Publishing

Today the NY Times reported a digital reading milestone for one bookseller's upcoming device: "Barnes & Noble says customers ordering a Nook will receive their devices the week of Jan. 4. So that stockings are not left completely empty, the bookseller will furnish buyers with a special holiday certificate."

GalleyCat has been tracking the stock performance of the major companies that influence the bookselling business. We created this chart with eight publicly-traded publishing stocks hand-picked by our readers--including company name, symbol, current stock price, and price increase or decrease at week's close.

-Name- -Symbol- -Last price- -Change-
The McGraw-Hill Co.. MHP 30.99 -0.74
Books-A-Million, Inc. BAMM 7.41 -0.14
Borders Group, Inc. BGP 1.94 0.02
Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN 129.66 0.67
Barnes & Noble, Inc. BKS 22.3 -0.01
Wiley John & Sons Inc. JW.A 37.26 -0.06
Scholastic Corporation SCHL 26.4 -0.17
News Corporation NWS 14.13 -0.59
Google Inc. GOOG 569.94 -3.05
Apple Inc. AAPL 199.92 -0.59
Sony Corporation SNE 26.8 -0.18

Friday starts out right, with three new publishing jobs posted. Like a hardboiled gumshoe, GalleyCat has been investigating publishing work on the mediabistro.com job boards. If you have any job leads, email GalleyCat to get them posted.

For your resume-making pleasure, here are the new postings. First up, Harlequin is looking for an Editorial Assistant. Next, an established media company needs a Writer.

Finally, Penguin Group (USA) seeks an http://www.mediabistro.com/joblistings/jobview.asp?joid=93948&c=mbeajob
Executive Assistant to the SVP PR. Here's more about the position: "Working closely with SVP in dealing with high profile authors, agents, media, and corporate executives. Writing and drafting correspondence with authors, agents, media, publishers, and other internal departments. Supporting SVP on national media campaigns for high profile authors and celebrities.

Here are some publishing odds and ends for your mid-afternoon reading pleasure.

"Bookshelves are kind of a mosaic," explains journalist and popular Twitter scribe Susan Orlean as she shows off her bookshelf in Stacked Up. "I have a little bit of a system that starts with the absurd and moves towards something a little bit grander."

Sarah Palin's book tour stop brings Oprah Winfrey her highest ratings in two years.

Writing industry watchdog Victoria Strauss compares self-publishing options from West Bow Press and Harlequin Horizons.

What would happen if James Joyce and Jane Austen wrote comic strips?

The NY Times weighs a "conflict of interest question" at the National Book Awards.

Tuesday dawned with publishers posting four new jobs. Like a hardboiled gumshoe, GalleyCat has been investigating publishing work on the mediabistro.com job boards. For your resume-making pleasure, here are the new postings.

HarperCollins Publishers is looking for a Human Resources Manager and a Marketing Director. Scholastic needs a Sr Manager Technology Marketing Operations and HarperCollins Publishers is looking for.

Finally, Palgrave Macmillan seeks an Editor. Here's more about the job: "Acquire and edit 15-20 new titles per year; writing launch sheets, tip sheets, catalog copy, jacket copy and audio presentations; [and] Coordination and collaboration with production, sales, marketing, publicity and other departments."

The Writers' Union of Canada has emerged as the first international critic of the Google Books settlement filed with a federal judge last Friday--suggesting that libraries should pay licensing fees to connect to the collection of scanned books.

The union's chair Erna Paris wrote a letter to their membership, criticizing the way libraries and orphan works are handled in the settlement. Here's a quote: "Public libraries and non-profit higher educational institutions should pay a licensing fee to have terminals available for public access, even if they choose to provide free access to their library patrons on such terminals ... These library patrons will have to pay for each page that they print out from such a terminal, but the lack of access fees for their institution could create expectations in Canada that would erode copyright protections here."

Under the terms of the revised settlement, only books from United States, Britain, Australia or Canada can be included in Google's efforts to digitize millions of books. The new version would feature an "independent fiduciary" who will decide how Google can handle orphan works-- books where the original copyright holder cannot be determined. This week a federal judge is expected to set up a fairness hearing about the settlement. (Via Publishers Weekly)

As the publishing world heads home for the weekend, here are some publishing news briefs for your reading pleasure.

