Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal lança plataforma de venda de eBooks

A Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal lançou uma nova plataforma para venda e aluguer de eBooks. O aluguer é feito ao preço fixo de um euro por cinco dias, enquanto que o preço de venda das obras em formato digital é 50% inferior ao das respectivas versões impressas.

Novas edições de Jorge Luis Borges e Clarice Lispector

A partir de 3 de Fevereiro, a Quetzal inicia a publicação de obras de Jorge Luis Borges, lançando simultaneamente um livro de ensaios (História da Eternidade) e outro de contos (O Livro de Areia). Por sua vez, a Relógio D’ Água adquiriu recentemente os direitos da obra de Clarice Lispector, estando prevista ainda para este ano a edição de quatro livros da escritora brasileira: O Lustre, Água Viva, Para não Esquecer e Um Sopro de Vida.

Clube de Leitura do NCEO: Khan al Khalili de Naguib Mahfouz

Clube de Leitura do Núcleo de Cultura e Estudos Orientais

Convidado: Luís Manuel Araújo.

Data: 28 de Janeiro, pelas 17h.

Local: Livraria Pó dos Livros.

Entrada: Livre.

Khan al Khalili

Naguib Mahfouz

O local é a populosa cidade do Cairo. O tempo… a Segunda Guerra Mundial. Uma família de classe média, aterrorizada pelos bombardeamentos alemães, foge de sua casa e procura refúgio no velho bairro de Khan al Khalili, considerado mais seguro. Pelo meio dos receios da guerra, desenrola-se a história de amor de dois irmãos, com personalidades totalmente opostas, apaixonas pela mesma jovem, a sedutora Nawal.

Esta é a desculpa que Naguib Mahfouz precisa para descrever minuciosamente os ambientes populares, burgueses e intelectuais da sua cidade natal, bem como para proceder à análise de uma sociedade que se vê obrigada a tomar partido perante os dramáticos acontecimentos que se sucedem

Leituras Digitais (15 a 21 de Janeiro)

Rubrica semanal de notícias e artigos relacionados com a edição de livros digitais.

As demand for e-books soars, libraries struggle to stock their virtual shelves

Frustration is building on all sides: among borrowers who can’t get what they want when they want it; among librarians trying to stock their virtual shelves and working with limited budgets and little cooperation from some publishers; and among publishers who are fearful of piracy and wading into a digital future that could further destabilize their industry. In many cases, the publishers are limiting the number of e-books made available to libraries.

Why Won’t Amazon Compete in the ePub Market?

The only answer I have come up with, and I don’t find it a satisfactory answer, is that of all the industries represented by the goods that Amazon sells, the weakest in every sense of the word is the publishing industry, making it the one industry that is highly vulnerable to a direct attack by Amazon. Amazon can become a major publisher because of the industry’s weakness and thus be a vertically integrated enterprise — something that would be much more difficult and costly if attempted in the movie or TV production industries.

Of course, the same question can be asked about B&N’s choice of a DRM scheme, but at least B&N has made it freely available to all other device makers. That it hasn’t been adopted by Kobo or Sony, for example, does make me wonder if B&N hasn’t made a major error in not changing its DRM scheme to be compatible with Sony and Kobo. I think given a choice between the Sony, Kobo, and B&N ebookstores, most ebookers would shop at B&N, even if they prefer the Sony or Kobo device over the Nook.

Digital standards agreed for public libraries

The heads of more than 4,000 public libraries across the UK have agreed to national digital standards, which include providing free internet access in every library, and the ability to join a library and renew and reserve items online.

Apple launches self-publishing app, partners with textbook publishers

Apple has announced a new multimedia app called iBooks Author, allowing writers to create their own e-books, in a move to rival Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing.

At an event taking place in New York's Guggenheim Museum today (19th January), Apple's Phil Schiller said the free app was "the most advanced, most powerful, yet most fun e-book authoring tool ever created" designed to simplify the process of designing and selling digital textbooks through the iBookstore.

