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Articles

• 17/05/2012 05:54 PM

  Jean Craighead George, author of 100 books for young people including 'My Side of the Mountain', dies aged 92

  Distinguished childrenand#146;s book author and noted naturalist Jean Craighead George died on May 15. She was 92. Best known for the Newbery-winning novel Julie of the Wolves (Harper, 1972) and the Newbery Honor title My Side of the Mountain (Dutton, 1959), George penned more than 100 books for young people during a career that began with the publication of Vulpes the Red Fox in 1948.

  15/05/2012 09:40 PM

  Mexican novelist, Carlos Fuentes, dies aged 83

  Mexican novelist Carlos Fuentes has passed away at the age of 83, he was the winner of the Miguel de Cervantes Prize and the Latin Literary Prize. President Felipe Calderon wrote on Twitter, "I deeply lament the death of our beloved and admired Carlos Fuentes, a universal Mexican writer."

  14/05/2012 11:00 AM

  Popular authors increase output, some doubling to two books a year, to meet insatiable ebook demand

  Pity the poor authors in the days of the ebook. Whereas popular authors such as Lisa Scottoline used to produce one book a year, now they are writing two; while others such as Lee Child are churning out short stories in between novels in an attempt to satisfy their fans' demands for more output, lest the fans get bored waiting for the next work and go off and find a new favorite. Meanwhile, James Patterson is producing a dozen or more books each year, about half of which are co-written. All this at the same time as the internet has changed readers' expectations that they'll be able to hear personally from their favorite authors via blogs, Twitter and Facebook updates. Would reclusive authors such as J.D. Salinger and Harper Lee be able to gain traction in today's market? Many publishers say no - that what once would have created an aura of intrigue around an author, is not a viable option in the age of interconnectivity.

  08/05/2012 11:00 AM

  Maurice Sendak dead at 83

  Legendary author and illustrator Maurice Sendak, best known for Where the Wild Things Are, died in Connecticut today. He was 83. Earlier this year, Bumble-Ardy was published, the first work in 30 years for which Sendak had produced both text and pictures. The final book illustrated and written by Sendak, My Brother's Book, is scheduled to be published in Feburary 2013.

  03/05/2012 05:34 PM

  Pushing back against 'Showrooming', Target will no longer stock Kindles

  Target plans to stop selling Amazon Kindle e-readers and tablets, and has already removed the products from its website. "This is evidence that Target is getting more serious about Amazon as an enemy rather than a partner," said analyst Matt Nemer of Wells Fargo. "That's probably something Target now regrets. It put them behind in the world of multi-channel retail and let a serious competitor learn a lot about their business." The New York Times reported that as retailers like Target address the challenge of "showrooming," carrying Amazon's Kindle is, as Michael Norris of Simba Information put it, "like Starbucks selling Dunkin' Donuts gift certificates." Showrooming is the term used to describe a shopper who visits a store to check out a product but then purchases the product online from a different retailer - booksellers report that they often see customers buying online while still standing in their store holding the book they are purchasing elsewhere!

  30/04/2012 01:42 PM

  Toni Morrison to be awarded Presidential Medal of Freedom

  Toni Morrison is one of thirteen people to be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom - the USA's highest civilian honor, presented to individuals who have made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors. Other honorees include Madeleine Albright, Bob Dylan, John Glenn and Shimon Peres

  30/04/2012 01:37 PM

  Barnes and Noble and Microsoft form partnership in new BandN subsidiary combining digital business and BandN College

  Barnes and Noble and Microsoft have formed a partnership in a new BandN subsidiary - temporarily called Newco - that consists of BandN's digital business and BandN College. Microsoft is making a $300 million investment in Newco for a 17.6% equity stake; BandN will own the other 82.4% of the company. In pre-market trading, BandN stock is up 77.6%, to $24.29 a share.

  25/04/2012 05:23 PM

  Tor publisher announces all ebooks will be DRM free by July - enabling books to be transferred between devices

  Tom Doherty Associates - comprising the Tor, Forge, Orb, Starscape, and Tor Teen imprints - has announced that their entire list of ebooks will be available DRM-free "by early July." In a separate, following notice, Tor UK said that it will do the same. Digital rights management (DRM) is the term used to describe any technology that limits the use of digital content on devices after sale. President and publisher Tom Doherty writes: "Our authors and readers have been asking for this for a long time. They're a technically sophisticated bunch, and DRM is a constant annoyance to them. It prevents them from using legitimately-purchased e-books in perfectly legal ways, like moving them from one kind of e-reader to another." The company says that as part of the move, they "expect to begin selling titles through retailers that sell only DRM-free books." Forsaking DRM, and/or experimenting with "lighter" DRM schemes that allow more customer freedom, has been under discussion at a number of houses recently, intensified in the wake of the agency pricing lawsuits and settlements. Tor/Forge are the first "Big Six" imprints to make this move, though Pottermore's recent release of DRM-free Harry Potter ebooks (watermarked in some versions; still encrypted if purchased for the Kindle or Nook platforms) remains the most prominent. The Tor move raises the likelihood that other big publishers will head in the same direction, and also increases the chance that they may do so by division or imprint rather than companywide.

  20/04/2012 03:53 PM

  'Three Cups of Tea' author, Greg Mortenson, and publisher seek dismissal of class action suit

  At a federal court hearing this week, author Greg Mortenson and his publisher sought dismissal of a lawsuit that "aims to obtain class-action relief for book-buyers allegedly defrauded by purported fabrications" in Three Cups of Tea and Stones into Schools. According to the NY Times, the class-action case "is potentially crucial for book publishers, the defendants argue, because if it succeeds - which is by no means certain - it could mean that publishers would be liable to defend lawsuits and reimburse readers every time a memoir turned out to have an inflated recollection of events." Attorneys for Penguin Group, which published Three Cups of Tea in 2006, contended that "if a publisher were required to guarantee or ensure the truth and accuracy of everything an author says, the costs of publishing books would be prohibitive."

  19/04/2012 07:23 PM

  Apple wants to go to trial to defend itself against price-fixing allegations

  Apple wants to go to trial to defend itself against U.S. government allegations of colluding with publishers to fix e-book prices, Apple lawyer Daniel Floyd told U.S. District Judge Denise Cote yesterday. Reuters reported that publishers Macmillan and Penguin "took a similar stance in the first hearing in Manhattan federal court since the anti-trust division of the Department of Justice last week accused Apple and five publishers of colluding to break up Amazon.com's low-cost dominance of the digital book market."

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