Tuesday, December 15, 2009

E-book Developments


In a move that could add to the book publishing world’s jitters about the effect of e-books on their business, author Stephen R. Covey has transferred the right to publish the electronic editions of two of his best-selling business books, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and Principle-Centered Leadership from Simon and Schuster to Rosetta Books. Rosetta, in turn will market these e-books exclusively through Amazon for use on the Kindle book reader. An article in the New York Times about this move says that Covey will garner a higher percentage of the profit with this new arrangement. Covey also has plans to publish the electronic versions of a number of his forthcoming books through Rosetta.

The whole issue about who has the rights to the electronic editions is apparently still up in the air. According to the Times article, “Many authors and agents say that because the contracts for older books do not explicitly spell out electronic rights, they reside with the author. Big publishing houses argue that clauses like ‘in book form’ or phrases that prohibit ‘competitive editions’ preclude authors from publishing e-books through other parties.”

Another element in this story is the effort by major publishers to curb the growing power of Amazon in the marketing of books. Stay tuned for later developments.

Friday, November 27, 2009

Rare Books at Harvard



Book lovers might enjoy this video of some of Harvard University's rare books holdings.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

"A Book" by Hannah More

A Book

I'm a strange contradiction; I'm new, and I'm old,
I'm often in tatters, and oft decked with gold,
Though I never could read, yet lettered I'm found;
Though blind, I enlighten; though loose, I am bound,
I'm always in black, and I'm always in white
I'm grave and I'm gay, I am heavy and light --
In form too I differ, -- I'm thick and I'm thin
I've no flesh and no bones, yet I'm covered with skin;
I've more points than the compass, more stops than the flute;
I sing without voice, without speaking confute.
I'm English, I'm German, I'm French, and I'm Dutch.
Some love me too fondly, some slight me too much;
I often die soon, though I sometimes live ages,
And no monarch alive has so many pages.

By Hannah More

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

This is a page turner


Readers who would like to combine the pleasure of reading a traditional, beautifully illustrated book with the experience of using a cool online site might want to check out the Library of Congress's page turner website, which contains a handful of classic stories including The Arabian Nights and The Secret Garden.
Though the site mainly contains books of interest for younger readers, there are some that might appeal to those who are only young at heart. These include Dickens' A Christmas Carol and Poe's The Raven.
The cool technical part of all this is that the format is booklike--readers can turn pages back and forth. One can also adjust the size of the page.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Awful Library Books



Sometimes, at the Reference desk, a person will ask for a good book about such and such a topic. If I am feeling especially witty and the person asking the question seems to have a sense of humor, I sometimes say "We only have good books." Then I proceed to really answer the question. I may have to modify my responce as I have come across a site called Awful Library Books. Among the esoteric volumes mentioned are How to Preserve Animal and other Specimens in Clear Plastic and Knitting with Dog Hair. The real point of the site, however, is that public libraries need to weed their collections regularly, so that they don't have ten year old books about how to use a computer, etc.

Monday, October 19, 2009

Non-Fiction Books to Read Before You Die


To give the blog an energy boost, we're asking people to name non-fiction books they would recommend. As this will be a kinder, gentler poll, we'll probably expand the list to 25 books. We'd love to know which titles you'd come up with. Please leave your list in the comments.

To get things started, my 10 selections are listed below:

Gifts of the Jews—Thomas Cahill
A Short History of Nearly Everything—Bill Bryson
The Progressive Historians, by Richard Hofstadter
Blink—Malcolm Gladwell
The Tipping Point—Malcolm Gladwell
How to Ruin Your Life—Ben Stein
1776— David McCullough
On Writing—Stephen King
You Just Don’t Understand—Deborah Tannen
The Practice of Writing—David Lodge

Friday, October 16, 2009

Ah, the literary life...


So, you want to be an author. Before you quit your day job, check out this New Yorker article to see what you’re in for. This satiric piece take the form of a memo from an overwhelmed publisher’s representative, who doesn’t quite seem to know what book you wrote, detailing what you will be expected to do to market your book.
...
The note includes a strong suggestion that you start a blog and pump out 600 words a day, making sure to include numerous pictures of yourself; then you should friend everyone you ever met on you Facebook page; also, you will be participating in the publisher’s RAP (Readings by Author by Proxy) program, in which, to save money, you will do readings at bookstores close to where you live, not only for your own book but others your publisher designates. The memo is loaded with indecipherable jargon-- e.g. “We like Reddit bites (they’re better than Delicious), because they max out the wiki snarls of RSS feeds, which means less jamming at the Google scaffold.”
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The piece presents a witty and insightful glimpse of the shaky state of the book publishing business today.