How Publishers Should Prepare for EPUB 3

As EPUB 3 gains support among reading platforms and devices, publishers will face a time of difficult change. But there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Supreme Court Says Congress May Re-Copyright Public Domain Works

Congress may take books, musical compositions and other works out of the public domain, where they can be freely used and adapted, and grant them copyright status again, the Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.

In a 6-2 ruling, the court said that, just because material enters the public domain, it is not “territory that works may never exit.”

Self-Published Authors Still Rarely Make the Jump to Publishing Houses

For many self-published authors, a traditional publisher is an elusive dream. It means a team of professionals taking over marketing, advertising, publicity and the mechanics of publishing one's own book on paper and electronically. It means already forged relationships with booksellers, critics and other writers -- and it means more time to write, rather than haggling over the costs of a book cover design or editing.

CES 2012: Predictions for Publishers

For publishers, last year the star of CES was clearly the "Tablet." The tablet onslaught clearly had huge implications for publishers racing to deliver their content as widely as possible across the emerging tablet publishing channel. This year, while we saw refinements and hybridization in the tablet market space, the lack of overwhelming leaps in publication delivery technologies was good news.  CES 2012 predicts we will have a year to refine production tools and workflows to deliver content to a relatively stable delivery platform environment.

New York Times E-Book Best Sellers

A version of this list appears in the January 29, 2012 issue of The New York Times Book Review. Rankings reflect sales for the week ending January 14, 2012.

E-Book Fiction

1.                      THE HELP, by Kathryn Stockett

2.                      THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO, by Stieg Larsson

3.                      THE 7TH MONTH, by Lisa Gardner

4.                      LOTHAIRE, by Kresley Cole

5.                      EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE, by Jonathan Safran Foer

Complete List »

E-Book Nonfiction

1.                      HEAVEN IS FOR REAL, by Todd Burpo with Lynn Vincent

2.                      STEVE JOBS, by Walter Isaacson

3.                      AMERICAN SNIPER, by Chris Kyle with Scott McEwen and Jim DeFelice

4.                      UNBROKEN, by Laura Hillenbrand

5.                      KILLING LINCOLN, by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard

Complete List »

Wall Street Journal E-Book Best Sellers (Week Ended Jan. 15)

Nonfiction E-Books

TITLE AUTHOR / PUBLISHER	THIS WEEK	LAST WEEK
Heaven Is For Real	1	2
Todd Burpo with Lynn Vincent/Thomas Nelson Publishers
American Sniper	2	1
Chris Kyle with Scott McEwen, Jim DeFelice/William Morrow & Co.
Steve Jobs	3	3
Walter Isaacson/Simon & Schuster
Unbroken	4	5
Laura Hillenbrand/Random House
Killing Lincoln	5	6
Bill O'Reilly, Martin Dugard/Henry Holt & Co.
Bossypants	6	9
Tina Fey/Little, Brown
The Obamas	7	New
Jodi Kantor/Little, Brown
Hate Mail From Cheerleaders	8	—
Rick Reilly/Sports Illustrated
Through My Eyes	9	—
Tim Tebow with Nathan Whitaker/HarperCollins
Catherine the Great	10	—
Robert K. Massie/Random House

Fiction E-Books

TITLE AUTHOR / PUBLISHER	THIS WEEK	LAST WEEK
The Hunger Games	1	1
Suzanne Collins/Scholastic
Mockingjay	2	3
Suzanne Collins/Scholastic
Catching Fire	3	2
Suzanne Collins/Scholastic
The Help	4	5
Kathryn Stockett/Penguin Group
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo	5	6
Stieg Larsson/Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
The 7th Month	6	New
Lisa Gardner/Penguin Group
Witch and Wizard	7	9
James Patterson/Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Lothaire	8	New
Kresley Cole/Gallery Books
Chasing Rainbows	9	7
Kathleen Long/Kathleen Long
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close	10	—
Jonathan Safran Foer/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Vídeos

E Ink On Every Smart Surface

Livros das nossas vidas: O Processo, de Kafka

Livros das nossas vidas: O Processo, de Kafka

Convidado: Pedro Rodrigues.

Data: 26 de Janeiro de 2012, pelas 18h00.

Local: Casa da Achada.

Entrada: Livre.

