At least 30 projects were submitted as part of the Publishing Hackathon over the weekend, viewable here. Contestant Eric Hellman reports that the six finalists are: BookCity (suggests books to match places you visit) Captiv (turns your Tweets into book recommendations) Coverlist (shows 100 curated jackets; hover over an image to see a related recommendation) Evoke (connects books for teens based on the emotional connection to characters — classifying reading experiences as “inspired, challenged, amused, or informed”) KooBrowser (browser plugin that matches book recommendations to web pages you visit) Library Atlas (app that sends you book quotes based on your […]
Direct publishing
eNews: PBS MediaShift to Publish eBooks; Progress Reports from Boston Globe, Minneapolis Star-Tribune
PBS MediaShift has launched a new line of ebooks with How to Self-Publish Your Book and Your Guide to Cutting the Cord to Cable TV, priced at $3.99 and $2.99, respectively and only available for Kindle and the iBookstore for now (though Nook will follow in due course.) Executive director Mark Glaser told paidContent that MediaShift intends to release 10 to 20 ebooks this year, depending on sales of the launch titles. “This is a test for us and PBS, so we will learn as we go and adjust prices, length, subject matter and more.” Last Friday Poynter looked at the ongoing ebook […]
Awards and More
Benjamin Alire Saenz, 58, became the first Latino writer to win the PEN/Faulkner Fiction Prize on Saturday, for EVERYTHING BEGINS AND ENDS AT THE KENTUCKY CLUB. Published by Cinco Puntos, it’s a collection of seven loosely linked stories. After putting Charlie Lovett‘s forthcoming THE BOOKMAN’S TALE: A Novel of Obsession on their Best Books of May list last week, now Barnes & Noble has made the book their latest B&N Recommends selection. HCI’s former licensing and subsidiary rights director Christian Blonshine has been named executive vice president. Brenda Knight has moved up to publisher of both Cleis Press and Viva […]
RH Changes Contract Terms for Digital Imprints In Response to Controversy
Random House announced changes to the contract terms for their start-up digital imprints Hydra, Alibi, Flirt, and Loveswept on Tuesday morning, following pointed criticism from the Science Fiction Writers of America, the Horror Writers of America and other author group representatives. The company is adjusting the charges made under their profit-sharing contract model, and also offering authors a separate, more traditional advance-plus-royalty contract model. The advance-plus-royalty model follows a traditional contract model: Random House’s “standard ebook royalty of 25 percent of net receipts” along with an agreed-upon advance, with the imprints covering all production, shipping, and marketing costs. In the […]
Direct Publishing: Random Defends Hydra; McGuire Mystery Solved; Lulu Pairs with ASI
Laments over the contractual terms offered by Random House’s digital-only imprint Hydra escalated to Boing Boing, naturally, as Random House digital publishing director Allison Dobson e-mailed the SWFA Wednesday afternoon and invited them to meet with her to discuss their concerns. “While we respect your position, you’ll not be surprised to learn that we strongly disagree with it, and wish you had contacted us before you published your posts,” Dobson writes. She explains: “Hydra offers a different– but potentially lucrative–publishing model for authors: a profit share…. As with every business partnership, there are specific costs associated with bringing a book successfully […]
Stephen King Rides Another eBook Bullet; Trident Media Offers eBook Services to Other Agents; Rosetta Celebrates Growth Year
Stephen King has published a new personal essay, “Guns”, exclusively through the Kindle Store, as a 99 cent ebook. (The listed publisher is King’s Philtrum Press.) “I think the issue of an America awash in guns is one every citizen has to think about,” said King in the announcement. “If this helps provoke constructive debate, I’ve done my job. Once I finished writing ‘Guns’ I wanted it published quickly, and Kindle Singles provided an excellent fit.” Kindle Singles editor David Blum said King finished the essay “last Friday morning, and by that night we had accepted it and scheduled for […]