The Gun - The Story of the AK-47

 The AK-47, or ‘Kalashnikov’, is the most abundant and efficient firearm on earth. It is so light, it can be used by children and it never jams. It has transformed the way we fight wars, and its story is the chilling story of modern warfare. It is the everyman’s gun, used by guerrilla, terrorists and dictators everywhere. The Gun features villains and idealists, profiteers and killers, superpowers and revolutionaries and tells the incredible story of how the Kalashnikov has transformed the way we fight.

C. J. Chivers’s extraordinary and hugely detailed new book, which I found fascinating and frightening in equal measures, tells an alternative history of the world as seen through these terrible weapons. He traces them back to their origins in the early experiments of Gatling and Maxim, and examines the first appearance of the machine-gun – a weapon that first created the ‘asymmetric’ colonial massacres enjoyed by the British in Africa but which then led to the nightmarish stalemate of the First World War. The quest for ever greater firepower and mobility culminated in the AK-47 at the beginning of the Cold War, a weapon so remarkable that, over sixty years after its invention and having broken free of all state control, it has become central to civil wars all over the world.

“They don’t break, they can be used by children, and there are up to 100 million of them. The AK-47 has changed war” – Sunday Times

A book for history buffs (me) and those fascinated by guns (not me).

About the author:

C. J. (Christopher John) Chivers is a senior writer for The New York Times. He was an infantry officer in the US Marines from 1988 to 1994 and served in the First Gulf War. He is the recipient of numerous prizes, including a shared Pulitzer for International Reporting in 2009 for coverage of the war in Afghanistan. He has reported from many of the major war-torn areas of the world. He currently lives in Rhode Island, United States of America.

The NZ Book Council promotes books through the power they have to inspire and shape a person

Very cool:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FCNsqxTNhs

Jamie Raab Interview Sparks eBook Royalty Debate

By Maryann Yin on Galley Cat, February 1, 2012 

GalleyCat contributor Jeff Rivera interviewed Grand Central publisher Jamie Raab for mediabistro.com’s So What Do You Do? feature today.
In the interview, Raab (pictured, via) defended her imprint’s standard practice of giving authors a 25% royalty rate for eBooks: “We have an infrastructure to support.” She outlined the values of what traditional publishers have to offer whether they are new in their writing career or established New York Times bestselling authors.
When asked on whether or not she fears big-name writers will take a less traditional publishing route, she replied: “I think about that a lot because I know it’s on authors’ minds. And I think it’s incumbent on every publisher to do a better job than they’ve ever done before — more creative on marketing and eBooks, working in partnership more closely with their authors, keeping them in the loop, publishing more strategically.”
What do you think? Should eBook royalties be higher?
Several members of the industry have given their reactions to Raab’s interview including Smashwords founder Mark Coker, literary agent Peter Riva, Drama High author L. Divine and author Seth Godin.
Seth Godin: “eBook royalties should be significantly higher and the reason is simple: there’s no marginal cost of paper, shipping, returns, etc., to be paid for. If publishers started paying cash money to get better eBook distribution and sales, that’s a very different story. But right now, the gross margin is much much higher than it is on a print book.”
Mark Coker: “I’m impressed by Jamie Raab’s spirit and passion. She typifies the publisher of the future who will survive and thrive because she and her team are doing for authors what many authors cannot do for themselves…[However,] until publishers learn how to clearly communicate this in a way that authors understand, believe and agree with, some authors will continue to feel shorted.”
Peter Riva: “Remember I favor authors, but unless the company is strong, there will be no traditional publishing all too soon.”
L. Divine: “That [interview] was just what I needed to validate my own announcement this morning…I’ve worked with editors who don’t edit, and most of the marketing comes from my own footwork. So, I am going to jump on this eBandwagon with my series and see where it takes me.”

Announcing the 2011 Discover Great New Writers Award Shortlist (Fiction and Non-fiction)

Dear Readers,

David Guterson received the very first Discover Great New Writers Award for Snow Falling on Cedars in 1994. Other winners include Chang-rae Lee for Native Speaker, Elizabeth McCraken for The Giant's House, Hampton Sides for Ghost Soldiers, and David Sheff for Beautiful Boy.

Safe to say that the authors on the 2011 shortlist are in great company.


The 2011 Discover Great New Writers Award shortlist:
Fiction:


Turn of Mind by Alice LaPlante (Atlantic Monthly Press)
Untouchable by Scott O'Connor (Tyrus Books, a division of F+W Media)
Volt by Alan Heathcock (Graywolf Press)

Non-fiction:

Day of Honey by Annia Ciezaldo (Free Press)
Kosher Chinese by Michael Levy (Henry Holt & Co.)
[sic] by Joshua Cody (W.W. Norton)


Full piece including comments on each shortlisted title.

Alex Preston's top 10 literary believers

From Dostoevsky to Zadie Smith, the novelist picks his favourite portrayals of characters struggling with faith

• Alex Preston - guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 1 February 2012

Gillian Armstrong's 1997 film version of Oscar and Lucinda.

Alex Preston was born in 1979. He lives in London with his wife and two children. His first novel, This Bleeding City, was published in 2010. His second, The Revelations, is published this month by Faber and Faber. He also writes reviews for the Observer and the New Statesman and a regular panellist on the BBC Review. He tweets as @ahmpreston.



" Steady, plodding relationships are not the stuff of great literature. As we all know, happiness writes white. Friction, fissures, flaws – love stories take their energy from impediments, they thrive under the heat of conflict. The same goes for belief. Quiet, placid faith fails to stir us. It's the dark night of the soul that we want in our fiction, the adolescent torment of Salinger's Franny or the guilt-ravaged Bendrix coming reluctantly to God in The End of the Affair.

