By Rebecca Chace I didn’t know anything about writing screenplays, but the novel first appeared in my head as a movie. At the time I was a working actor who had grown up in a family of New York writers and didn’t think of myself as a writer. Don’t get me wrong, I wrote constantly: backstage between scenes, in trailers …
Your Book as a Database (Part 2)
By Chris Kubica Yesterday, in Your Book as a Database: A Primer, we laid the foundation for thinking of books as relational databases. Today, I want to expand that to demonstrate how you can rate a single book to the larger ecosystem of books and reading. Books, readers and their libraries Have a look at another book-as-database diagram with some …
Apple Officially Unveils iPhone 4
By Hannah Johnson Even though we’ve seen the new iPhone ever since some guy from Apple accidentally left a prototype in a bar, Steve Jobs officially unveiled the new iPhone 4 today. So what is new about the iPhone 4? Design: This new iPhone is slimmer than the previous model, with glass on the front and back, and stainless steel …
Four Big Ideas from Futurist, Publishing Prof Paul Saffo
This article appeared in our print edition for BookExpo America 2010. You can read the original here. By Edward Nawotka Futurist and Stanford University professor Paul Saffo will be lecturing at the newly re-christened Yale Publishing Course being held July 18-23 in New Haven. As a long-time industry observer, he notes four things publishers can do now to improve their …
How to Spell “website” and Other Social Media Style Rules
By Hannah Johnson The 2010 AP Stylebook is available today in print, and you might actually want to rush out and buy yourself a copy because there are some pretty interesting new “styles” in there. Mashable reported today that the AP Stylebook has been updated with 42 new rules about proper usage and spelling of technology and social media terms. …
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 …
Free Book Giveaway: One More Story by Ingo Schulze
By Helen Gregg This month, the German Book Office NY is giving away 10 copies of our Book of the Month, One More Story by Ingo Schulze, a collection of short stories. New Year’s Eve 1999, Berlin. At a party to kick off the twenty-first century, Frank Reichert meets Julia, his lost love. Since their separation in the fall of …
Teenage Thumb Tribes: Why Cell Phone Novels are Part of Publishing’s Future
This article appeared in our print edition for BookExpo America 2010. You can read the original here. By Jacob Lewis When I was seventeen, after reading Portnoy’s Complaint, I send an adoring note to Philip Roth. It was a revelatory book for me, and I wanted to tell him how drawn I was to it. He never responded. I met …
Must-watch Video: Librarian Interpretation of Lady Gaga
By Hannah Johnson If you have ever wondered what Lady Gaga would be like if she were a librarian, be sure to watch this video below. It was made by students and faculty at the University of Washington’s Information School. My favorite part is when they sing “can use my / can use my / can use my catalog”. httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_uzUh1VT98
Novelist, Psychologist Shira Nayman on Sharing the Burden of Memory
Earlier this year, writer and clinical psychologist Shira Nayman published her powerful novel, The Listener. Set two years after the end of World War II in an American psychiatric hospital, the story focuses on the relationship between the chief psychiatrist and a troubled patient who is suffering from severe Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder following his return from the front lines. As the story unfolds, Nayman shares …