"The Value of a Book" - CEO Panel Discussion from BookExpo America on Book TV Available Online

Today, there was a great panel discussion on CSPAN2's BookTV that's available in its entirety online at the BookTV site.  Brought together to discuss "the Value of a Book," some of the biggest in the publishing industry gathered together to talk about the future of books and book publishing.  Including author compensation.

There were talks about the Cloud.  There were talks about making books more enticing, and mention was made of the vellum used in the new Steve Martin novel that's coming out in the fall entitled An Object of Beauty.  We're to expect a very physically beautiful book here, according to the panel.  But will that help sell the contents? 

Scott Turow made a point that I've been thinking for years now: why did the ebook get introduced as a simultaneous product with the newly released hardback?  Readers expect paperbacks to follow months after the hardback, why not follow a similar path for the ebook?  Good question, I think.

Panel Members - Cream of the Crop

Brick and mortar bookstores were represented here, as well as agents, authors, publishers, etc.:

1. Jonathan Galassi - President, Farrar, Straus and Giroux
2. Bob Miller - Group publisher, Workman Publishing and founder of Hyperion
3. Esther Newberg -  Executive Vice President, International Creative Management (literary agency)
4. Skip Prichard - President and CEO, Ingram Content Group Inc. ( book wholesaler)
5. David Shanks - CEO, Penguin Group (USA), Inc.
6. Oren Teicher - CEO, American Booksellers Association
7. Scott Turow - author, attorney, president of Author's Guild

Was a Consensus Reached?  No.

No definitive answers were found.  It was nice to hear what appeared to be genuine concern for paying writers what they're worth for the work that they do. 

Go listen.  It's fascinating and important, whether you're a reader or writer.

Magazines Sales Up in a Bad Economy - the "Notable Achievers" of 2010

Good Housekeeping, August 1928
Wikimedia Commons, public domain

Wooden Horse Magazine gives us all the heads up this morning with news that several magazines boosted their retail sales in a significant way during this bad economic period.  That's right: they've grown in retail sales and they're magazines.

Brings to mind Mark Twain's famous quote, "rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated."  I love magazines, and I take this as great news. 

For their efforts, they've been honored by the Harringtons in their New Single Copy industry newsletter as "Notable Achievers" by the company that monitors national magazine sales.

I wasn't surprised at Mother Earth News.  I was a bit surprised at Rider.  (For the full list, with links to the award winner's web sites, check out Wooden Horse.)

The New Single Copy, published by John Harrington (Harrington Associates, LLC) has a lot more detail on the subject of magazine sales if you're interested in learning more.  Harrington Associates manages the BIPAD system of tracking magazine sales -- that barcode on each issue you buy has a series of identification numbers within it which form the basis for the periodic tallies of magazine sales. 

Which means that the NSC awards are a big deal -- these are the people in the know about such things. 

Elmore Leonard Interview - How He Writes, and "Freaky Deaky" Comes to the Screen

Deadline Hollywood has a great interview with Elmore Leonard that's a must read. Most of the talk is about screenwriting, his books that went to film (and his thoughts on them), but at the end there's a great tidbit on how he writes.

10 to 6, every day.
Output is 3-4 handwritten pages. No word processor.
He takes his handwritten pages and types them up on his typewriter to get his draft.
Wow.

Book Trailer Award Finalists - The 2010 Moby Awards

Book trailers are here, and according to GalleyCat, literally hundreds were submitted for consideration in this year's Moby Awards.  Melville House has organized the first annual awards ceremony for book trailers - the Mobys - and on May 20, 2010, the winners will be announced in a very nice ceremony in New York City. 

Here are the finalists, and yes - that last award really is for the WORST book trailer of the year.

They're all available for viewing online at the Moby site:

Best Low Budget/Indie Book Trailer:

1. A Common Pornography by Kevin Sampsell
2. The Electric Church in One Minute by Jeff Somers
3. Extraordinary Renditions by Andrew Ervin
4. I am in the Air Right Now by Kathryn Regina
5. I Lego New York by Chistoph Niemann

Best Big Budget/Big House Book Trailer:

1. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith
2. Blameless by Gail Carriger
3. Going West by Maurice Gee
4. High Before Homeroom by Maya Sloan
5. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The Dawn of the Dreadfuls by Steve Hockensmith

Best Performance by in Author:

