Cultural Cross Sections Elena Poniatowska In this column that originally appeared in La Jornada, Elena Poniatowska considers the role of editors and talks with Diego Rabasa, founder of publisher Sexto Piso. Already precarious, the pandemic lockdown has made the plight of independent publishers and bookstores in Mexico in light of Covid-19 even more acute. To be an editor is to answer the call of the gods. It’s a vocation, a ministry, an immense privilege, to enter the Olympus of literature. To be an editor is to pick those who have talent and launch them. To be a publisher is to foretell: this one will make it. It’s also to disappoint and reject. I recall the Dutch printer Alexander Stolz in Mexico holding out to me his exquisite edition of Benjamin Constant’s Adolphe, as if it were a diamond, at the Fondo de Cultura Económica, and the paternal care that Arnaldo Orfila Reynal took with the anguished palavering of Fernando del Paso. To be an editor is to be a psychologist and to be bewildered as to how to treat each creature-author. Vicente Rojo was my editor, and we have loved each other deeply since, but I never gave him trouble. What must that genius from Pachuca named Yuri Herrera be like? What’s his soft spot? I have to handle Carlos Montemayor with kid gloves because he’s unpredictable. Federico Alvarez, director of the FCE in Spain, told me that seeing Elena Garro and Helena Paz enter the FCE in Madrid was like falling into... Continue reading at 'World Literature Today'
[ World Literature Today | 2020-06-03 21:05:48 UTC ]
One day about three years after I’d left the New Yorker to become a book editor, Alberto Vitale—former CEO of Random House, Inc., a genial, intelligent, and remarkably tan businessman, originally from Italy and Olivetti—stopped me in the hall outside my office. “Profesore, how are you?” Alberto... Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2015-01-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Google removed its news aggregation service from Spain a few days ago, but the Spanish Newspaper Publishers’ Association (AEDE) is already asking the government to bring it back. AEDE claims the removal of Google News will be bad business for the publishing industry overall and will have more of... Continue reading at Betanews
[ Betanews | 2014-12-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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PW takes a look back at some of the library stories that captivated the publishing world in 2014, and what they portend for 2015 Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-12-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Martha Stewart is expanding her home-goods empire, this time by offering food and drink directly to her legions of devotees with her first cafe.Martha Stewart Cafe will open in the Starrett-Lehigh Building in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood, where the domestic maven's company headquarters are... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2014-12-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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If squabbles over format, pricing and Amazon have led the US publishing industry to neglect an ever more diverse audience, we have forgotten why people read books in the first placeThe true price of publishingAt the recent National Book Awards ceremony in New York City, presenter and bestselling... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-12-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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By Marcelle Soviero The publishing industry is busting out of business models as quickly as we can devise new ones. I think in 2015 we will see more product differentiation and more product offerings. These... Continue reading at Publishing Executive
[ Publishing Executive | 2014-12-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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By Robert M. Sacks Do you ever wonder if the publishing industry has learned enough in the last five years to be more effective and more profitable in the next five years? Of course, effective is a relative term... Continue reading at Publishing Executive
[ Publishing Executive | 2014-12-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Along with Brian Murray, PW's Publishing Person of the Year, we honor these notable people who changed the publishing world in 2014. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-11-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Backlist is more important than ever for the publishing industry and the opportunity to use backlist titles to drive the sale of frontlist titles is, according to publishers, “one of the true excitements” of the new era of digital publishing. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-11-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In a rare move for the publishing world, Land Rover has sponsored "An Ice Cream War" novelist William Boyd's new short fiction and turned it in into a gorgeous interactive campaign. The post Land Rover commissions novelist William Boyd’s latest appeared first on Digiday. Continue reading at Digiday
[ Digiday | 2014-11-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bertelmann is to spend "in the mid-hundreds of millions" in US dollars on American e-learning provider Relias Learning, describing it as the company's "biggest purchase in the US since it took over Random House in 1998". The buy, which will have to be approved by antitrust authorities, is... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-10-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Xerox invented Laser printing and copying less than 50 years ago and as a result revolutionized the publishing industry. This innovation was so significant during its time that the outcome was that almost every Japanese electronics product manufacturer, the likes of Canon, Konica, Ricoh and... Continue reading at Wired
[ Wired | 2014-10-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Let's say you can't get enough of it'sGrace (above) on YouTube but you're taking a week-long no-tech camping trip soon and aren't excited about missing her wit and charm. Well, host Grace Helbig's book Grace's Guide: The Art of Pretending to Be a... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2014-10-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The literary body, representing 9,000 authors, is calling on the US government to launch a competition investigation into Amazon, following the long-running dispute between the internet retailer and publisher HachetteAmericas Authors Guild has met with the US department of justice to call for an... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-10-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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For the third year in a row, Random House (but not its Penguin side, because the warehouses aren't integrated yet) will provide express shipping, starting November 1. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-09-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In another step in the integration of Penguin and Random House, the company has completed the buyout process of eligible members within the PRH sales group. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-09-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon Kindle is now a 'proud sponsor' of Downton Abbey. And it suits, as the show's story arc reflects the current dynamic in the publishing business. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-09-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The merger of Penguin and Random House in Canada is beginning to taking shape in two new, concrete ways. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-09-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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PW's annual salary survey reveals an eye-opening lack of diversity in the publishing industry, an enduring pay gap between men and women, and an increasingly optimistic workforce. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-09-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publisher Johnny Temple might be Brooklyn's biggest cheerleader. In addition to overseeing one of Brooklyn's best known publishing houses, Temple is also the host of the borough's flourishing book festival. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-09-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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