Origami Unicorn

Grinch Night

Halloween in Whoville, and a sweet sour wind begins to blow... Face the facts, it's Grinch Night!

And the rest of the story.

Warring Giants Limit Copies Per Customer

Three major book retailers have set limits on how many copies a customer can buy, destroying the hopes of indie bookstores that they might stock up at a considerable discount. The Wall Street Journal summarizes. A similar situation cannot occur in Europe where publishers set the price.

Macmillan Takes a Bigger Bite of E-book Profits

Macmillan is standardizing contracts and reducing the author's share of e-book profits to twenty percent. Twenty-five is fairly widespread at the moment and historically authors took home even more. Richard Curtis comments on the change. He includes a link to the letter that was received by agents.

Sita Sings the Blues

Today is International Animation Day and what better movie to mark it with than Sita Sings the Blues.

French Culture Minister Urges United Stance on Digitization

The French minister of culture, Frédéric Mitterrand, has urged that Europe unite and find a common position as regards digitization.

Google Book Settlement Timeline Changes Urged

Opponents of the Google Book Settlement have urges that additional time be allowed. In a letter filed October 22nd the complexity of the proposed agreement as well as its being only in English were cited, among other reasons, as cause to allow additional time for discusssion. Publishers Weekly summarizes. It has been suggested that major changes may be proposed for the agreement, including dropping all European books—this in the wake of vigorous objections at The Frankfurt Book Fair. The new version is due to roll out on November 9th.

The Nightmare Before Christmas

It's that time of year: "This is Halloween..."

And the rest of the story.

Trick or Treat

An irascible Donald Duck on Halloween.

DOJ Asked to Take Interest in Book Pricing

The ABA has asked, on behalf of its member booksellers, that the Department of Justice look into extreme discounting of bestsellers by Walmart, Target, and Amazon. Some observers consider it unlikely it will do so, based on the difficulty of defining a case and the Department's involvement in other matters.

Will Self-Publishing Be the New Norm?

GalleyCat asks why should authors wait for a publisher when e-publishing and e-readers mean it is easier than ever to send a book to market? Short answer: although publishers do a lot to package books they also arrange for their distribution. That something is in the marketplace does not mean it will attract the attention—and the money—of potential readers. The middleman doesn't have to be a conventional publisher, but most readers want and need someone to recommend things that might interest them.