Bookish News and Publishing Tidbits 23 June 2012

RIASS stuff:

Are you a nerdy type? My husband is looking for a top-notch web developer to join his company.'Details here.

Other bookish stuff:

Authors: How to Pitch Your Book to Bloggers

Underage Drinking in Young Adult Books'Drinking is not going to disappear just because the censors decide to ban all books that casually mention it. So while young adult authors should think about the drinking they are including in the books, it should not be cut out completely. Not every book is going to have teenagers drinking responsibility or should it, but the aftermath should be real to life both positive and negative aspects.

Clive James: Im not dead yet.'I'm not objecting, because I haven't got time. In the interview I am represented as saying that I am losing my battle with leukaemia. Well, of course I am. Eventually I must. But the main thrust of the broadcast is, I can assure you, quite merry. In my life I have managed to get a certain amount done, and my chief aim now is to live longer so that I can do more.

Erotic Romance Author Beth Kery Explains How Fifty Shades Of Grey Is Just The Tip Of The Iceberg'Followers of the Fifty Shades of Grey phenomenon often mistakenly believe that the erotic romance craze began with that publication, but the trend has been going on for a while. What Fifty Shades did, I think, is hurtle the phenomenon into the mainstream. Small publishers that specialise in erotic romance have been successful and growing for fifteen plus years now, and in the past decade,'New York'publishers recognised the market and many started their own erotic romance lines like Heat (Berkley) and Aphrodisia (Kensington) and Spice (Harlequin).

Secondhand bookshops may be struggling, but book fairs are thriving'Part of the appeal is that book fairs offer up books as tactile objects for leisurely perusal at a time when readers are increasingly doing their reading on e-readers and online. Potential purchasers can feel the heft, the quality of the paper and in the case of second-hand books, look for intriguing dedications in the back. Whats more, they can do this in the presence of knowledgeable publishers and booksellers which is why books and pamphlets with beautiful illustrations or high production values are often to be found at book fairs.

Will Your Children Inherit Your E-Books?'In the age of the e-book, the paper book faces two possible and antithetical fates. It may become something to be discarded, as with the books that libraries scan and cannibalise.'Alternatively, it may become a special object to be preserved and traded.

Nurturing a sense of wonder from plain old books'I suspect this is an important advantage over book-like apps. To a kid, a physical book is much more versatile and, ironically, more interactive, than a tablet you can open it to any page, drop it or bang on it or step on it, draw on it, rip out a page and tear it and crumple it up.

Interview: Joanne Kennedy, author of Cowboy Crazy'I think cowboys represent the kind of stability were missing in todays world. Theyre tied to the land, they still dress and work the way they did a hundred years ago, and their values and manners havent changed much, either. Then theres the nurturing aspect. To work with animals, especially horses, you have to have a certain kind of sensitivity that translates well to relationships.

Jasper Fforde chooses his'top 10 bedtime stories'for the'Guardian

Shelleys Ghost Reshaping the image of a literary family

15 books by great authors that were never finished

Thinking about reading kiddo a bedtime story? Maybe give nursery rhymes a miss

Terrible tyops in history

The Book Inscriptions Project

'Epilogue: the future of print (video)

Drunk texts from famous authors

Literary beaches

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