By Erin L. Cox Last weekend, the Los Angeles Times put on their annual Book Festival on the campus of UCLA. Always a great collection of writers and readers, this year’s Festival did not disappoint. For coverage, you can check out C-SPAN, which broadcast live from the Festival. Or, via Twitter at #LATFOB Two panels really stood out for me because …
The A$20,000 Typo…Would You Pay For It? I wouldn’t.
By Erin L. Cox As reported in the The Sydney Morning Herald last week, Penguin Group Australia had to reprint 7,000 copies of their book Pasta Bible because of a typo that called for “fresh ground black people” instead of “pepper.” Bob Sessions, the head of publishing for Penguin Group Australia, said that the mistake will cost them A$20,000 to reprint the …
The New Yorker’s Ken Auletta on iPad v. Kindle
By Erin L. Cox In this week’s issue of The New Yorker, Media Reporter Ken Auletta reports on the digital publishing questions, such as publisher and bookseller opinions on the agency model, windowing, branding to readers instead of bookstores, whether Apple will be a better partner to publishers than Amazon, and featuring some of the usual suspects in digital publishing …
Report from the Virginia Festival of the Book
By Erin L. Cox This weekend, I’ve traveled down to Charlottesville, Virginia for their annual literary festival, The Virginia Festival of the Book. It seems only natural for Charlottesville to host a literary festival since it was the home to many great writers, including Edgar Allan Poe and William Faulkner. I am here to speak on a panel called “Agents …
Sorry Hilary, I’m voting for The Little Stranger
By Erin L. Cox If you missed it, The Independent just announced the Orange Prize shortlist. Among the books where Hilary Mantel’s Booker Prize-winning WOLF HALL and one of my favorite books from 2009, Sarah Waters’ brilliant THE LITTLE STRANGER. Read the article above for more information. The winner will be announced on June 9th.
Who Writes History? Tone of Textbooks Changed in Texas
By Erin L. Cox I believe it was Winston Churchill who said, “History is written by the victors.” And, that phrase could not be truer when examining today’s decision by the Texas Board of Education to change social studies curriculum standards. The vote came down 11-4 in favor of changing the guidelines for history, economic, and government textbooks to reflect a conservative …
Bestselling writer, Simon Winchester, starts small-town paper
By Erin L. Cox In the hamlets of America and even in big cities, the print news industry is declining. While book publishers are finding a way to work with the eBook industry, the threat of blog-news and 24-hour news cycle is hurting print editions of major newspapers and closing papers in small towns and hamlets around the country. But, …
Are Book Tours Worth the Money and Effort?
By Erin L. Cox Today, on The Los Angeles Times book publishing blog, “Jacket Copy,” they published a story called “Book Tour? More Like a Safari” about the joint book-tour of authors and couple, Bill Cotter and Annie La Ganga. While their respective publishers chose not to pay for a formal author tour, the two took to the road and traveled …