Today’s links of interest: Random House Cedes Some E-Rights to Styron ClanIn the first major decision of what will be a long battle, Open Road Media gets digital rights to works by William Styron. The real challenge ahead? Traditional publishers proving their worth to authors whose contracts don’t explicitly give digital rights to their current publishers. Or, want to keep the author? Cough up better terms. Yeah, I Carry My iPad in a Purse? Wanna Make Something Out of It?Richard Curtis focuses on the key topic of the day: unicorn scabbards. Book Expo America 2024: Reading Lives!Ah, predicting the future. […]

Today’s links of interest: Big ‘Tinkers’ Shipment Rolling Next WeekHoping demand for Tinkers meets supply of 100,000 units. That would be awesome. Book was happily available for Kindle users — why not ready ready in EPUB for others?

Today’s links of interest: Books as Weather: Or, Help Me OutGenius. Also, useful. ‘Who I Am’: Poetry Not Wasted On The Young : NPRIt’s National Poetry Month, and we were thrilled to hear this NPR story. Yay for Sourcebooks! A New Source for eReader Data Says 5 Million eReaders Shipped in 2009Entity that tracks display screens for ereaders (and you thought you were specialized!) indicates a large number of readers shipped in 2009 (as opposed to sold). Kindle shipments estimated at 3.3 million. (PubLunch, membership required)

Today’s links of interest: Apple approves Pulitzer winner’s iPhone app; cartoonist now free to mock the powerful on cell phonesAh caprice…we love you so. Writers: Making a Living Off of Kindle?Author J.A. Konrath talks numbers and specifics in this Galleycat interview. While his approach may not work for everyone, he is doing quite well by anyone’s standards. Danielle Steel’s embezzling former assistant will go to jailJustice. Served. And all that. iPad vs. Kindle: Who’s the better e-Reader?Interesting test, with conclusive answer: it depends.

Today’s links of interest: Rethinking the Marketing Mix: Metadata as Marketing PriorityGreat piece by Laura Dawson looking at the various types of book marketing efforts and how good metadata contributes to the process. Amazon Sues North Carolina over Demand for Customer RecordsStates, with budgets strapped and more, will be pushing harder and harder for this type of information. Good on Amazon. Press Release: Macmillan Joins EdelweissVery cool news. Have heard nothing but kudos for Edelweiss. Our new partners: Barnes Noble ReviewSalon continues to enter into partnerships, adding Barnes Noble Review as a supplement to their regular book reviews. Also, BN

Today’s links of interest: Planes, Trains, Automobiles, and Boats, or, How I Got to the London Book FairOur friend Peter Ginna gets his inner Phileas Fogg on. McSweeney’s Explains Its Salon.com AgreementLess cash (no cash?), more exposure. Payment ModelsJoe Wikert reconsiders micropayments in the era of the iPad.

Today’s links of interest: Amazon Says Agency Model eBooks Are Subject to State Sales TaxSeriously, our unintended consequences file is bulging. This goes into the sub-folder no surprises here. Chris Anderson of emWired/em Calls Richard Nash a GeniusThere’ll be no living with the man now! Zondervan Lays Off 30Wish Zondervan had left the religion out of its announcement. It’s a business decision, pure and simple, and people are losing their jobs.

Today’s links of interest: Israel Bans iPadsHeadline overstates problem. U.S. iPads only. Oh. Right. Our new partnership with McSweeney’sNifty. McSweeney’s and Salon, working together. Word of mouth helped propel Mass. novelist to PulitzerNot to disagree with our friend Michael Coffey, but the success of Tinkers is a classic example of social media, albeit the old fashioned kind (with a whole lot of online pushing going on, too!).

Today’s links of interest: What Apple needs to learn about selling booksAt Salon, Laura Miller picks up on one of the issues we identified with the iBooks store: discovery is a challenge, and bad (or missing) metadata ain’t helping. If Apple is serious about being a contender in the world of ebooks (who knows?), then it needs to get the basics right. What social media meansA look at how content producers can be short-sighted about new modes of communication: In this medium, best practices emanate from, well, practice. Upcoming ‘Twlight’ eBook More Expensive Than HardcoverSigh. That is all.