By Chad W. Post Speaking at both Tools of Change and the International Digital Rights Symposium, John Oakes of the newly launched OR Books elucidated his business model. Compared to traditional publishing structures, its simplicity is quite revolutionary. Launching last fall, OR Books has a few specific strategies: it offers its authors relatively low advances (and high royalties), edits the …
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TOC Frankfurt Preview: Douglas Rushkoff on Upstart Publishing, Staying Human in a Digital World
• In advance of his keynote speech at today’s Tools of Change Frankfurt conference, Douglass Rushkoff discusses his new book Program or Be Programmed and the advantages of working with a small, digital publisher instead of a traditional corporate one. • “People accept the tools and interfaces that they’re presented with as if they were pre-existing conditions of the universe,” says …
Building a Case for Translations, Part 2: “It’s Not The Elegance of the Hedgehog“
• Last Friday, Chad Post argued for the need to prioritize how to increase readership of translated fiction instead of worrying first about how to pay production costs, in turn shifting the focus from production to marketing and sales. • Today, he explains how the rare blockbuster bestselling translation is a mixed blessing, and why there’s still a reason to …
Building an Audience (and a Case) for Translations
• The commonly accepted wisdom in the United States says that translations cost more to produce, and that they don’t sell well. • Chad Post argues that publishers should focus on finding and developing readers for international literature rather than on fixing supply-side factors like translation costs. Editorial by Chad Post “What we need is a great translated beach book. …
Open Letter, the Elizabeth Kostova Foundation, and Bulgarian Literature
By Chad Post Admittedly, this is a bit self-promotional, but I do think it’s an interesting news story of how one particular foundation is helping to promote a particular country’s literature. As announced in this press release, the Elizabeth Kostova Foundation is partnering with Open Letter Books to launch two contests to benefit contemporary Bulgarian authors and translators. The first …
Is Entrepreneurship the Future of Argentinean Publishing?
By Chad Post In our lead story today, Octavio Kulesz writes about the Argentinean book market and the reasons why digitization has been slow to reach this market. “Let’s first think of the typical family business, run by a senior publisher who is helped by his sons and even by his grandsons. Who will be able to talk the old …
Chad Post on Amazon’s Grant Program
By Chad Post, Guest Editor First off, I want to thank Ed Nawotka for allowing me to guest edit Publishing Perspectives this week. This is a real honor, and it’s great that he did the most of the work for which I’ll hopefully get a lot of the credit. (Although the “e-books in Argentina” piece appearing tomorrow is totally my …
Want More Rights Deals and Translations? Try Taking Editors and Publishers Overseas
By Chad Post TURIN: “Let me tell you something: the U.S. market is closed to Italian books,” said Italian literary agent Marco Vigevani on a panel about translation at the Turin International Book Fair last month. “It may sound crazy,” he continued, “but I want you to face the facts. Yes, it used to be different. There were editors like …
PEN World Voices as Change Agent
By Chad W. Post It was almost seven years ago when I met then PEN executive director Michael Roberts and translator extraordinaire Esther Allen for drinks at the Washington Square Hotel to talk about this new festival they wanted to launch in support of international literature. The Berlin International Literature Festival was going to be their model . . . …
Los Angeles Adds Glam to Guadalajara
By Chad W. Post Since launching the Guest of Honor program at the Guadalajara International Book Fair (FIL) in 1993, Guests of Honor at have included Colombia, Chile, Puerto Rico, Peru, Catalonia, Brazil, Italy, Quebec, and even New Mexico, but 2009 marks the first time that a city has been awarded this honor. This year’s fair, which runs from November …