"In previous centuries authors would have presupposed both faith and familiarity with the scriptures in their audience, but now religion has withered in the bright glare of science (at least in Britain), and our churches are increasingly Larkin's 'accoutred frowsty barn[s]'. Yet we still, some of us, feel the God-shaped hole, and courses and cults have sprung up to cater to those looking for meaning disenchanted world.

"I have always been fascinated by the outer reaches of religious experience, by the titanium-plated smiles of the born-again, by the visitations and mass-hysteria of Christian evangelicals. It's not only the secrecy and intrigue of those closed worlds; it's the way their members seem to have found an answer to so many of life's great questions. Frankly I'm envious. So when I read and write about believers, it's partly that I'm trying to find an authentic way into what they've got. So far I've not had much luck. Perhaps this is why it's characters in books who struggle with, rather than revel in, their faith who attract me.

"The four young friends in The Revelations all believe, but their conviction is tested to breaking point by the tragedy that unfolds over the course of a weekend religious retreat. Doubt stalks their every footstep, the charismatic priest who leads them suffers his own crisis of faith; that some of them are still believers at the end of the book is a kind of miracle."

1. Franny in Franny and Zooey by JD Salinger

Marcus and Abby Glass, two of the heroes of The Revelations, take their surname from Salinger's precocious family. Franny's breakdown in the second story perfectly captures the headrush of adolescent spirituality (and its resultant comedown). I have always been a little bit in love with her which is, I suppose, creepy, now I'm over 30 and she's still at college.

2. Alyosha Karamazov in The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Alyosha is a novitiate Russian Orthodox monk, Jesus-like, compassionate but totally powerless. He clashes with his brother Ivan, a rationalist and an atheist. Alyosha isn't divorced from the real world, though; he is a realist. As Dostoevsky says: "Faith, in the realist, does not spring from the miracle. But the miracle from faith."
Read the full list at The Guardian.

Stories don’t need morals or messages

A "stupid" test shows that the Puritan ethic lives on. Why do we insist on learning lessons from the books we read?

By Laura Miller - Salon.com - Tuesday, Jan 31, 2012 2:00 

(Credit: iStockphoto/Yayayoyo via Shutterstock)

What is the purpose of reading stories, especially made-up stories? That’s the question lurking behind a recent posting to the New York Times’ education blog, SchoolBook. Ann Stone and Jeff Nichols, the parents of twins, wrote about taking their kids’ third-grade English Language Arts test with some friends as a party game on New Year’s Eve. The group read an inane little story about tiger cubs learning to tear bark off logs, but, to their surprise, couldn’t agree on a single answer to the multiple choice question that followed: “What is this story mostly about?”
Tests like this, the couple asserts, do students “a double disservice: first, by inflicting on them such mediocre literature, and second, by training them to read not for pleasure but to discover a predetermined answer to a (let’s not mince words) stupid question.” The problem, they feel, stems from the standardized testing regime, which forces the learning experience into a too-rigid structure. Even a “banal” story like this tiger-cub number admits “multiple interpretations,” and the prod to “reduce the work to a single idea” does a disservice to both reader and text.
I’m sure Stone and Nichols are right that the current, reductive obsession with standardized testing has made this propensity worse, but discomfort with fiction — with all its slippery, non-utilitarian qualities — goes back to the beginning of American culture. As the historian Gillian Avery observed in her “Behold the Child: American Children and Their Books, 1621-1922,” 17th-century Puritans had big doubts about any kind of non-scriptural storytelling, for adults as well as for children. They were as determined to teach their kids to read as any modern helicopter parent, if for other reasons: For Puritans, reading the Bible was essential to getting into heaven, rather than into Harvard (though to hear some people talk today, you wouldn’t think there was much of a difference).
Full piece at Salon.

The work of Carol Ann Duffy, the Poet Laureate, has been compared to “Mills & Boon” authors in a damning attack by the Oxford Professor of Poetry

Duffy, who grew up in a 'bookless house' and is a passionate advocate of poetry teaching in schools, became Poet Laureate in May 2009 Photo: REUTERS/Phil Noble

By James Orr - The Telegrpah -  31 Jan 2012

In a lecture entitled Poetry, Policing and Public Order, Sir Geoffrey Hill criticised the 56-year-old for her eagerness to ‘democratise’ the art form.

The Scottish poet and playwright has previously sparked controversy by arguing children who used social networking sites and text messaging were “perfecting” their poetry skills.

But Sir Geoffrey, who was once widely tipped to receive the Poet Laureateship himself, said she must “consider that she may be wrong”.

Speaking at a lecture in Oxford, Sir Geoffrey referred to an interview Duffy had given to the Guardian in which one of her early poems about the death of an old English teacher was discussed.

He said: “For the common good she is willing to have quoted by the Guardian interviewer several lines from a poem by herself that could be easily be mistaken for a first effort by one of the young people she wishes to encourage.
Full report at The Telegraph.

Gold medallist Mark Todd Autobiography to Orion

01.02.12 | Charlotte Williams - The Bookseller

Orion has acquired the autobiography of double Olympic gold medallist eventing champion Mark Todd, who has also won four times at the Badminton Horse Trials, and five times at Burghley.

Orion managing director Susan Lamb and Weidenfeld & Nicolson publisher Alan Samson bought world rights, Europe and Far East exclusive, to the title, Second Chance, directly from the eventing champion. Orion will publish in hardback on 19th April, priced £20.
Todd is the only rider since 1932 to have won back-to-back individual titles at the Olympics, which he did at Los Angeles in 1984 and Seoul in 1988. After the Sydney Olympics in 2000 he retired from eventing to take up a career as a racehorse trainer and breeder in his native New Zealand.
He made an eventing comeback at the Beijing Olympics in 2008, and last year won Badminton. He will compete at the London Olympics this summer.
Samson said: “We’re thrilled to be publishing one of the best known and most successful eventing champions in the world. And it really will be a must-have book for anyone interested in eventing, and beyond.”
Todd said: “When I was in the lead after the cross-country at Badminton last year, it did occur to me that it would be an amazing story if I won. It shouldn’t really have been possible, and yet it happened.
"In fact, the whole story has been extraordinary; when I started competing, I considered myself a dairy farmer who rode a bit. When I won an Olympic gold medal, I realised I might be able to make it.”

