The Daily Square – Who Loves the Sun Edition
Todays links of interest: Everything You Thought You Knew About Romance Novels, and Why It’s WrongCandy Tan responds to Megan Daum’s ill-informed analysis of the romance genre.
The Daily Square – Horse Guitar Edition
Todays links of interest: Google Book Search settlement gives Google a virtual monopoly over literatureFile under: be careful what you ask for. Cory Doctorow on the Google Book Search and the missteps of the publishing business. The Zune for e-book reading—plus a few words on Microsoft Reader as the wrong fashion statementNote: it’s possible to do an entire article about the Zune with really mentioning the Zune. Who knew? David Rothman enters a plea to Microsoft, should the Zune reader rumors come to fruition. Barney Rosset, Courting Literary ControversyNice review of Barney Rosset and Grove — and a reminder that
The Daily Square – Poet Edition
Todays links of interest: The Reality of a Times BestsellerLynn Viehl discusses how she made the NYT bestseller list (with actual numbers and everything!). YouTube Creates Channel for Movies, TV ShowsAs expected, YouTube announces deals with studios. Some have called this a challenge to Hulu; color us not so sure! Announcing the 2009 Indies Choice Book Award Winners!Cool — gotta love a game that includes best conversation starter.
The Daily Square – Tumba Le Le Edition
Todays links of interest: Bloomsbury sparks row on cover pricesBloomsbury says no big deal while booksellers are wait a minute! Borders to Overhaul Board, Enhance Book ClubsAh Borders, it’s still bumpy, isn’t it? Denise Roy to PlumeDenise Roy has moved to Plume, a Penguin imprint, as senior editor.
The Daily Square – End of Miles Edition
Todays links of interest: First Self-Publishing Book Expo PlannedAh, the red-headed stepchild of publishing is revealing itself to be a different kind of publishing force. This is a great step forward. Amazonfail: A straight white male publisher on glitches and ham-fisted errorsRichard Nash takes a different approach with Amazonfail: yes things happen, but why do they always seem to happen to one group? Nicely done. The Failure of #amazonfailClay Shirky takes a look at the initial response to Amazonfail (including his own) and how some of the failure falls on the shoulders of participants. Thoughtful. His points about the real
Amazonfail: Post-Mortem
Days later, Amazon has maintained corporate silence on the issue of mistakenly flagging certain books as “adult”, a designation that serves to delist a product (not just books) from sales rankings, making it difficult to find them — unless you know how to look — in the Amazon catalog. While it might represent a blip in overall Amazon business, this error had real-life impact on authors and publishers. Imagine for a moment being the author whose newly released title was impacted by this error. You don’t get a do-over. Right now, the episode known as “Amazonfail” remains a trending topic
The Daily Square – I Almost Killed You Edition
Todays links of interest: Judith Krug, founder of Banned Books Week, diesSad news indeed. Baker Taylor Signs with LibreDigital for E-Books, Starts Digital Media Services GroupLikely a long time coming, finally happened. Don’t Jump To Conclusions About Amazon HomophobiaThe real issue is the glitch covered such a wide range of books with only a few specific themes in common.
Open Letter to Amazon Regarding Recent Policy Changes
Dear Amazon, (See updates at the end of the post, including link to official response from Amazon.) Happy Easter (or if it’s Monday morning, happy belated Easter!). It seems the Easter Bunny, while hopping down the bunny trail, left some rotten eggs all over the Amazon site while we were sleeping. Suddenly, many books lost their sales ranking and levels of searchability on the Amazon site. Somehow, the brain trust of your company has decided to protect the “entire” Amazon customer base by restricting access to content that someone (who?) decided was offensive. In your zeal to protect me from
The Daily Square – One Potato Edition
Todays links of interest: Little Miss Crabby Pants Gets SnottyThe Super Librarian responds to the recent Los Angeles Times article. Even though she’s crabby, it’s far nicer than we’d be. The Book Studio | Exclusive interviews with today’s best authorsThe Book Studio, formerly Author, Author, roars back to life will lots of coolness. Congratulations to Bethanne Patrick and team! Meghan McCain’s Book Sold to Hyperion For High Six FiguresSo far, have not been impressed with McCain’s writing talent nor ability to consider issues deeply. Obviously Hyperion thinks others will be.
The Daily Square – Something I Dreamed Last Night Edition
Todays links of interest: Spreadsheet Story Downloaded 10,000 TimesHow cool is this for David Nygren? The Written Nerd: Talking about e-readers with smart booksellersMore from the ongoing conversation among booksellers and digital arcs. Reading the diverse opinions is really interesting. Another New E-Book Platform? Please, No, Stop It!Amen.