http://www.artsjournal.com/publishing.shtml Copyright 2009 Fri, 20 Nov 2009 08:14:20 -0800 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.33 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss "In an online poll conducted by the National Book Foundation, [Flannery O'Connor's] collection 'The Complete Stories' was named the best work to have won the National Book Award for fiction in the contest's 60-year history." The competition was formidable: collected stories of John Cheever, William Faulkner and Eudora Welty as well as Ellison's Invisible Man and Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow.... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2009/11/americas_booker.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2009/11/americas_booker.shtml publishing Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:14:09 -0800 "The Story Museum has existed online for the past four years, holding events across Oxfordshire and running storytelling pilots in schools, but [a £2.5 million] donation enables it to start constructing a permanent home in Oxford."... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2009/11/oxford_to_get_a.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2009/11/oxford_to_get_a.shtml publishing Thu, 19 Nov 2009 08:33:30 -0800 "Roth can comfort himself with the fact that a roll call of literary fiction's great and good, from Booker winner John Banville to acclaimed Israeli novelist Amos Oz, Goncourt winner Jonathan Littell and Whitbread winner Paul Theroux," are also in competition this year for the Literary Review's bad sex in fiction award.... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2009/11/philip_roths_th.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2009/11/philip_roths_th.shtml publishing Thu, 19 Nov 2009 08:22:18 -0800 "Kim Bui-Burton, president of the California Library Assn., described conditions as 'extraordinarily difficult.' Never lavishly funded, libraries started to falter with last year's credit and mortgage disasters. Now, she said, they are being battered by deep state and local cuts."... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2009/11/southern_califo.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2009/11/southern_califo.shtml publishing Thu, 19 Nov 2009 07:34:11 -0800 "In embracing the term, the publishing industry helps itself to some Hollywood glamour. And in avoiding the most obviously appropriate word for these commercials--that is, commercials--sacrosanct literature keeps grubby commerce at an arm's length."... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2009/11/publishings_bud.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2009/11/publishings_bud.shtml publishing Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:46:38 -0800 "'Twilight' came for the tweens, then for the moms of tweens, then for the co-workers who started wearing those ridiculous Team Jacob shirts, and the resisters said nothing, because they thought 'Twilight' could not come for them. They were too literary. They didn't do vampires. They were feminists. Then something happened: the release of the 'Twilight' movie...."... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2009/11/oh_the_shame_bo.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2009/11/oh_the_shame_bo.shtml publishing Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:05:00 -0800 The 68-year-old LeClerc "has presided over the sprawling library system during a revolutionary period of change, as the world has shifted to the digital era. When he first came to the position in December 1993, the library did not even have a Web site."... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2009/11/ny_public_libra_7.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2009/11/ny_public_libra_7.shtml publishing Wed, 18 Nov 2009 22:06:10 -0800 McCann took the fiction prize for Let the Great World Spin; Stiles collected nonfiction honors for The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt. Keith Waldrop's Transcendental Studies: A Trilogy won the poetry award, and Phillip Hoose took honors for Young People's Literature with Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice.... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2009/11/national_book_a_7.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2009/11/national_book_a_7.shtml publishing Wed, 18 Nov 2009 21:44:21 -0800 Prizes have now taken the place of reviews as "the means by which many people now decide which books to buy, when they bother to buy books at all." So supply meets demand: we have the National Best Book Awards (resemblance intentional), which has "150 active categories" and for which every book entered (fee $69 per category) becomes a finalist.... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2009/11/need_a_literary.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2009/11/need_a_literary.shtml publishing Wed, 18 Nov 2009 21:43:03 -0800 "Jim Caviezel (Jesus), Malcolm McDowell (King Solomon) and Richard Dreyfuss (Moses) were among hundreds of actors who lined up to create 'The Word of Promise Audio Bible,' all 98 hours and 79 CDs of it." Other boldface participants: Max von Sydow as Noah, Gary Sinise as David, Marisa Tomei as Mary Magdalene and Jason Alexander as Joseph.... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2009/11/all_the_bible_r.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2009/11/all_the_bible_r.shtml publishing Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:16:46 -0800 "The self-published novels won't be sold under the Harlequin brand, but Harlequin, which sells about 1,500 romances every year, is hoping it could become a grooming ground for future authors." That's in keeping with tradition: Over the last decade, Harlequin says, "at least 50 of its authors have come from the ranks of its readers."... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2009/11/isnt_it_romanti.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2009/11/isnt_it_romanti.shtml publishing Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:00:55 -0800 "People once scoffed at the idea of reading a book on a 3.5-inch mobile screen. For many readers, though, sheer convenience trumps everything else."... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2009/11/why_smartphones.