A Band of Determined Eccentrics - Indie Booksellers

 01/31/2012 - Huffington Post -  William Petrocelli

In early January Frommer Guides arranged for a New Orleans literary group to lead a band of booksellers on a "Literary Pub Crawl" of the Big Easy. The guide's spiel got more and more colorful after each watering hole. When asked about local eccentrics, he responded thus:

There are different ways of looking at eccentrics. In New York, they ignore them. In Los Angeles, they arrest them. But in New Orleans, we encourage them.

In a way, that was a metaphor for the independent booksellers who were gathered that week in New Orleans for the annual Winter Institute of the American Booksellers Association. If "eccentricity" can be defined as having a vision that departs from the conventional wisdom, then independent booksellers have it in abundance. An unexpected optimism was in full bloom among the booksellers at that meeting.
But how could that be? Independent booksellers have been written off for years by experts who sit in their offices and watch Main Street America from a distance. And there are plenty of statistics that seemingly support the doomsayers. In the 1990s the growth of chain bookstores led to a doubling of the amount of bookselling space in America without any growth in the number of readers. That -- along with a rash of unfair pricing tactics -- left many independent booksellers fallen by the wayside. A few years later, the growth of online bookselling had an even greater impact. Once again, there was an increase in cut-throat competition -- again with no real increase in the number of book-reading customers. But this time the casualties included the giant book chain Borders, which came crashing to the ground in 2011. And all of that occurred before the full advent of e-books.
So, why the optimism? What accounts for an upsurge in confidence among independent booksellers?

Read William Petrocelli's full essay here.

Footnote:
William Petrocelli is an author, a bookseller, and a former attorney.
For the past thirty years or so he has been the co-owner with his wife Elaine of Book Passage, a retail bookstore in San Francisco and Corte Madera, California.

He is the author of Low Profile: How to Avoid the Privacy Invaders (McGraw Hill) and co-author of Sexual Harassment on the Job: What it is and How to Stop it (Nolo Press). He is also the author of the forthcoming novel Women For Peace.       

AAP eBook Sales Nudge Back Up In November, As Children's Hardcovers Shine

PublishersLunch

eBook sales as reported by a small but growing group of publishers to the AAP remained lower than their peaks earlier in the year in November, at $77.3 million up modestly from October's reported $72.8 million. Overall, ebooks comprised 16 percent of trade sales, compared to 12.6 percent in October. The peak during 2011 was February, when high ebook numbers and low print shipments made digital 29.5 percent of the month's reported sales. Further skewing the month-to-month and year-over-year comparisons, the number of publishers reporting ebook sales to the AAP keeps changing from month to month. For November, 8 more university presses have started reporting ebook sales, making 26 reporting publishers in all. (Columbia University Press and Rizzoli have dropped off this month, but are expected to report again in the future.) Last December, there were only 12 reporting publishers.

Following the year's pattern, the gain of $30.7 million in ebook sales over last November couldn't make up for the larger drop in print shipments, as total AAP trade sales declined $29.7 million or 5.7 percent for the month. (Indeed, for the 11 reported months, overall trade dollars are down 5.8 percent compared to 2010, which isn't bad considering the disappearance of Borders and the growth of lower-priced ebooks.)

Children's and YA hardcovers were the biggest gainers after ebooks in the month, at net shipments of $87.2 million up 27 percent compared to a year ago. That made children's hardcovers the second largest trade segment for the month (with ebooks once again just barely in fourth place). Religious books--which we don't count as trade, but the AAP does--also rose slightly for the month. 

A Self-Help Rights Guide for Independent Publishers

Publishing Perspectives Petra Hardt, Foreign Rights Director at Berlin's Suhrkamp Verlag, has written 'Rights: Buying. Protecting. Selling' to help publishers make the best choices.


Read here.


DISCUSSION:
What is the Appropriate Term for a Book Contract?
With digitization offering authors new opportunities faster that publishers can take advantage of them, long book contracts grow increasingly unattractive.

Calling for applications for Iowa International Writing Program

Creative New Zealand is calling for applications from New Zealand fiction and non-fiction writers, poets and playwrights to take part in the renowned University of Iowa International Writing Program in the United States.

The result of a 20-year partnership between Creative New Zealand and the university,  the three-month residency is an opportunity for writers to participate in a programme which has hosted more than 1400 writers from a 140 countries since its inception in 1967. 

Emerging or established writers, with a publishing track record, will have time to work on an approved project and take part in literary activities, field trips and excursions with other writers from all over the world.

New Zealand’s 2010 recipient writer David Hill (right) described the programme as a “writer’s paradise”.   “For three months I was able to write in a state of financial security, intellectual stimulation and professional collegiality.”

The residency includes travel costs, accommodation, a stipend and is supported by Creative New Zealand.  It will run from late August to mid-November, 2012 and the recipient will be expected to have completed, or substantially completed, a body of writing.

The deadline for applications is Friday 9 March 2012.  

To find out more about how to apply please go to our website or to forward to potential applicants click on the ‘Pass it on’ link on the right hand tool bar
About the University of Iowa’s International Writing Program

Alan Hollinghurst in Sydney next month

Sydney Writers' Festival presents a very special event with Alan Hollinghurst. 
Winner of the Man Booker Prize for his brilliant satire of Thatcher's London, The Line of Beauty, Hollinghurst will discuss his latest novel, The Stranger's Child. 

