Rubrica semanal de notícias e artigos relacionados com a edição de livros digitais.
The British Library has signed a deal with Google, which will see one of the largest collections of books and pamphlets in the world made available and searchable online for the first time. The deal included 250,000 out-of-copyright books from the Library’s collections, covering up to 40 million pages from 1700-1870, from the French Revolution to the end of slavery.
The world's largest publishers have begun growing again after weathering the global recession over the past three years, with Pearson once again emerging as top dog.
According to the annual ranking of global publishing performance, compiled on behalf of Livres Hebdo, Buchreport, Publishers Weekly and The Bookseller, publishing revenues in 2010 have overtaken the total revenues for 2008 and 2009.
John Locke has become the first self-published author to sell more than one million e-books through Amazon.
Locke said: "Kindle Direct Publishing has provided an opportunity for independent authors to compete on a level playing field with the giants of the book selling industry. Not only did KDP give me a chance, they helped at every turn. Quite simply, KDP is the greatest friend an author can have."
During a discussion on "New Skill Sets: Capabilities Publishers Don't Have and How They're Developing Them", Charlie Redmayne, global executive vice-president for digital at HarperCollins, stressed editors needed to look beyond the book, or give it over to the best person who could "tell the story digitally". He said: "Editors need to become not just editors of books, but people with the content vision, and there are not enough editors in the industry who have those skills."
What used to be seen as a last resort is fast becoming the most successful trend in writing. Alison Flood talks to the authors doing it themselves.
The most impressive thing of all, though, is the way Rowling has managed to present the whole thing as an act of altruism. "I wanted to give something back to the fans that have followed Harry so devotedly over the years, and to bring the stories to a new generation," she says. This isn't necessarily hogwash: at this stage in her fantastically lucrative career, money presumably isn't the driving force for Rowling and there's every chance that she does love the fans who have made her so successful.
The Pew Research Center just released the results of their most recent survey, and guess what? Twelve percent of Americans now own an e-reader. That’s double the results from the November 2010 survey. The increase stands in stark contrast to the number of tablet owners. Between January 2011 and may 2011, that figure rose from 7% to only 8%.
Before the magazine, I ran a bookstore, Clarkesworld Books, which some of you have seen me selling the remnants of at conventions. I entered that career through a love of books and a somewhat compulsive book collecting habit. A few of my friends find it ironic that I publish an online magazine, design ebooks and own a Kindle. Honestly, I don't see it. I love the stories and the format doesn't always matter to me. My collecting has taken a few turns, but there are still genuine paper books arriving in my house.
New York Times E-Book Best Sellers
These lists are an expanded version of those appearing in the July 10, 2011 print edition of the Book Review, reflecting sales for the week ending June 25, 2011.
1. SMOKIN' SEVENTEEN, by Janet Evanovich
2. THE HELP, by Kathryn Stockett
3. WATER FOR ELEPHANTS, by Sara Gruen
4. A GAME OF THRONES, by George R. R. Martin
5. SILVER GIRL, by Elin Hilderbrand
1. HEAVEN IS FOR REAL, by Todd Burpo with Lynn Vincent
2. IN THE GARDEN OF BEASTS, by Erik Larson
3. BOSSYPANTS, by Tina Fey
4. UNBROKEN, by Laura Hillenbrand
5. MY HORIZONTAL LIFE, by Chelsea Handler