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2009/11/why_smartphones.shtml publishing Wed, 18 Nov 2009 05:03:22 -0800 "Google has scaled back its digital book plans after submitting a revised settlement with industry regulators following pressure from European and Asian governments. The amended settlement proposes Google will only digitise books copy-protected in the US or published in the UK, Canada and Australia - a significant reduction on its original plans." (New Zealand is ticked off.)... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2009/11/google_books_de.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2009/11/google_books_de.shtml publishing Tue, 17 Nov 2009 21:58:38 -0800 "German book publishers - angered at being included in the Google Books Settlement without being consulted - voiced concern Sunday that they had now been excluded."... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2009/11/germans_having.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2009/11/germans_having.shtml publishing Tue, 17 Nov 2009 21:57:44 -0800 "The people behind a controversial movement known as 'flarf' believe phrases found on the Internet and strung together into poetry provide a critical social commentary. Others," needless to say, "think it's worthless drivel."... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2009/11/theres_a_lyrici.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2009/11/theres_a_lyrici.shtml publishing Tue, 17 Nov 2009 08:21:45 -0800 Su Tong's "The Boat to Redemption," a novel about "a playboy Communist party official who castrates himself after he is banished to live on a river barge," has won the Man Asian literary prize," which "goes to an 'Asian' novel unpublished in English."... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2009/11/bestselling_chi.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2009/11/bestselling_chi.shtml publishing Tue, 17 Nov 2009 06:06:22 -0800 Three paragraphs after Sarah Palin begins her acknowledgments with a nod to herself, "[Lynn] Vincent's name is mentioned with several others. (At least she made it before the thanks to flight attendants, 'Big Dipper Construction' and 'everyone who values good customer service.')"... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2009/11/coauthor_what_c.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2009/11/coauthor_what_c.shtml publishing Tue, 17 Nov 2009 05:40:01 -0800 "Poligny residents' effort to preserve an old-fashioned Main Street bookstore may seem eccentric in an age of electronics, instantaneous communication and discount giants. But not in France, a country that is unusually fixated on its centuries-old traditions and is determined to safeguard its cultural heritage."... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2009/11/to_save_their_l.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2009/11/to_save_their_l.shtml publishing Mon, 16 Nov 2009 20:13:00 -0800 "The aroma of an old book is familiar to every user of a traditional library. A combination of grassy notes with a tang of acids and a hint of vanilla over an underlying mustiness, this unmistakable smell is as much part of the book as its contents."... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2009/11/researchers_a_n.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2009/11/researchers_a_n.shtml publishing Mon, 16 Nov 2009 08:24:13 -0800 "Right now, we have this vision of the publisher as a monolithic service entity that proves everything from typesetting and printing to distribution to sales support, marketing and PR. But there's no reason it has to do all those things in one go. Or even the basic ones - like providing its products to retail outlets."... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2009/11/the_man_whos_re_1.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2009/11/the_man_whos_re_1.shtml publishing Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:21:17 -0800 "It's always a pleasure to discover a formally gorgeous, subtly expressive typeface while walking along a street or leafing through a magazine. But that joy is swiftly obliterated by the sight of a typographic howler. It's like having a heightened sense of smell. You spend much more of your time wincing at noxious stinks, than reveling in delightful aromas."... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2009/11/the_trouble_wit_17.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2009/11/the_trouble_wit_17.shtml publishing Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:15:18 -0800 "A high school librarian in Phoenix says a former student at the school returned two overdue books checked out 51 years ago along with a $1,000 money order to cover the fines."... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2009/11/book_returned_t.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2009/11/book_returned_t.shtml publishing Sun, 15 Nov 2009 23:52:15 -0800 "Google, the internet's search leader, is hoping to keep the deal alive with a series of new provisions. Among other things, the modified agreement provides more flexibility to offer discounts on electronics books and promises to make it easier for others to resell access to a digital index of books covered in the settlement."... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2009/11/google_proposes.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2009/11/google_proposes.shtml publishing Sun, 15 Nov 2009 22:59:12 -0800 "Blyton, who died aged 71 in 1968 and has sold 600 million books, was a trailblazer. After training as a teacher, she got her first break thanks to Pollock, who worked at the London publishers George Newnes and helped her publish her first stories in 1924. But it was her own ruthless business acumen that helped her become the most popular children's author of the era."... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2009/11/inventing_enid.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2009/11/inventing_enid.shtml publishing Sun, 15 Nov 2009 09:25:02 -0800 http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2009/11/publisher_cut_g.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2009/11/publisher_cut_g.shtml publishing Sun, 15 Nov 2009 08:58:49 -0800