The Stranger's Child casts a longer gaze, beginning with the story of two families and two houses on the eve of World War I then coursing through the 20th century to tell a larger story of England -- and of its truths secreted by time.
Alan Hollinghurst will appear in conversation with Sydney Writers' Festival artistic director Chip Rolley. 
Tickets on sale now. 
Location: Verbrugghen Hall, Sydney Conservatorium of Music
Date: Friday 9 March 2012
Time: 7.00pm - 8.15pm 

News from the Arts Foundation

Derek Lardelli (Laureate) and has been awarded a new academic position.  He becomes an Associate Professor to Tairawhiti’s Eastern Institute of Technology.  

Derek is recognised nationally for the revival of Ta Moko and as a key figure in the field of kapa haka.  He has been the cultural advisor to the All Blacks since 2005 and responsible for the branding of the Athens and Kuala Lumpur New Zealand Olympic teams, among many other projects.

Pop-up literature

Exciting news from  the Institute of Modern Letters Newsletter

Wellington is to have a temporary Literaturhaus, courtesy of the Goethe Institute.  The first week’s programme runs 7-11 February, and includes presentations by Kate de Goldi and Lloyd Jones and a poetry cabaret with Lorenzo Bühne, Bill Manhire and Chris Price.

The poetry cabaret takes place at Meow, which hosts another poetry evening a week later, at which Poet Laureate Ian Wedde reads alongside Amy Brown, Aleksandra Lane and Lynn Jenner.  More here. 

Further comment on the New Zealand Hierarchy of Book Publishing

This was Kauri Bookend's opening gambit posted on the blog last week:
Following my post yesterday on the international Hierarchy of Book Publishing, Kauri Bookend has left a new comment suggesting his/her NZ top twenty. My thanks to Kauri Bookend. Here it is for your amusement and/or comment with a few pics I have added:

1. Unity Books Auckland and Wellington: Simply the best
2. Bill Manhire : Done more to raise the quality of NZ Fiction and Poetry than anyone else
3. Geoff Blackwell : Shame he isn’t running one of the local multi-nationals. He should be
4. Lloyd Jones : Our pre-eminent novelist with a five star track record.
5. The Editors: especially Barbara Larson, Jane Parkin and Anna Rogers: Making good books better.

6. Neil Cross{Wellington]: Lead writer on Spooks, creator of Luther, author of nine great books including the Booker listed Always the Sun. Photo-SST
7. The other independent booksellers: apart from that grumpy bugger in Timaru.
8. The Reps- a diminishing breed but still a vital link between publishers and booksellers who care.
9. Karen Ferns – keeping Random House head and shoulders above the rest.
10. Neil Hyndman – proving it is possible to make real money out of publishing.
11. The Agent – Ray Richards. Are there any others?

12. Tony Fisk – probably the smartest MD in NZ Publishing – why isn’t he Prime Minister?
13. The team at Craig Potton – Carrying the flag for quality small publishers after the disappearance of Godwit, Shoal Bay, Tandem, Longacre and Mallinson Rendell
14. Bill and Phil [Noble and King] University Booksellers Supreme
15. Publishers – The Magnificent Seven : Harriet Allan, Fergus Barrowman, Jane Connor, Sam Elworthy, Nicola Legat, Rachel Scott, Bridget Williams. Quality rules.
16. Elizabeth Knox : An author with a great depth and breadth of talent and a hard-won international reputation
17. Joan Mackenzie : Has it in her power to make a real difference for New Zealand Publishers. I am sure she will use it wisely

18. Maurice Gee: now why hasn’t he been knighted?
19. The bloggers: especially Rachel King, Vanda Symon, Chris Bourke, Auckland and Christchurch libraries. Oh alright – also that Beattie chap.
20. The readers – where would be without them?? 




Brian Phillips then responded as follows:

Hard to resist responding to this…
 Whilst I agree with most of Kauri Bookends’ selections I would venture to add a few more..
 In no particular order [as they say on the X factor] I would offer
 The two Fionas – Farrell(right) and Kidman(left). Wonderful women writing wonderful books
 Carole Beu – if all booksellers were as active and enthusiastic we would sell more books….
 The retirees – especially David Elworthy, Ros Henry and Bob Ross. They may no longer be involved in commercial publishing but all continue to do ‘bookish’ things. Long may they flourish.
 The broadcasters – especially Kim Hill and a special mention for the incomparable Elizabeth Alley.
 Jill Ewing at Random House. This company is regularly voted Distributor of the year by booksellers. Jill runs Random’s distribution. Enough said.
 Belinda Cooke at New Holland – quietly running a small but perfectly formed company.
 The third party book distributors – big and small – without them many smaller publishers would have no cost-effective way of getting their books into the marketplace. As I am a naturalised Cantabrian special mention must go to Nationwide Books at Oxford.
 Those who run Writers Festivals throughout the country. Love them all.
 Finlay Macdonald. Also Guy Somerset, Philip Matthews, Iain Sharp and David Eggleton.
PS Who is the grumpy bugger in Timaru? Can't think of anyone who fits that description... 


Today Old Timer has commented:
Kauri Bookend’s top twenty was an excellent contribution.  Old Timer offers a comment or two.

There is a small clash between # four Lloyd Jones and # 18 Maurice Gee; another between # nine Karen Ferns and # 12 Tony Fisk.

Publishers who have disappeared, add:  Avery, Bascands, Beckett Sterling, Benton Ross, Booker & Friend, Caxton, Dunmore, Millwood, Moa, Pacific/Whitcoulls.  Paul’s, Pegasus, Sweet &Maxwell – where have all the roses gone?

And Bookman Beattie has decided to have his pennethworth too:

Significant other players worthy of mention include:

Nielsen Book Scan - in spite of Whitcoulls attempt to scuttle their weekly statistics they continue to provide an invaluable service

Book Publicists - tireless workers, almost exclusively women, this blog would be a lesser place without them.

