News & Notes is a weekly Saturday post featuring book- and publishing-related news, links to interesting articles and opinion pieces, giveaways on this and other blogs, and other cool stuff.
Books & Ebooks in the News:
- “One Year Later, the Results of Tor UK Going DRM Free” (Julie Crisp, Tor.com). The bottom line: “… we’ve seen no discernible increase in piracy on any of our titles, despite them being DRM-free for nearly a year.” It’s hard to argue with those results! I sincerely hope other publishers pay attention, and consider dropping DRM.
- HarperCollins is starting a digital-first imprint for mysteries and thrillers, similar to the Avon Impulse line of romances. Authors will get no advance, but will receive royalties monthly. Titles which sell well could eventually go to print. (Laura Hazard Owen, paidContent)
- Macmillan Finalizes Ebook Settlement, Will Pay $26 Million. Payments to consumers who bought Macmillan ebooks may start as early as this summer.
- B&N adds Google Play to the Nook HD and HD+ (Nate Hoffelder, The Digital Reader) They’ve also added other Google apps like Chrome, YouTube, and Gmail, making the devices more usable as tablets.
- “Multi-Million Dollar Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against Penguin, Author Solutions” (Nate Hoffelder, The Digital Reader) Three indie authors who published with Author Solutions (now owned by Penguin) claim that AS failed to pay royalties they were due, and charged for correcting typos inserted by AS (in other words, typos not present in the manuscript submitted to them.)
- “Hatchett to Offer Full Ebook Catalog to Libraries, Including New Releases”. The purchase price will be high — 3 times the physical hardcover list price for the first year, then 1.5 times the list price for the most expensive edition still in print. The library gets “an unlimited number of single-user-at-a-time circulations.” In the ongoing struggle between libraries and publishers over ebook lending, this is a step in the right direction, but not a victory for libraries. (Press release published by Digital Book World)
- “What’s in a Category? ‘Women Novelists’ Sparks Wiki-Controversy” (NPR’s All Things Considered) When a female writer noticed that women were being moved off the “American novelists” Wikipedia page, and onto a page called “American women novelists”, she wrote an op-ed piece accusing Wikipedia’s editors of sexism — and set off a storm of controversy. (Thanks to Dear Author for alerting me to this story.)
Worth Reading:
- Brian has a nice review of the new Kobo Aura HD reader on Dear Author. If the only consideration in choosing an ereader were the device, I’d pick this over the Kindle Paperwhite. Also, Dear Author has a Kobo Aura HD to give away.
- Poet Zoe Whittall brings attention to the way in which gender plays a role in book reviews with her poem “Unequal to Me”. The poem uses lines taken from actual reviews, and reverses the genders.
- Lynn Spencer asks “Where Have All The Historical Romances Gone?” (All About Romance blog)
For Writers and Bloggers:
- The Enchanted Inkpot offers some tools and tricks to get past writer’s block.
- Jane Collen, Intellectual Property lawyer, has a guest post about copyright on Gail Carson Levine’s blog.
Awesome Lists:
- “101 Best Chapter Books to Read (or Hear) Before You Grow Up” (Tara Ziegmont, Feels Like Home blog)
- “25 Vintage Photos of Librarians Being Awesome” (compiled by Emily Temple, Flavorwire)
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| Librarian Katherine Case at the Pack Memorial Library Bookmobile in Asheville, NC. Circa late 1940s – early 1950s. [Photo via] |
Just for Fun:
- For a small fee, Star Trek fans can have a Starfleet or Enterprise email address. Cool!
I’m always on the lookout for interesting articles, lists, and links for News & Notes, so please let me know if you see (or write!) anything that might be good for this feature. You can leave me a comment or send me an email — my address is on the About/Review Policy/Contact page.
Bea
I hope other major publishers will remove DRM from their ebooks. I’m delighted that Tor did this experiment and I’ve enjoyed it. 🙂
A Star Trek email address! How did I miss this?!?
*runs off to check it out*
Lark @ The Bookwyrm's Hoard
Yes, I thought that was cool, too. If I needed another email address, I’d jump on it. I always wanted to be in Starfleet!
kimbacaffeinate
I love your news post..I always find info I missed. As for the Nook Hd I own it and love it.
Lark @ The Bookwyrm's Hoard
Thank you, Kimba! That’s high praise! I have a feeling I’ll be looking at a new e-reader one of these days, although so far, my venerable Sony PRS-505 is still going strong. Slow, but it works.
Jan
I’ve been meaning to comment and tell you how much I enjoy your post each Saturday. So much interesting info!
Lark @ The Bookwyrm's Hoard
Thank you, Jan, and thank you for the wonderful write-up you gave me in your Sunday Post this week!
Kimberly @ Turning the Pages
I love this feature on your blog! I hope other publishers go DRM free and I’m glad you posted the link for Lynns post about Historical Romances!
–Kimberly @ Turning the Pages
Lark @ The Bookwyrm's Hoard
Thank you so much! I’m glad people are enjoying the feature; it’s fun to put together.