Entries from May 2008 ↓

As reported by Mashable, Microsoft is getting rid of its Live Search Books and Live Search Academic projects. The company will be “reaching out to participating publishers and libraries. We are encouraging libraries to build on the platform we developed with Kirtas, the Internet Archive, CCS, and others to create digital archives available to library users and search engines.”

Google Book Search will press on, however. Microsoft’s departure from the field leaves Google as one of the sole major players in the task of digitizing published material.

You remember James Frey, right? The guy who wrote a “memoir” about his drug addiction? And sold five million copies? And was praised and lauded by Oprah? Of course, Winfrey — and others — took it all back when it was discovered that Frey faked a lot of the details in A Million Little Pieces.

His then-publisher, Random House, offered to buy back books from any reader who felt cheated. Less than 2000 copies were returned.

Frey has returned to the literary scene, and with a work that is admittedly fiction. And two weeks after the launch of Bright Shiny Morning, the title is already on The New York Times bestseller list.

The story of Frey’s climb back to the top is fascinating. You can read more about it at The Independent.

Elizabeth Day of The Guardian recently did a great interview with Christina Crawford, author of Mommie Dearest and adopted daughter of Joan Crawford. It’s Christina’s first interview in over a decade.

Mommie Dearest, published in 1978, was the first real tell-all celebrity memoir and was on New York Times bestseller list for 42 weeks. For the book’s 30 year anniversary, Christina is reissuing the book with a new introduction and a new afterword, as well as 100 pages and photos cut from the original edition.

Since her child abuse claims have been oft disputed throughout the years — even by her two sisters — the new version also has supporting commentary from people who knew the family.

You can read the full interview at The Guardian’s website.

News from the publishing industry from the last week (or so):

1. “Little Orphan Artworks” - The New York Times - 5/20/08
An op-ed piece from Stanford University law professor Lawrence Lessig about the possible reform in Congress of the copyright law regarding orphan works.

2. The 2008 National Indie Excellence Awards have been announced.

3. Published authors can upload and format their published books into Kindle format at Amazon.com.

4. “B&N Mulls a Borders Buy” - Business Week - 5/21/08
Barnes and Noble considering taking over Borders bookstores.

5. “Who killed the literary critic?” - Salon.com - 5/22/08
“Has the role of the professional critic become obsolete in an age of book clubs, celebrity endorsements and blogs?”

6. Publishers Weekly is cutting pay to its book reviewers, effective June 15. You can read more at my friend Kevin Allman’s blog.

7. “Lessing: Nobel win a ‘disaster’” - BBC News - 5/11/08
Doris Lessing gives her views on winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2007.

Photo by GiniMiniGi

With print on demand (POD), books are not published until a customer actually makes the purchase. Among its advantages are cost savings for the publisher and less waste and environmental damage.

Amazon.com recently decided to only sell POD titles that are printed using its subsidiary, BookSurge.

BookLocker.com, a POD publishing business based in Maine, is suing Amazon over this decision, based on antitrust laws. “Amazon.com has a tremendous amount of market power in the online sale of books,” said Seth Klein, BookLocker’s attorney. “They are improperly trying to leverage that power to dominate the POD market.” BookLocker’s owner, Angela Hoy, says that about half of her sales are through Amazon.

Hoy’s lawsuit seeks class action status for the roughly 4300 potential class action members, an injunction to prevent Amazon’s from implementing the POD changes, and monetary damages.

To read more on this story, check out The Seattle Times, or the Bangor Daily News, which is located in Hoy’s hometown. You can also view a PDF of the complaint at BookLocker’s site.

David Unowsky has written a great article with tips for getting your books into bookstores and for scheduling promotional events, too. He knows his stuff. He owned an independent bookstore for over 30 years, has worked in publishing, and currently works as the Events Manager at Magers & Quinn Booksellers.

Unowsky says you need to make sure that three important areas are covered in order to entice bookstores to work with you:

1. Quality Of the Book - In addition to just writing a good book, pay attention to presentation, copyediting, etc.

2. Appropriate Pricing - Don’t put an astronomical price on your book that will make no one want to buy it. Also remember that bookstores need to purchase the books at a 45-47% discount off of the retail price.

3. Marketing and Publicity - The bookstores want to know that if they stock your book, they have help trying to sell it. One of Unknowsky’s suggestions: “Take advantage of every relevant on-line resource to post information about your book.”

He also gives some tips for successfully navigating your promotional events in the bookstores. You can read more at the Minn Post website.

I’m sure by now that you know that Barbara Walters has just published a memoir, entitled Audition. I mean, even if you didn’t want to know, you probably know. It’s one of those rare books that is just riding a huge publicity storm.With Walters’ name attached, the book was sure to get quite a buzz on its own. It doesn’t sit too well with me that her publicity team appears to be trotting out her 30+-years-old affair with a married Senator, especially since that man is still alive.

They were both in the wrong, but why hang out someone else’s dirty laundry to promote your book? It’s bad enough to even publish it in the memoir. According to the Louisville Courier-Journal, Edward Brooke isn’t giving comments.

Apparently, I am not the only one who thinks her actions are gross and entirely classless.

Cathy Lanier, Police Chief in Washington, D.C., has started a book club of sorts in an attempt to lower crime rates in the nation’s capital. She made Malcolm Gladwell’s Tipping Point required reading for her commanders, and held a community book club meeting on May 1 to discuss it.Read more about it at Bloomberg.com.

Tidbits of some of the publishing industry news and other book business articles this week:

1. Children’s author says “serendipity” most important to publishing success. (The Daily Iowan)

2. “Why is Random House CEO Peter Olson stepping down?” (The Week Daily edition)

3. Memoirs: fact or fiction? “Now, when people think of memoir, they begin to associate it with lying.” (The Christian Science Monitor)

4. “At 99, New Hampshire man becomes a first-time author” (The Boston Globe)

5. “Sex sells, so do scandals” (The Daily Vidette - Illinois State University)

6. “Borders turns page on old bookstores” (The Union Tribune - San Diego)

The Los Angeles Times reported recently on a round of scam attempts hitting bookstores. Con artists are calling bookstores, pretending to be touring authors, and trying to elicit money from the store owners. They invent situations like, “Oh, my car is impounded and I need you to send me money to get it out so I can make it to my scheduled appearance at your store.”

Who comes up with these ideas?? Plus, it doesn’t seem like there’d be a whole heck of a lot of money in it.