Book designers - designing books in NZ of world class standards

Bureaucrats running those key organisations - Lincoln Gould (Booksellers), Anne de Lautour (Publishers), Maggie Tarver (Authors) and Catriona Ferguson (Creative NZ).

Literary journals, especially but not only Sport and Landfall.

All those wonderful, informed indie booksellers out there, especially at my favourite weekend haunt. the Village Bookshop at Matakana.

Media book page editors especially Linda Herrick, Mark Broatch, Guy Somerset and Philip Mathews.

The Listener - widespread book coverage week in and week out.

Facebook & Twitter

The Guardian & The New York Times - daily book reviews and book news.

PW & The Bookseller - keeping the trade informed on both sides of the Atlantic and around the world

Martin Taylor - the man who led the push into digital publishing in NZ.

Anyone else got further nominees? Feel free to comment.

Neil Gaiman & Todd McFarlane Settle Decade-Long Dispute

By Dianna Dilworth on Galley Cat, January 31, 2012 

Fantasy authors Neil Gaiman and Todd McFarlane have settled their decade long dispute about who owns the copyright to Spawn characters that Gaiman created for McFarlane’s comic book in a guest appearance.
In 2002, Gaiman filed his first suit claiming that he co-owned Medieval Spawn, among other characters that he had created. In 2010, Gaiman won a suit in which a judge determined that he should be paid royalties.
The Daily News has more about the settlement: “Jeffrey Simmons, one of Gaiman’s attorneys, said terms of the agreement were confidential … ‘This is intended to put an end to the whole thing. It’s fair to say both parties are pleased to have this resolved,’ Simmons said.”

Barnes & Noble Stores Will Not Stock Books Published By Amazon

By Jason Boog on Galley Cat, January 31, 2012 

Barnes & Noble has decided not to stock books published by Amazon in their physical stores, keeping the new publisher out of the country’s largest network of brick and mortar bookstores.
Bloomberg Businessweek senior reporter Brad Stone called it “a declaration of war,” breaking the news with a statement from B&N’s chief merchandising officer, Jaime Carey. The bookseller will offer Amazon titles in their online store. Last week, Amazon revealed that Houghton Mifflin Harcourt will distribute print books from Amazon Publishing.
Check it out: “Our decision is based on Amazon’s continued push for exclusivity with publishers, agents and the authors they represent. These exclusives have prohibited us from offering certain eBooks to our customers. Their actions have undermined the industry as a whole and have prevented millions of customers from having access to content. It’s clear to us that Amazon has proven they would not be a good publishing partner to Barnes & Noble as they continue to pull content off the market for their own self interest.” (Via Sarah Weinman)

The Book: A Life Cycle - The Inaugural Symposium

for the Centre for the Book at Otago University

Thursday 29 March 2012: Dunningham Room, Dunedin Public Library

7.00 pm - Prof David Skegg – Opening address

7.20 pm - "the old rag and bone shop" John Quilter, Quilter’s Books, Wellington

Friday 30 March 2012: Barclay Theatre, Otago Museum

9.00: Introduction/Opening

Dr Shef Rogers (English) *this session may alter if Prof. Howsam is here.
9.30: Futures of the Book

Howard Amos (University Librarian)

Dr Erika Pearson (Media and Communication)

Penelope Todd (Rosa Mira Books)

10.30 – coffee break

11.00-12.00: Research Potentials in Print Culture

Prof. Tony Ballantyne (History) – ‘Print and writing histories of colonialism’

Anthony Tedeschi (Rare Books, Dunedin Public) 

Dr Lachy Paterson (Te Tumu)- ‘Indigenous Texts, Indigenous Histories’

12.00– 1.00 Lunch

1.00– 3.30: Life Cycle of the Book

Author - Vanda Symon (Independent writer)

Design – Ralph Lawrence (Independent Designer)

Publisher – Barbara Larson (ex-Longacre; Commission editor for Random House)

Sales – Bronwyn Wylie-Gibb (UBS)

Survival – Sharon Dell (Hocken Library)

3.30 – afternoon tea break

4.00 – 5.00: Issues & Wrap Up

Prof. Helen Leach – The Non-conformist Cookbook

Dr Roger Collins – Revisiting Louis-Auguste de Sainson: Bibliography, Bibliophily and Biography

Noel Waite, Dunedin City of Literature – The State of the Play?

Donald Kerr/Shef Rogers

Registration for the full day is $25 (waged); $10 (unwaged).

To register e-mail books@otago.ac.nz for an electronic registration form.

Time Out Bookstore in Auckland's Mt.Eden features on Localist.

There’s nothing quite so magical as a bookstore; the smell of print, the promise of fresh new worlds between crisp white pages.
Sadly, the future of bookstores is becoming precarious. With the advent of Amazon and internet shopping, and E-readers like Kindle, the little local bookstore is somewhat of an endangered species.
Luckily for bibliophiles like me, there are some well-loved little stores that are bucking the trend.
Time Out Bookstore in Mt Eden village is one such store. Opening in 1988, it has a well-deserved reputation as one of the best bookstores in the country. It has a huge range of literary fiction, a wonderful kid’s section, and a mind-boggling, eclectic range of non-fiction, with everything from architecture and sport, to travel and religion.
But best of all, it has a cat.
The first Time Out cat, Oscar, was somewhat of a local identity in Mt Eden. He was a big Burmese, who lived the life of Riley, was generally adored and pampered by shoppers and staff, and often seen lounging in the shop window, attempting to lure in passing punters.
Sadly Oscar died recently, but a new kitty, the lovely Lucinda, has taken his place as the store mascot.
The staff at Time Out are great. They are all super friendly and knowledgeable. Their recommendations are spot on – they’ve introduced me to many great authors over the years.
They keep up-to-date with all the international trends in the book world, and make sure they stock all the award-winners as soon as they’re announced. If something is out of stock, they’ll order it in for you.
They are open 12 hours a day (9am-9pm), seven days a week, which is great if you’re in the village waiting for a takeaways, or for a mate to turn up for a drink.
If you’re a book lover, put this on the top of your list of shops to visit, and make a night of it in Mt Eden. What could be better than book shopping followed by a dinner and a drink at one of village’s great eateries?