1. Gordon Lish in Collected Fictions
2. Dennis Cass in Head Case
3. Thomas Pynchon (voice of) in Inherent Vice
4. Daniel Handler in The Book vs. The Kindle, Round 10: A Seriously Unfortunate Event
5. Jeffrey Rotter in The Unknown Knowns

Best Cameo in a Book Trailer:

1. Jon Stewart in I Am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil…
2. Jonathan Safran Foer’s Grandmother in Eating Animals
3. He is Legend’s Schyler Croom in High Before Homeroom
4. Deepak Chopra in The Karma Club
5. Zach Galifinakis in Lowboy

Least Likely Trailer to Sell the Book:

1. Pocket Guide to Mischief by Bart King
2. Shark Hunting in Paradise Garden by Cameron Pierce
3. Shoplifting from American Apparel by Tao Lin
4. Sounds of Murder by Patricia Rockwell
5. True Confections by Katharine Weber

Update of the Google Book Search Settlement

While the Google Book Search litigation remains active, the pending settlement (see my November 2009 post on this topic, "Google Book Search Lives On as Google Revised Settlement with Authors, Publishers") still awaits judicial approval.  The first judge passed away; the second judge got promoted to an appellate bench; the new judge hasn't been named. 

The importance of this event to electronic publishing rights cannot be underestimated.  For a great source of background information here, check out the work of the New York Law School and its Public Index project, particularly their free downloadable synopsis.

Monk Finale Breaks Records - But What Sloppy Writing for a Series about an OCD Detective

Even before all the numbers are tallied, the farewell episode of USA's Monk last Friday night has set new records for cable television audiences -- it grabbed the largest numbers for any drama series ever appearing on basic cable with a total already reaching 9.4 million viewers.  So, I guess it's safe to assume that you may have watched the show. 

Now, here's the big question -- did you like it?

This is a blog dealing with fiction writing, and I'm pondering the conclusion of Monk with that in mind.  And while I had warm and fuzzy feelings as the show's final segment ended, as a viewer and Monk-fan, as a writer I thought - wow, there's gonna be some unhappy folk out there.  Maybe I am one of them. 

Good vs Evil - Are You Born This Way?

With thanks to ICanHazCheezburger - how many great novels posit the same thing? East of Eden comes to mind ....

Google Book Search Lives On as Google Revised Settlement with Authors, Publishers

Google has announced a revised book settlement. Google, Inc., the Authors Guild, and the Association of American Publishers collectively filed the revised settlement with the Clerk for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York yesterday. Apparently, the filing occurred just minutes before the court-imposed Midnight deadline. Drama, drama, drama ....

What does it do?

It's cut back on the books that Google will distribute electronically over the web via Google Book Search. Now, Google's only going to deal with books that were are (1) registered with the U.S. Copyright Office or (2) published in either Australia, Canada, or Great Britian. As for the "orphans," (where the copyright ownership of a book is unknown), the revenue from these works is protected in the agreement, going so far as to set up a guardian to act as fiduciary for the owners.

More NaNoWriMo Prep - The Pros Come Out

Well, here you go.  S.L. Viehl (one of her many nom de plumes) has announced on her Paperback Writer blog that she is unofficially entering National Novel Writing Month this year -- and she's setting a personal goal of 2000 words/day.

That's right, dear reader.  Two thousand words.  A day.  That's about 400 over the minimum to win NaNoWriMo. 

And what's more, she'll do it.  Oh yes she will. 

If you follow PW, which I do, this woman is a fiend.  She's more than able to hit 4500 words a day, and she does a lot of this via Dragon Naturally Speaking because she's got some hand/wrist issues.

Five Things to Do to Get Ready for NaNoWriMo 2009

NaNoWriMo starts in 26 days.  When the clock strikes 12:00 am on November 1st, participants will have 30 days to write 50,000 words.  That's 1667 words/day if you write every single day. 

What can you do to get ready?  Here are 5 things to do as you're getting ready for the Big Day:

1.  Get your research materials together and organized.  You may not want to trust the web, and some books may be vital to your work.  Things like a dictionary, thesauraus, atlas, near at hand may be valuable time-savers as well as those reference works particular to your genre or plot, e.g., Grey's Anatomy if you're going to be the next Kathy Reichs, or Daily Life in Elizabethan England if you're writing a historical romance.  Buy what you need, gather what you already have, and put everything near to your workspace. 

2.  Warn family and friends that you're not being rude when you totally ignore them the entire month of November.  Maybe a free autoresponder for your emails will help.  And don't feel guilty when they call or text anyway and you don't reply.  You're writing, and it's important.