Bookish News and Publishing Tidbits 28 February 2012

RIASS stuff:

A review of The Wizard of Oz'by L Frank Baum (far creepier than I remembered!)

A review of'From the Earth to the Moon'by Jules Verne'(Jules gets his funny on)

Just a note that Ill be tango dancing my way through Argentina in April, and would love to receive some guest posts to feature during that time. Feel free to drop me a line at readinasinglesitting@gmail.com.

Other bookish stuff:

Why so many Australian publishers are now accepting unsolicited manuscripts:

According to the Wheeler Centre's recent'interview'with Penguin Publisher Ben Ball, it's all about the digital transformation of the book industry. . . .I suspect that a'generational change'is occurring in literary representation in Australia and that publishers have realised that they are not seeing enough new Australian writing from literary agents. In a recent meeting one publisher admitted to me that they were finding it very difficult to find exciting new voices, and that they weren't seeing a lot of new fiction writing (in particular) from agents.

Rivi Rive Revision (Or, How to Love the Red Pen)

When editing a book, it helps if you review it three times: once to find the heart of it, once to find the bones that give it structure, and once to smooth the words that clothe it.

Google, I Hardly Knew You: ShelfTalker laments being dropped as an affiliate for selling Google eBooks:

Google's actions have soured me a little tiny bit on bookselling. Perhaps it's the slowness of the season, but just when my e-books program seemed poised to make inroads with my customers, it might be taken away and I've done absolutely nothing wrong. I'm sure Amazon has nothing to do with it, but I feel like it's another thing that I can't compete against. I don't want to just roll over and give up selling e-books. Being able to sell them makes my store look current and vital. Customers who don't have Kindles don't need to look elsewhere for their e-books.

PayPal Strongarms Indie Ebook Publishers Over Erotic Content:

On Saturday February 18, PayPal began threatening indie book publishers and distributors with immediate deactivation of the businesses' accounts if they did not remove books containing certain sexual themes namely, specific sexual fantasies that PayPal does not approve of.

Adobe Launches Primetime Video Publishing, Advertising and Analytics Platform:

This new platform delivers premium video and ad content consistently across all major platforms, including'Apple iOS, Google'Android, desktop operating systems and connected TVs, said Danny Winokur, vice president and general manager of Interactive Development at Adobe, in a call with reporters. Shown for the first time at these two major industry events, elements of Primetime will be available throughout 2012.

How one author deals with rejection:

The most important piece of advice I can give you is to stay true to yourself and your talent. Dont allow the rejection of one publication to tear apart your dreams of becoming a writer or to change the vision you have. I wouldnt be where I am today if Id listened to the few who suggested I stick with one thing or another.

Do we still need publishers?

I asked my own publisher, Jane Winterbotham, says Anthony Horowitz, why I needed her and she came straight back with the reply. She said shed call me next Tuesday. When she did finally ring me, she suggested that without her, I would miss all the peripherals. These were: the promotion, the marketing, the editing and the advance.

Pulitzer Prize-winner Katherine Boo shares her top 5 books about inequality

RIP Jan Berenstain

Terrible book titles of 2011

Reinventing the bookmark

Cecelia Aherns books get a spiffy redesign

For Books Sake pick their favourite Angela Carter characters.

All of the covers of The Paris Review are now on Pinterest

The Big Issue Fiction Edition is open to subs

Freebies:

Listen to a clip from Kim Harrison's A Perfect Blood

Free ebook: The Shape of Silence'by Stephen Leigh

Special deal from Booktopia: buy 2 Vintage classics and receive a pack of limited edition greeting cards