Time Out Bookstore

432 Mt Eden Rd, Mt Eden Village, Auckland
email books@timeout.co.nz
Ph/fax +649 630 3331 Open 9am - 9pm, 7 days

Writers & Readers Week at the Fesival - MEET THE BEST IN LOCAL LITERARY TALENT

Joining some great voices in contemporary literature from around the globe will be our own outstanding selection of local writers. New Zealand's first poet laureate Bill Manhire will search out exciting new poetic voices; Patrick Evans will delve into the imagined world of Janet Frame and Frank Sargeson; and join with fellow Christchurch writers Fiona Farrell and Jane Higgins for Christchurch Quakes: Changing Everything - a poignant session on writing and living through the Christchurch quakes. Also featured are some of our best emerging writers: Eleanor Catton, Hamish Clayton and Craig Cliff. Photo above - Patrick Evans, Fiona Farrell and Jane Higgins are part of a stellar line-up of Kiwi writers.

B&N expands international content team

31.01.12 | Philip Jones - The Bookseller

Barnes & Noble has grown its international content team, as the US bookseller seeks to establish further relationships with overseas publishers.
According to Publishers Marketplace, Emily Williams has joined Barnes & Noble as international content manager for digital products, reporting to Patricia Arancibia, who was recently promoted to director, editorial & publisher relations for international content. Williams was most recently digital content producer for Publishers Marketplace.
Barnes & Noble is looking to take its digital e-reader the Nook overseas and its reportedly close to revealing a deal to sell the device through Waterstones in the UK. It has also been growing its overseas content and non-English-language content for sale in the US through deals with foreign publishers. The New York Times reported over the weekend that B&N was working on a fifth iteration of its Nook device, with the new model expected to be unveiled in the spring.

What Do You Love About Your Dialogue?

Posted by - mooderino

The general advice about writing dialogue tends to follow the same basic precepts. Conflict, goals, move the plot forward, don’t waste time with chit-chat, etc. That is certainly all useful stuff and will help keep the story moving.

But there’s more to dialogue than just getting across information.

People loves great dialogue. In books, in plays, in movies. In real life. Sparkling conversation holds the attention, even when it has nothing to do with anything. People like hearing it. It’s enjoyable to read. But it’s very difficult to write.

Sometimes, a memorable line is designed to be so. Everything builds up to it. A character gets teed up to say the thing that will define the rest of their life, and wham: Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn. Beautiful. AFI’s most memorable quote of all time.

Sometimes, though, it is not quite as clear why a line enters the collective consciousness. These aren’t the droids you’re looking for. Who would have thought that would be the most enduring line from Star Wars?

Which is the thing about dialogue. It’s all about the context.

It is entirely possible to have a bunch of people gathered together just chatting, and for it to be entertaining. But those writers who excel at that sort of thing, whether it be Tarantino or Oscar Wilde, do more than just collect a bunch of witty epigrams.

Read the full essay here.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo cancelled in India

Oscar-nominated thriller withdrawn from release in India after director David Fincher refuses to cut 'unsuitable' sex scene

• Ben Child
• guardian.co.uk, Monday 30 January 2012 

Cancelled in India … Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Photograph: Sportsphoto Ltd/Allstar

Oscar-nominated crime thriller The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo will not be shown in India after director David Fincher refused to cut scenes depicting rape and sexual intercourse.

India's Central Board of Film Certification had insisted five scenes be excised, including two in which actors Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara make love and another in which Mara's character Lisbeth Salander is raped by her legal guardian, the Wrap reports. Fincher refused to make changes to his film, and Sony Pictures abandoned plans for a 10 February release.

"Sony Pictures will not be releasing The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo in India," read a statement from the company's Mumbai office. "The censor board has judged the film unsuitable for public viewing in its unaltered form and, while we are committed to maintaining and protecting the vision of the director, we will, as always, respect the guidelines set by the board."

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, the second adaptation of the first book in Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy, has not been an enormous box-office hit but picked up five Oscar nominations last week and is well on its way to a $200m global haul against a budget of $90m. Despite predictions to the contrary, production on the sequel, The Girl Who Played with Fire, is reportedly under way, with Mara and Craig set to return.

1. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (US)
2. Production year: 2011
3. Countries: Rest of the world, USA
4. Cert (UK): 18
5. Runtime: 152 mins
6. Directors: David Fincher, Niels Arden Oplev
7. Cast: Christopher Plummer, Daniel Craig, Joely Richardson, Lena Endre, Michael Nyqvist, Noomi Rapace, Peter Haber, Robin Wright, Rooney Mara, Stellan Skarsgard, Steven Berkoff, Sven-Bertil Taube, Yorick van Wageningen
8. More on this film

A Most Optimistic Unconference: Publishers, Libraries, and Independent Bookstores at Digital Book World 2012

