Martha Scotford has a fantastic piece over at Design Observer titled Ulysses: Fast Track to 1934 Best Seller that looks at the publication and design history of this hi-spot of 20th literature.The piece highlights Bennett Cerf's, then publisher at Random House, commitment to the book and the legal challenges he faced in getting it published. It also focuses on the brilliant book design by Ernest Reichl, who Scotford calls "a ‘whole book’ designer, believing in the harmonious totality of the package and the value of one design vision for all its parts."Here are a few nuggets:- First published in Paris...
Is the E-Reader Price War Next?
The way the current online price war between Wal-Mart, Amazon, Sears and Target is shaping up there is a chance one of them might be paying me to read one of their featured books by Christmas.It started as a shot off the bow by Wal-Mart to wake up the populace to their online life. Pre-order the top upcoming releases for $10 and free shipping but before you could click the buy button Amazon joined the party and matched the deal. Soon after Target joined the fray. Now less than a week later the price sits at $8.98 at Walmart, $8.99...
Book in a Day
Beginning tomorrow morning a group of writers will collaborate on writing a book about London. They will have one day to write it!The entire book will be written online using Google Documents. They're calling it the 24hrBook Project and it is being sponsored by the folks at if:book, The Society of Young Publishers and CompletelyNovel.com.When the day ends a group of editors and publishers will swarm in to get the book into shape and ready for publication.In addition to the book being available to read online Completelynovel.com will have it ready to be printed on demand beginning Monday.An interesting idea...
Publisher issues tissues with tearjerker
When a critic said of Nicole C. Vosseler's, “Unter dem Safranmond” (Under the Saffron Moon) that it was an "entertaining love story that especially appeals to female readers moving them to tears," the marketing bells went off at the German publisher Lubbe.The publisher hired the Munich marketing firm ServicePlan who created a tissue box that mirrors the hardback. Same cloth, same visuals. The publisher produced 5,000 tissue books to offer with the novel. And, if you need more, the tissues are pre-printed with quotes from the book!The concept has earned two major design awards including the bronze lion at the...
Osama Bin Laden’s Book Club: 3 Must Reads for America
The latest purported communique from Osama Bin Laden,“An Address to the American People,” includes mention of 3 books that Bin Laden feels will help us Americans better understand his plight.The three titles are:The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy" by Stephen M. WaltPalestine: Peace Not Apartheid by former President Jimmy CarterThe Apology of a Hired Killer - a book that doesn't exist though one analyst suggests he was referring to Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John PerkinsHmm, here we are 8 years out from 9/11 and Bin Laden decides to talk books. Something is just not right about...