Archives: December 2009

Veteran literary agent, e-book publisher and industry blogger, Richard Curtis is not known for keeping mum on what is going right or what is wrong in the book publishing. That is why we were grateful to ask him what he foresees as happening to the book publishing industry in the next 10 Years.

Richard Curtis: What Changes Do You See for Book Publishing in the Next 10 Years?

“1. First and foremost I predict that the size and price of Espresso print on demand will come down to the point where POD kiosks will be installed in non-bookstores like supermarkets, libraries, pharmacies and the like. Which means that…

2. The grip of Barnes & Noble as the go-to bookseller will be loosened. You’ll be able to buy a book at Publix, Duane Reade, or Starbucks. You’ll have a selection of millions of titles, not just what can be packed into the shelves and tables of a brick and mortar bookstore.

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Launch a social media campaign that will build your brand and deliver results in our online Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting June 7. Speakers include Abigail Cusick (Bravo Digital), Gregory Galant (Sawhorse Media), Alex Leo (Thomson Reuters Digital), Jim Tobin (Ignite Social Media), and many more. Read the reviews.

In August, GalleyCat went Thomas Pynchon crazy, creating that video and uncovering the fact that Pynchon narrated his own book trailer.

William Morris Endeavor made headlines by telling their clients to avoid the controversial Google Books settlement. Author and Journalist Robert Novak passed away.

Sony revealed a brand-new “Daily Edition,” the company’s 3G wireless digital reader–it wouldn’t ship until Christmas. Finally, Disney acquired Marvel Entertainment in $4 billion deal that put hundreds of imaginary characters under one roof.

Welcome to GalleyCat’s annual year-end roundup of publishing headlines. It’s a chance to celebrate our good news and reflect on our bad news after a long, challenging year for the industry. Visit our Year in Review link to read all about what happened to publishing in 2009. Include your favorite headlines in the comments section…

On Bastille Day in July, author Matt Stewart published his entire novel, “The French Revolution,” on Twitter in a burst of 3,700 tweets. He later landed a book deal with Soft Skull.

At a book party, Salman Rushdie (pictured, via) told GalleyCat about his dinner with Thomas Pynchon. Amazon made headlines when they remotely deleted copies of books on Kindle e-readers.

Finally, Nancy Drew reader and federal judge Sonia Sotomayor received a 13-6 endorsement from the Senate Judiciary Committee.

GalleyCat would like to wish all our readers have a safe and happy holiday. We will be taking a break over the long weekend, but we will be back next week with Consumer Electronics Show coverage and all the news you need to survive 2010.

In the meantime, go visit our digitally obsessed sibling eBookNewser for some year-end e-reading device news. If that’s not enough, check out our collection of Best Writing Music of 2009 lists and our annual Pet Parade. And keep imprisoned Chinese author Liu Xiaobo in your thoughts over the holiday-watch a number of great writers support Xiaobo in that GalleyCat video.

Finally, include your New Year writing resolutions in the comments section. We’ll round up the responses in 2010.

Just in time for the new year, here are our readers’ most inspirational songs of the year. Click here to read part one, and don’t forget to check out this GalleyCat editor’s favorite songs.

Our Australian reader Alister McMillan contributed these thoughts: “Michael Connelly advocates restricting any writing soundtrack to instrumental music. I can see the point that singing and lyrics might distract a writer. But what about the moments when blockage, doubt and fury paralyse the word count? At those times we need to know that someone else feels as bereft and hateful. Anything by Elvis Costello will do — it’s literate yet offers the right line of spite and self-pity. I’m also a fan of You Are All My People by I’m Not Jim (pictured, via) otherwise known as novelist Jonathan Lethem and songwriter Walter Salas-Humara.”

Reader Sue Keck sent in her favorite writing songs: “‘Blues When You Need Them’ and ‘A Thousand Small Things’ by Rodney Jones can take me deeper into a character every time. ‘Surrounded’ by Laurence Elder As a friend of mine said the first time he heard the song, ‘This guy sings like wings fly.’ Lifts me above writers block everytime. ‘So Easy’ by Laurence Elder provides a steady groove for writing.”

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On this snowy New Year’s Eve morning, a team of famous PEN America members gathered on the steps of the New York Public Library to protest the 11-year sentence of Chinese writer Liu Xiaobo for the crime of subversion.