January 29, 2012 By Heather McCormack

If you’re lucky, at every conference there’s a revealing unconference going on inside of it. This was very much the case with Digital Book World 2012, which drew the usual cliques of publishers, authors, agents, entrepreneurs, editors, and marketers last week to New York. As at the 2011 show, keynotes, studies, and panels about international markets, metadata, ebooks, and DRM attracted large audiences. Amazon and Barnes & Noble reaffirmed their power (and rivalry) as manufacturers of dedicated e-readers and quasi-discovery centers and publishers.
Yet I sensed a markedly different psychology among the Big Six suits that has thus far gone unreported and wasn’t spoken of out loud near me during the show. Although a bit crooked-shouldered after suffering another year of disintermediation beatings by Kindle, these professionals are seeing straighter—and farther down the workflow. The damaging fear-induced myopia that took over publishing with the rise of ebooks in 2009 seems to be waning.
Four, even two years ago, dropping the term ecosystem was not a cool thing to do in the rarified corners of the culture business, the equivalent of conjuring a dirty hippie genie at a cocktail party. At Digital Book World, however, I heard more than one CEO use it, along with independent booksellers, it must be noted. The word, of course, encapsulates what librarians and library advocates have long argued for in the digital wars—capitalism that supports anyone with a stake in information and encourages fluid tiers of access. Or, if you will, a most beatific “United Nations of Reading,” to quote Eric Hellman, who was inspired last fall by Brian O’Leary’s excellent Books in Browers presentation, “The Opportunity in Abundance.”
Forget the supreme logic of leveraging your partners, or even your supposed competitors when you are dependent on the whims of a relatively small consumer base. The all-important data to buy into a new, bigger picture is compelling. At Digital Book World, Verso Media presented the findings of its 2011 Survey of Book-Buying Behavior. It reported that there are 70 million “avid book-buyers” in America and that they exhibit “split purchasing behavior.” In other words, they patronize online retailers, chain bricks-and-mortars, and local independent bookstores. This finding led the Verso team to recommend that publishers maintain and nurture “a diversified retail ecosystem [emphasis added]…because it mirrors consumers’ preferences.”
Attendees did not talk up libraries as a bona fide sales channel, despite OverDrive’s laudable efforts last summer to convert library catalog browsing to sales, and that’s fine by me because libraries serve a much more valuable function. The buzz word of Digital Book World 2012, discovery is being vaunted as that crucial bit of foreplay in the reader-book relationship (sorry, new metaphor). As communion cannot happen without a meeting ground, authorities ranging from Oren Teicher, CEO of the American Booksellers Association, to Ruth Liebmann, Random House VP director of account marketing, stressed the inestimable worth of a physical space for encountering just the right bit of textual stimulation.
Read Heather's full piece at Library Journal.

One takeaway from Digital Book World that is not to be missed

The Shatzkin Files

Posted by Mike Shatzkin on January 30, 2012

I think just about everybody has fun at Digital Book World, but it is hard to have more fun there than I do. It’s damn near a year of work coming together over a couple of days with dozens of smart speakers making me personally look good for putting them on the program. So they work hard and satisfy the audience and I get congratulated. What could be better (for me) than that?
(OK, I did do a little bit of work. Besides emceeing the show and co-hosting the final panel, I delivered opening remarks trying to set the stage.)
There were a lot of great takeaways this year. Perhaps the biggest news was the final presentation before the wrap-up panel Michael Cader and I hosted. That was by Matteo Berlucchi, the CEO of Anobii, a UK-based ebook retailer that has substantial investment from Penguin, Random House, and HarperCollins. Matteo didn’t exactly “call for the end” of DRM, but he certainly described a better world without it. And the main point he made was, “I want to sell to Kindle customers and the only way I can do that is if we get rid of DRM.” The combination of the message and the messenger made this the most newsworthy presentation of the show, I thought.
But the factoid that most grabbed me was delivered on the previous day as part of the data developed by AllRomanceebooks.com about the romance readers market. Very superficially, the point being made was also about DRM, but that’s actually a distraction. There was a much larger point buried within.
All Romance is a specialized ebook retailer. To serve the romance reader community more effectively, they’ve built out the BISAC taxonomy for romance, adding more categories. And they’ve added a metadata element called “flames” which basically measure the frequency and explicitness of the sex scenes in any particular book.
The romance world, particularly among the cognescenti in it, is a very anti-DRM environment. And an outfit like All Romance, which has no “device lock-in” working for them — essentially everything they sell gets “side-loaded” somehow, and DRM can often make that more challenging — is right in step with their community sentiment. So the survey contained questions trying to get at the audience attitude about DRM.
There were two relevant stats that I recall. One is that only about 20% of even All Romance’s readers really resist books with DRM. That is to say: 80% don’t. But the factoid that grabbed me is that 96% (that’s not a typo: ninety-six percent) of the ebooks they sell do not have DRM.
All Romance also reports that 91% of the titles they have available are protected by DRM. That makes sense, since all the titles from all the Big Six publishers and all the titles from Harlequin except those from their new digital-first imprint, Carina, have DRM.
What this means is that the nine percent of All Romance’s offerings that do not have DRM are selling 96% of their units overall. And since only 20% of their customers find DRM as a strong deterrent to sales, that means those fledglings are outselling all the majors for other reasons.
This provokes two very important lines of inquiry to me, and neither of them have anything to do with DRM.
The first one would be top of mind to me if I were a major publisher. What are these books that are selling like hotcakes? Why are these books selling like hotcakes? Why can’t we publish these books that are selling like hotcakes?
Read the rest of Mike Shatzkin's File here.

