By Edward Nawotka Literary scouts, as discussed in today’s feature article by Emily Williams, like much of those in the publishing industry, work in mysterious ways. For them, as well as for agents, editors, and almost anyone else in the publishing chain, getting the earliest possible read on a book—whether as a proposal or manuscript—is a key part of becoming …
What’s the Buzz: Germany’s Publishing Widows; Why Asian Crime Isn’t Popular; Larsson’s Partner offered $3 Million
By Siobhan O’Leary and Edward Nawotka Though most of Germany’s largest media companies were founded by men, the tagespiegel points out how many of these companies have since been taken over by the younger wives of said founders. Instead of “publishers”, they are “publishers’ widows”, though they wield as much power as their husbands did. Friede Springer (Axel Springer Verlag) …
Global Trade Talk: Is the Nobel too Eurocentric?; America Gets Film of Dragon Tattoo
By Edward Nawotka Peter Englund, the new permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy told the Associated Press that the Nobel Prize is too “Eurocentric,” noting that Europeans have won nine out of the last ten awards. The comments come just two days before the announcement, which is expected tomorrow. Could this bode well for Amoz Oz, the frontrunner? After all, …
Top US/UK Trade Talk: HarperCollins, S&S Profits Plunge
By Edward Nawotka Scary…HarperCollins, saw “profits at the worldwide business collapsed from $160m to $17m,” according to The Bookseller — nearly a 90% drop. Blame was laid on the collapse of distributors Anderson News in the US and Entertainment UK and Woolworths in the UK. Results for the UK publishing division were not broken out of the results, but in …
German Buch News: Call for Book Ratings, Mobile Manga
By Siobhan O’Leary As first reported in Der Spiegel, SPD (Social Democratic Party) politician Sebastian Edathy is calling for the formation of a voluntary rating system for the book trade, similar to what exists in the film industry, to identify writings that glorify Nazism or right-wing extremist titles and prevent them from being disseminated, reported Borsenblatt. BuchMarkt follows up on …