A charming French novel about an old-school publisher trying to get to grips with the digital ageAt more than one point in this novel I found myself asking: could this be any more French? Early on we meet a character described thus: “She used to be incredibly good-looking and now at thirtysomething she is creditably handsome.” Sorry? What the narrator, an ageing male publisher, looks like, or how creditably or uncreditably good-looking he is, we don’t find out. Another woman leaves the room “in a wiggle of buttock” – I dropped my annotating pencil when I read that line. “Artichokes require a degree of elegance” – there’s another drop of essence of Gallic for you.But there is more to Dear Reader, and what kept me going was that one of the subjects exercising our narrator is the issue of electronic readers – Kindles or, as our hero Robert Dubois has it, the “dear reader” of the title. This book is an elegy for a dying world: that of the printed book and, that death’s darker corollary, the reader who is still interested in, or has the attention span for, the long-form narrative. (I always thought these things were arranged better in France, with no Net Book Agreement and tax breaks for bookshops, but apparently not.) In the world of Dear Reader, there has been a general collapse of cultural understanding: the interns point out to Dubois the remarkable coincidence that the publishing house they have landed in has the same name as him. Meanwhile, Dubois cannot quite get to... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2014-12-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
News tagged with:
#electronic readers
#attention span
#tax breaks
By Ron Epstein In late 2012, I purchased a small, local publishing company. The marquee property was a magazine called L.A. Parent that distributed approximately 70,000 free copies every month, along with other... Continue reading at Publishing Executive
[ Publishing Executive | 2014-12-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#big idea
#magazine called
#digital products
The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton has been named as the Waterstones Book of the Year. Burton's debut novel, published by Picador, beat a shortlist that also included Man Booker Prize winner The Narrow Road to the Deep North and Samuel Johnson Prize winner H is for Hawk. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-12-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#jessie burton
#waterstones book
#narrow road
#deep north
Postal rate hikes, paper shortages, the rise of digital publishing, and one of the deepest economic recessions in recent history are just a few of the factors that have harried magazine publishers in the past decade. Many publishers have had to... Continue reading at Publishing Executive
[ Publishing Executive | 2014-12-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#digital publishing
#recent history
#past decade
Jessie Burton's The Miniaturist, a debut novel inspired by a dollhouse in Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum, is named Waterstones Book of the Year. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2014-12-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#jessie burton
With an appeal date approaching, attorneys for Apple and the DoJ traded fire over whether Judge Denise Cote improperly weighed the evidence presented to her. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-12-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
The former Newsnight presenter’s first subject will be Britain over the last 50 years while the second will be about his TV careerJeremy Paxman will reportedly tell of his decades-long career at the BBC as part of a three-book deal for almost £1m. The former Newsnight presenter will not pull any... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-11-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#jeremy paxman
#decades-long career
#three-book deal
#sunday times
President Barack Obama and his daughters picked up 17 books at Washington D.C.'s Politics & Prose bookstore on Small Business Saturday. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-11-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
With unit sales of print books up about 2% in the first 47 weeks of 2014, year over year, at outlets that report to Nielsen BookScan, the industry is poised to post its first increase in print sales since 2008. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-11-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#print books
#nielsen bookscan
#print sales
Colin Barrett has won the £10,000 Guardian First Book Award for his short story collection Young Skins (Jonathan Cape). It is the third prize to go to the book, which also took the 2014 Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award and the 2014 Rooney Prize for Irish Literature. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-11-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#book award
Irish author Colin Barrett wins the Guardian First Book Award for his debut collection of short stories, Young Skins. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2014-11-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#book award
#debut collection
#short stories
David Walliams’ Awful Auntie (HarperCollins Children’s) has been named Children’s Book of the Year at the Specsavers National Book Awards, making it the third time in a row the author has won the honour. The awards, presented today (26th November) at a ceremony at the Foreign Office in London... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-11-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#david walliams
#year trophy
#foreign office
#cookery writer
James Patterson has launched a campaign in the US to persuade President Barack Obama to draw attention to the importance of reading. The campaign, which has the hashtag #SaveOurBooks on Twitter, asks people to sign a petition, write to their politicians, spread to word on social media and find... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-11-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#james patterson
#people reading
#draw attention
#buying books
Great British Bake Off judge Mary Berry wins an outstanding achievement award at the Specsavers National Book Awards Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2014-11-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
The Google Play Store is joining in on the cyber week sale madness, offering some tempting deals on a variety of digital content.Click over to the Play Store to scroll through everything that is up for grabs. Some of the best deals are on entertainment, with Academy Award winner Her available... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2014-11-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#digital content
#play store
#google account
#web apps
Ebury Publishing imprint Virgin Books has acquired a “timeless business book” by a basketball coach. Ed Faulkner, Ebury deputy publishing director, bought UK and Commonwealth rights to Eleven Rings by Phil Jackson from Simon Trewin at WME. During his career as head coach of the Chicago Bulls... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-11-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#head coach
#ed faulkner
#bought uk
#simon trewin
Literary Review has launched a digital archive of all of its issues over the last 35 years for app and print subscribers. The digital archive ha been launched in conjunction with the announcement that all print subscribers to the magazine will also gain free access to the digital edition of the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-11-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#print subscribers
#literary review
#digital archive
#digital edition
JetBlue is adding ebooks from HarperCollins to its entertainment mix. Passengers can read excerpts from new titles and then choose to purchase the rest. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2014-11-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#good book
Curtis Brown is launching an online book group, offering readers the chance to get “a sneak preview of work from some of the agency’s most exciting new and undiscovered authors” just ahead of publication. Applications for readers for the group, the first online reading group to be hosted by a... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-11-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#offering readers
#literary agency
#curtis brown
#sneak preview
#conville walsh
Criterion Designs is a beautiful book that captures 30 years of iconic movie covers. The post 30 Years of Iconic Criterion Covers Collected in One Beautiful Book appeared first on WIRED. Continue reading at Wired
[ Wired | 2014-11-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#beautiful book
Orion Children’s Books is increasing its range of early reader titles, with four non-fiction books planned for 2015. The books are all on science or nature and the first, The Deep Dark Sea, is by Tony De Saulles and will be released on the 19th March. The other three books coming out next year... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-11-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#books coming
#orion children