Toshiba outlines e-book ambitions

31.01.12 | Michael Fitzpatrick - The Bookseller

Toshiba, which will launch its first dedicated digital reader on 10th February, is aiming to be Japan’s biggest retailer of e-books by the spring.
Adding the colour LCD screened, Android-based BookPlace DB50 to its existing tablet line-up is aimed at bringing more readers to its expanding Bookplace e-book store which Toshiba has said it will beef up with over 100,000 titles by the end of March.
“We now have about 50,000 publications available that include books, magazines and comics,” a Toshiba spokeswoman told The Bookseller, although what percentage of that number is comprised of books was not disclosed. “But we plan to have 100,000 online by March.”
Even if such a target is reached, however, the figure underlines how poorly developed Japan’s e-book trade is, according to Tokyo-based publisher Robin Birtle. “Even though Toshiba have partnered with Booklive, one of the larger Japanese e-Bookstores, DB50 owners will be underwhelmed by their content choice,” he said.
Booklive is a unit of the Japanese printing giant Toppan.
Although late to the crowded tablet and e-reader market in Japan, Toshiba is anticipating the launch of the Kindle Fire, expected for the first time in Japan later this year. Priced at 22,000 yen the DB50 costs and dimensions are comparable.
The hand-sized Toshiba tablet is aimed at commuters who often have to stand on crowded trains reading with one hand.
Analysts do not see the new offering standing up to the appeal of a similar sized Kindle Fire, which unlike the Toshiba reader comes with non-glare, e-ink, when the Kindle finally does reach Japan.
“Toshiba has missed the boat on this one,” said publishing analyst Rob MacGregor at Tokyo-based Strategy Core. “The launch is 2-3 years too late. It has its appeals but the appetite for black and white e-ink based readers proves you don’t need a full-colour screen.”
At its launch in Tokyo, Toshiba suggested the new e-reader might be also sold abroad. The Toshiba spokeswoman confirmed this but declined to discuss such possibilities further.
Books that are available already through Toshiba’s Bookplace store include bestsellers such as the Steve Jobs biography from Kodansha priced at 2,000 yen. More typical Japanese authored books, particularly manga, are selling on the store for under 1,000 yen each.

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Harlequin Acquires Heartsong Presents

PW - January, 30, 2012

Harlequin has acquired the book club assets of Heartsong Presents Book Club, the inspiration book club owned by the Christian publisher Barbour Publishing. Heartsong Presents provides its members with four Christian romance novels a month, with a focus on inspiration, hope and faith, written by leading inspirational authors.

"We are thrilled to add Heartsong Presents to our portfolio," said Donna Hayes, publisher and CEO, Harlequin. "Our subscribers trust us to provide compelling stories that are delivered to their doorstep monthly. The Heartsong Presents editorial dovetails perfectly with that of Harlequin -- women's fiction and inspirational publishing -- making it a natural fit." 

Estimate Puts Kindle Fire Sales at 6 Million

PW - Jan.30, 2012

With Amazon set to release its fourth quarter—and year end—results Tuesday afternoon Stifel Nicolas analyst Jordan Rohan estimates that the company sold 6 million Kindle Fire tablets in the fourth quarter. Rohan had previously put the number sold at 5 million units.
Rohan believes the strong performance of the Fire will provide Amazon with ongoing benefits by increasing the amount of content, including e-books, that new Fire owners will buy.
As a result he has upped his revenue forecast for 2012 by over $2 billion to a total of $67 billion. And while Amazon is making no money on the Fire, Rohan notes that as more customers buy digital content, Amazon’s margins could improve because of lower shipping costs.

Siri Doesn’t Do Scottish

Oli Scarff / Getty Images

Siri and Scotland are separated by a common language. The debut of Siri, Apple’s new virtual assistant, gave rise to a meme as excited customers tested out the new voice-recognition software. Except in Scotland, where the assistant appears unable to understand the Scottish brogue. A puzzled Siri responds to “What's the weather like today?” with “What's available in Labor Day?” Another request to “create a reminder” is greeted with a straight “I don’t understand,” and finally “I don't know what you mean” by “create Alamain.” Nevertheless, the new iPhone has sold well in Scotland.

Read it at The Los Angeles Times   (Via The Daily Beast)

January 31, 2012 

The Snow Child - an excited first-time author reports

I have so much to tell you, I hardly know how to start this letter.
I want to tell you how wonderful the staff and readers are at Tattered Cover in downtown Denver, where I participated in my first official author reading and book signing. I want to tell you how heart-warming it is to be surrounded by talented authors, kind book lovers, a beautiful bookstore. I even had my uncle at my side as I signed copies of The Snow Child! It is a day I will never forget.
But I also want to tell you how much I’ve appreciated your emails, messages and tweets telling me where you have spotted The Snow Child. Here are just a few places where there have been “Snow Child sightings.”

• Buffalo, New York
• Hawaii
• The Costco Connection magazine that goes out to Costco members and featured an interview with me and a review of The Snow Child this month.
• New Mexico
• Delaware
• Barnes & Noble in Baltimore, Maryland
• Kodiak, Alaska
• Olympia, Washington
• Florida
• Laramie, Wyoming
• Powell’s Bookstore in Oregon
• Pittsburg, Kansas
• South Hadley, Massachusetts at the Odyssey Bookshop
• Lansing, Michigan
• Reno, Nevada
• Oprah Magazine, February issue, Page 111 (I had to see it to believe it.)
• Northwest Book Lovers blog
• Idaho
• Chicago
• Pennsylvania
• Prairie Lights Bookstore in Iowa City
• Rome, Italy
• Ireland
• Corsica
• Flagstaff, Arizona Barnes & Noble
• Jerusalem
• Boyd Farm in Palmer, Alaska

It’s simply amazing!

Read more at Eowyn's blog - Letters from Alaska
And have a look at her website too.

Supporters of Menlo Park Store Formalize As Kepler's 2020 Project

PublishersLunch

Efforts to stabilize, preserve and redefine Kepler's Books in Menlo Park, CA that we covered in January have taken shape into a formal Kepler's 2020 initiative, announced via press release and at the store's web site. "The project aims to create an innovative hybrid business model that includes a for-profit, community-owned-and-operated bookstore, and a nonprofit organization that will feature on-stage author interviews, lectures by leading intellectuals, educational workshops and other literary and cultural events."

As noted previously, entrepreneur Praveen Madan is leading "a volunteer transition team [that] has begun work on a comprehensive development, financial and operational plan" for the store. Among the initiatives they are considering are: POD, "an e-book friendly in-store browsing experience; concierge services to provide 'literary matchmaking' for customers, book swaps and other innovative programs to bring people of all ages together around their shared love of books; and a speaker’s bureau with readership development services for emerging authors." They are launching a new capital campaign this month to raise $100,000 to support ongoing operations at the store.
Release