Bram Stoker Vampire Novel of the Century Award

A Horror Writers Association acaba de revelar os nomeados para o recém-criado Vampire Novel of the Century Award, em jeito de comemoração do centenário da morte de Bram Stoker. O comunicado oficial:

The Horror Writers Association (HWA), the international association of writers, publishing professionals, and supporters of horror literature, in conjunction with the Bram Stoker Family Estate and the Rosenbach Museum & Library, proudly announce the nominees for the Bram Stoker Vampire Novel of the Century Award, to be presented at the Bram Stoker Awards Banquet at World Horror Convention in Salt Lake City, Utah, on March 31, 2012. The Award will mark the centenary of the death in 1912 of Abraham (Bram) Stoker, the author of Dracula.

A jury composed of writers and scholars selected, from a field of more than 35 preliminary nominees, the six vampire novels that they believe have had the greatest impact on the horror genre since publication of Dracula in 1897. Eligible works must have been first published between 1912 and 2011 and published in or translated into English.

The nominees are:

The Soft Whisper of the Dead by Charles L. Grant (1983). Grant (1946-2006) was a prolific American writer of what he called "dark fantasy" and "quiet horror," writing under six pseudonyms as well as his own name. Grant also edited numerous horror and fantasy anthologies. The novel is part of Grant's series of 12 books set in his fictional small town Oxrun Station, Connecticut. Grant was a former president of Horror Writers Association and received its Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999.

Salem's Lot by Stephen King. First published in 1975, this was only the second work by the now-legendary American author of dozens of fantasy, science fiction, mystery, and horror stories, comics, and novels. Set in the town of Jerusalem's Lot, it tells of a man's return to his hometown, where he finds a plague of vampirism. The book has twice been made into television mini-series and has been recorded by the BBC. King's work has won countless Bram Stoker Awards from HWA, and King (1947- ), a lifelong New England resident, was recognized with HWA's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2002.

I Am Legend by Richard Matheson. First published in 1954, the novel is set in the mid-1970's, when a plague has swept the world, bringing with it zombie-like creatures identified as vampires. Richard Neville, the book's protagonist, may be the last living human. The work has been filmed three times under various titles, most recently in 2007, under its original title, starring Will Smith. Matheson (1926- ), an American, has written screenplays as well as short and long fiction, and many of his works have been filmed or made into teleplays. He wrote frequently for The Twilight Zone in its heyday. Matheson received HWA's Lifetime Achievement Award in 1990.

Anno Dracula by Kim Newman first appeared in 1992. The novel imagines an alternate history in which Van Helsing and his cohorts failed in their attempt to rid England of Dracula. In this timeline, Dracula went on to marry Queen Victoria, ushering in an era of vampire aristocracy in England and elsewhere. The book is followed by two other novels and a number of shorter works set in the Anno Dracula universe, all meticulously researched to include numerous historical details and many characters of Victorian and more recent popular literature. Newman (1959- ) is an English writer of fantasy and horror, as well as reference books in the field, and frequently appears as a host and critic for the BBC and other media.

Interview with the Vampire by Southern American author Anne Rice first appeared in 1976 and achieved enormous popularity, selling more than 8 million copies. The book introduces the vampires Louis and Lestat, who, along with a dozen other unique individual vampires, appear in a long series by Rice known as the Vampire Chronicles. The novel was filmed in 1994 starring Tom Cruise as Lestat and Brad Pitt as Louis; another work in the series, Queen of the Damned, was filmed in 2002; the novel was also produced as a Broadway musical in 2006. Rice (1941- ) has written numerous other gothic fantasy novels, selling more than 100 million copies worldwide, and has won many awards, including HWA's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003.

Hotel Transylvania by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, published in 1978, is the first of a 25-book (so far) series featuring le Comte de Saint Germain, a 2000+-year-old vampire, whose adventures in many historical periods are recounted. This novel overlaps in many details with the historical facts of le Comte de Saint-Germain, a mysterious figure. An American writer, Yarbro (1942- ) publishes three or four books a year, under various pseudonyms, in a variety of genres, including mysteries and romance tales. She was awarded HWA's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008.