Nicknamed "a sort of YouTube for publishing," Scribd has scored a spot on Business Week's "The World's Most Intriguing Companies" list. Also intriguing: to date, they've raised $12.8 million in funding.

Cultural critic Mark Dery proves that 2012 is not the end of the world: "Much of the 2012 shtick is a light-fingered (if leaden-humored) rip-off of the late rave-culture philosopher Terence McKenna's stand-up routine, without McKenna's prodigious erudition, effortless eloquence, or arch wit"

In a rare public appearance, "Twilight" novelist Stephenie Meyer told Oprah Winfrey more about how she wrote her blockbuster vampire series: ""I didn't think of it [as a book]. I did the dream. And then I wanted to see what would happen with them. It was just me spending time with this fantasy world, and then when it was finished it was like, 'This is long enough to be a book!'

Finally, find out why Salman Rushdie's essay for Granta was rejected and recently re-accepted.

There's nothing better than waking up to find four new publishing jobs. Like a hardboiled gumshoe, GalleyCat has been investigating publishing work on the mediabistro.com job boards. For your resume-making pleasure, here are the new postings.

First of all, an unnamed media company "run by best-selling author and television journalist" is looking for a Writer/Researcher. Next, the Franklin Report needs a Sales Associate. In addition, a mid-sized media firm is looking for a Assistant to the CEO.

Finally, Scholastic seeks a Web Producer. Here's more about the job: "Produce and maintain web content, pages and sites for scholastic intranet and scholastic.com. Serve as technical resource to corporate communications team in planning and executing web strategies. Serve as technical resource to business clients in planning and developing new content, sites and web-based communications."

Building Twitter lists is like tumbling down a Lewis Carroll rabbit hole: bumpy, seemingly bottomless, but ultimately, enlightening.

In an ongoing effort to make the GalleyCat Twitter feed more user friendly, we are building a few fancy new Twitter lists that will break the hundreds of publishing posts we read every day into curated, easy reading collections. The archiving process is taking longer than we anticipated, but here are the first lists. They are not comprehensive, but they will be--with your help. Send @GalleyCat a message to add your favorite feed to the appropriate list.

For a look at publishing's future, check out the Best Digital Book Twitter Feeds. For a look at publishing's socially-networked present, check out the Best Publisher Twitter Feeds. For an inside look at book deals, check out the Best Agent Twitter Feeds. Finally, check out the collected Twitter wisdom of the speakers at the upcoming mediabistro.com eBook Summit.

Tune in tomorrow for the Best Book Publicity Feeds, the Best Writing Advice Twitter Feeds, the Best Publishing News Twitter Feeds, and the Best Author Twitter Feeds.

As President Barack Obama delivers his Veterans Day address, GalleyCat would like to remember the soldiers currently serving abroad--reminding authors and publishers they can support our troops through a special literary supply chain.

Recently we interviewed Paul Malmont, novelist and founder of Operation Warrior Library on the Morning Media Menu. Malmont (pictured, via James M. Graham) explained how he used literary connections to send 2,000 books to soldiers. In addition, Twitter users are using the hashtag #vetbooks to celebrate nonfiction books about military lives.

Here's an excerpt from the interview: "We got a call from the Colonel's wife, and she told us that audiobooks were really what was needed right now. When somebody gets injured on the battlefield, they get shipped right to a medical center and then evacuated right that day to a big hospital in Germany. They can't bring anything with them...There's nothing for them to do, once they are in the hospital while they are rehabilitating."

As the middle of the week nears, three new publishing jobs have surfaced. Like a hardboiled gumshoe, GalleyCat has been investigating publishing work on the mediabistro.com job boards. For your resume-making pleasure, here are the new postings. If you have any job-related tips, feel free to email us.

First up, ABRAMS seeks a Publicist. Next, a Established Publishing Company is looking for an Internet Project Manager.

Finally, W. W. Norton & Company, Norton Professional Books needs an Associate Managing Editor. Here's more about the job: "[This editor] manages approximately 12 to 15 books a season throughout through the production process, from manuscript approval through copyediting, jacket design, page proofs, indexing, and publication. Duties include hiring and overseeing freelance copy editors, jacket designers, and indexers; checking copyedited manuscript; and editing and proofreading page proofs. The associate managing editor also acts a point person for authors, walking them through each stage of the production process and answering any questions they may have."