The Book Review sections of all major newspapers are under intense pressure these days.The National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) campaign to Save the Book Review is a noble effort and one I fully support but the problem is not in saving the Book Review sections it is about reinventing them.It is about widening the scope of their missions. The book landscape has changes dramatically in the last 10 years while the book review sections, for the most part, have barely moved.It is about serving all the different types of book lovers that exist in our communities not simply covering newly...
A Novel Way For a Writer to Get Paid
The government of Ireland has hatched a plan that will pay authors a royalty for their books that are checked out at the local library.Here is how it works:"authors will be conferred with an exclusive right to allow the lending of their works in public libraries...in return the authors would receive a royalty payment for the lending of their work."The program will be publicly funded and will not cost the library user anything.I have often thought that this arrangement should also apply in the used book market.There is no reason an author shouldn't be compensated for a sale of a...
The Reader/Collector Syndrome
This week the auction of the library of Frank Streeter at Christie's reeled in over $16 million.This weekend there are three different book fairs for non-new books taking place in New York including the New York Antiquarian Book Fair were you will find many of the best collectible books available for sale in the world.This is strong evidence of the staying power of the book and a confirmation of its value to our culture or should I say a segment of our culture.Sam Jordison's piece for the Gaurdian "What are first editions worth? There's is plenty of money to be...
Signs of Hope For the Book and the Trade
Word comes via Scott Brown at Fine Books blog that the hole left in the antiquarian book world by the announced closure of Heritage Book Shop will be partially filled by "LA businessman, philanthropist, and bibliophile" Michael Sharpe. The new venture Michael Sharpe Rare and Antiquarian Books will employ former Heritage staffers (the story was leaked to Brown by one of the former Heritage employees who will be involved in this new entity) and carry a $10 million inventory. The shop will be open to the public and will reside in an historic Craftsman home.The inventory will be consist largely...
"Digitize or Die? What is the Future of the Author"
That's the title of a seminar that took place yesterday at the London Book Fair.Tania Kindersley has the recap over at the Guardian. Her aptly titled story "The Death of the Book, Again" conveys the almost monotonous battle of print vs. digital that has been hovering over the book industry for years. As Kindersley says "It is an immutable law that the Death of the Book must be debated at least once a year". Actually once a year would be refreshing. The drone seems constant nowadays."The old pro-book arguments are so rehearsed as to fade almost to background noise".Feeding off...