s, I recall reading an author in the Utne Reader who was wondering when we could, from our home computers, purchase, download, and print-n-bind our own books. I think that might be happening sooner than later.

Meh, bookstores. They’re like lute players; they’ll always be a few around. They might (the bookstores, not the lute players) morph into places where people exchange books, order books, buy books that are consigned there (see the post about Fleeting Pages at Wapshott, socialize, plot revolution, drink coffee, and do things like that, but otherwise I think the bookstore as we know it is pretty much dead in the water.

Dr. Hackenbush gets reviewed

“A delightful, fast-paced romp through money – and the lack of it – and ignorant men who need to be put in their place. And Hackenbush does it with style.

“Ms. Mayerson’s writing is contemporary, offbeat and engaging. I’ve never listened to jazz but my interest has been sparked. Mable Hackenbush is my new hero!”
Amitty, LibraryThing, January 13, 2011

All LibraryThing reviews

The Kindlefication of Publishing

“Previously one of the best selling Kindle writers was J.A. Konrath, but it was assumed he was popular because he previously had a publishing deal and so already had notoriety. That’s not the case with Hocking, who published stories on her blog before turning to Kindle. In fact, out of the top 25 best-selling indie Kindle writers, only 6 were previously affiliated with a publishing house.

“Back of the envelope math suggests that selling 100,000 copies a month at $1 to $3 a pop and keeping 70%, Hocking can make millions per year, straight to her pocket.

“Welcome to the new era, the one that scares traditional publishers to death and will make the world better for writers and readers alike. Congratulations to Amazon for making it possible. And congratulations to Ms. Hocking on her success.”
This 26-Year-Old Is Making Millions Cutting Out Traditional Publishers With Amazon Kindle, Business Insider, February 28, 2011

It is so easy to put a book in Kindle there is no reason not to. And may God have mercy on us all.

The way we publish now

“Writers’ lives are tough enough these days without their publishers treating them like idiots. So: working on the principle that happy authors (or at least not-furious ones) are easier to work with, here’s a really basic checklist of things that publishers should never again do /say to authors.

“Because—guess what—WE ARE NOT IDIOTS!”
Memo to Publishers: 8 Things NOT to Say, The Gatekeepers Post, February 18, 2011

Well, it sucks, but it is legal if you sell your copyright

And what hungry author doesn’t sell their copyright?

“In the new Macmillan contract is clause 6. (b) Copyright on Derivative Works. To state bluntly, this clause gives the Publisher the right to create “derivative works” based on the work they are buying from the author. And to add insult to injury, the publisher owns the copyright to any of these ‘new works.’”
By Far The Biggest Issue, Pub Rants, February 3, 2011

This happens all the time in the music industry. Book publishing is just catching up.

Sigh.

Dr. Hackenbush Gets a Job in Splash Magazine

“Dr. Hackenbush Gets a Job… One of the Best Indie Published Book Titles of the Year! is listed. You can now see Dr. Hackenbush Gets a Job… One of the Best Indie Published Book Titles of the Year! in this guide Valentine’s Day Entertainment Gifts and Valentine’s Day Entertainment Gift Guide Under $10 for 2011″
Valentine’s Day Entertainment Gifts – Valentine’s Day Entertainment Gift Guide From $10 to $15 2011, Splash Magazine, February 2011

They’re sorted by price, highest to lowest, so scroll down. Hackenbush in the the cheap and cheerful section.

Why I live in Los Angeles

Because I like the part I live in and I can’t afford to live in Paris, Berlin or Warsaw. But also…

“Also, crucially: The Age of Innocence’s lack of diversity is an illusion. The book is entirely about the moment the barriers broke down—when the roiling masses started to gain cultural traction and define the city, when Society surrendered its capital S. It’s a portrait of the moment that created the city we know today.

“None of which should obscure the fact that the book is just flat-out great fiction, with one of the most perfectly melancholy endings you will ever have the excruciating good fortune to suffer through. It will, in other words, break your heart in the end, just as New York inevitably will.”
Greatest (NYC) Novel Ever, by Sam Anderson, NY Magazine, January 9, 2011

Now that I think about it, I can’t afford to live in New York either. Oh well. Guess I’ll have to suffer through another 70F winter on the Pacific.

Shameless J Frey

“But a little literary criticism wasn’t going to slow Frey down. As New York magazine reported in November, Frey has created Full Fathom Five, a company that recruits young MFA students to co-write novels with him — for as little as $500, $250 or even nothing — in hopes of sharing in the profits of their eventual blockbuster sale. The writing duties fell almost completely to the young writers: Frey would provide story ideas, writing guidance or polishing, and the connections to get the work published and in the right hands.

If it sounds suspiciously like a scam, Frey can show it’s not. “I Am Number Four,” co-written by Frey and recent Columbia MFA grad Jobie Hughes, under the pseudonym Pittacus Lore, was published in the fall of 2010. And that’s not all: It was subject to a film-rights bidding war, and the movie is being produced by Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg’s DreamWorks Studios.

“The film version of ‘I Am Number Four’ is due in theaters Feb. 18. Its latest trailer is above.

“Honestly, I don’t get it. But Michael Bay brought us “Transformers,” and I didn’t get that either. Take a look — is James Frey’s fiction factory farm working? What do you think?”
The first fruit of James Frey’s fiction factory, by Carolyn Kellogg, LA Times, January 3, 2011

Words, they fail me.