As you can see by this exclusive GalleyCat video, the list of speakers at this dramatic event included: E.L. Doctorow, Don DeLillo, A.M. Homes, and Edward Albee.

Here’s more from the release: “There are currently almost 1,000 writers on PEN’s list of writers and journalists in danger because of their work. Leading the list is Liu Xiaobo, one of China’s most prominent writers and a past president and member of the Independent Chinese PEN Center, which is doing on-the-ground PEN advocacy in China. Liu was convicted of ‘inciting subversion of state power’ for co-authoring ‘Charter 08,’ a petition calling for political and human rights reforms in China, and for seven sentences in five articles he published on the internet that are critical of Chinese authorities.”

In 2009, everybody talked about an author’s platform. Writer and journalist Melinda Blau sent in this picture of Bogey, her six pound writing partner, standing on Blau’s new book–the ultimate author platform.

Author Roberta Beach Jacobson launched the Simon Teakettle Virtual MEWSical Society, and sends this picture of its famous members: “My Jorgito and Yoda, music-loving kittens, round out the Kitten Chorus…I’m proud of their talent. (So what if they’re more famous than I am?)”

Welcome to GalleyCat’s annual literary pet parade, a publishing holiday tradition established by former senior editor Ron Hogan during his four-year tenure at this blog. For a few crazy days, GalleyCat readers and their pets rule the blog. Follow this link to read more about the annual photo spread and find out where our former senior editor is headed next.

Follow this link to see all the pet pictures. One last pet picture after the jump. If we inadvertently skipped your submission, email GalleyCat and we’ll run the photo.

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June 2009 began with that special GalleyCat video of Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison defending books against censorship at an intimate Free Speech Leadership Council event.

In sad news, Ann Arbor’s Shaman Drum Bookshop closed in June. Chris Anderson’s admitted to lifting Wikipedia passages in his book, “Free: The Future of a Radical Price.”

In lighter news, two college kids scored a book deal for “Twitterature.” Finally, we looked at books by the late, great Michael Jackson.

Welcome to GalleyCat’s annual year-end roundup of publishing headlines. It’s a chance to celebrate our good news and reflect on our bad news after a long, challenging year for the industry. Visit our Year in Review link to read all about what happened to publishing in 2009. Include your favorite headlines in the comments section…

Many years ago physicist Erwin Schrodinger introduced the hypothetical physics problem of a cat in a dangerous box. GalleyCat reader Kristen Britain (author of the Green Rider series) sent us the first ever picture of Schrodinger’s Amazon Box: “Attached is a photo of my late Maine Coon kitten, Earl Grey, working very hard as a manuscript cozy (manuscript for book 3 is in the box–not an advertisement for Amazon or anything). He was a rescue and the sweetest kitty I’ve ever known.”

Next, reader M. David Hornbuckle (a writer at large for mediabistro’s Avant Guild and author of The Salvation of Billy Wayne Carter & Other Stories sent this picture of his indispensable writing companion, Frankie.

Welcome to GalleyCat’s annual literary pet parade, a publishing holiday tradition established by former senior editor Ron Hogan during his four-year tenure at this blog. For a few crazy days, GalleyCat readers and their pets rule the blog. Follow this link to read more about the annual photo spread and find out where our former senior editor is headed next.

One more photo after the jump!

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In May’s biggest headline, a blogger spotted similarities between one paragraph of NY Times columnist and author Maureen Dowd‘s weekend column and a post by Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo. Dowd corrected the mistake, and no disciplinary action was taken.

Novelist John Wray unveiled his tattoo of book reviewer Michiko Kakutani at a reading. GalleyCat went to Puerto Rico with the Hunter S. Thompson Travel Agency.

The literary blogosphere buzzed about a sequel to J.D. Salinger‘s famous novel, “The Catcher in the Rye,” but GalleyCat had some doubts. Finally, Alice Munro (pictured, via) won the £60,000 Man Booker International Prize.

Welcome to GalleyCat’s annual year-end roundup of publishing headlines. It’s a chance to celebrate our good news and reflect on our bad news after a long, challenging year for the industry. Visit our Year in Review link to read all about what happened to publishing in 2009. Include your favorite headlines in the comments section…