Publishing

The morning after federal Judge Deborah Batts ruled that a Swedish author could not publish the follow-up to "The Catcher in the Rye," the book's distributor vowed to appeal.

"60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye" by Fredrik Coltingwas to be distributed by Aaron Silverman of SCB Distributors Inc.. "Today's ruling temporarily prevents us from bringing a wonderful book to U.S. readers," he explained, noting they "plan to appeal." In addition, a defense lawyer involved in the case said the judge was effectively "banning the book."

Here's a statement from Edward H. Rosenthal, an attorney at Frankfurt Kurnit, part of the book's legal team: "We are very disappointed that the judge chose to ban Mr. Colting's book ... '60 Years Later' is an important critical work about 'The Catcher in the Rye.' Because of the Court's decision banning the book, members of the public are deprived of the chance to read the book and decide for themselves whether it adds to their understanding of Salinger and his work."

Federal judge Denny Chin sentenced Bernard Madoff to 150 years in prison today. In March, Madoff plead guilty to eleven criminal counts related to his collapsed Ponzi scheme.

The WSJ reports that the judge approved a "preliminary forfeiture order" of $170 billion against the former investor, reportedly leaving him "penniless." There's nothing left to do except write a book. Back in January, eight different writers were shopping books about the scandal.

The website DailyLit has already serialized a book about the Madoff scandal, here's a link: "The stranger-than-fiction story of how one well-respected money manager built a business empire over decades by means of a classic Ponzi scheme. (This is a fraudulent investment strategy which pays returns to early investors with money put in later by subsequent investors.)"

The fledgling publisher Quartet Press is now accepting submissions for the debut launch of the digital imprint entitled, "Quench!"

The digital publisher was founded by Kassia Krozser of Booksquare.com; Kirk Biglione of Medialoper.com; book marketer Kat Meyer; and a silent partner. Submission guidelines can be found here. As TeleRead notes, the new books will be DRM-free, allowing writers to share books across platforms.

Here's more from the release: "Quartet Press is currently accepting queries for all genres of romance fiction, including erotic romance. We will also consider other genre fiction, provided the story contains a strong romantic plot thread. At this time, we are particularly interested in queries for erotic romance and romantic suspense ... Trends come and go, but good novels live forever. Focus on storytelling, character development, and solid plotting. We're interested in books that keep our readers up past their bedtime."

During its debut week on the list, "The Angel's Game" by Carlos Ruiz Zafon topped the Indie Bestseller List in the hardcover fiction category.

After polling hundreds of independent booksellers around the country, IndieBound released the Indie Bestseller List for the sales week ended Sunday, June 21, 2009. "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell topped the nonfiction hardcover list. Here are the top five fiction hardcover books on the list. Nonfiction hardcover list follows after the jump...

1. 'The Angel's Game' by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, Doubleday
2. 'Shanghai Girls' by Lisa See, Random House
3. 'The Scarecrow' by Michael Connelly, Little Brown
4. 'The Help' Kathryn Stockett, Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam
5. 'Gone Tomorrow' by Lee Child, Delacorte

UPDATE: A previous version of this post mistakenly identified 'The Angel's Game' as a debut novel.

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Earlier this week, GalleyCat and The New Yorker asked: Do publishing salaries affect literature?. The question drew passionate responses from readers on the site, inside a crowded Twitter-stream, and on other blogs.

One GalleyCat reader wrote: "I can't afford to work for free for a week without jeopardizing my apartment, never mind full-time for the *fourth months* that many publishers and magazines have suggested I should work as an intern to get the experience I'd need before they'd give me a real job."

Another reader disagreed: "There's another, related trend in publishing--the trend of kids coming into the industry just out of college and expecting to be able to afford anything they want (this extends to other industries as well, of course.) I started in publishing at $25k/yr with student loans and the opposite of parental assistance, and I never felt deprived, but that's because I found an inexpensive apartment that I shared with two roommates and was always thrifty."

Finally, one reader replied: "I didn't have a damn dime from 'parental support' or any other kind when I first started out, and yes, it made both my life and my work more miserable then it should have been ... So without agreeing to the (not completely, but significantly) misinformed judgment that all of us start out with help from the trust fund, I would agree that low industry salaries (ESPECIALLY in proportion to author advances...) do negatively affect the industry as a whole."

A recent spate of poetry-related material has driven poetry sales in the U.K., selling copies of books that had languished on national shelves.

According to Bookseller, the BBC's Poetry Season project actually motivated people to go to the bookstore. The multimedia series--with video interviews, articles, and a long list of poetry specials--generated a 92 percent increase in sales of Sylvia Plath poetry and a 300 percent increase in sales of John Donne (pictured, via) poetry.

Here's more from the article: "According to Nielsen BookScan, sales of John Milton's Paradise Lost increased three-fold during the week following Armando Iannucci's analysis of the poem on BBC2 on 27th May, while sales of John Murray's £20 volume, The Collected Poems of George Mackay Brown, have increased by 844.4%, thanks to the poet's 'Hamnavoe' being highlighted on BBC4's 'Poet's Guide to Britain.'"

As the literary world debates unattributed lines from Wikipedia in Chris Anderson's new book, "Free: The Future of a Radical Price," one writer left some words of support.

"I'm surprised that the VQN is coming down so hard on you about it. It's obvious you didn't try to pull a fast one," wrote author Mark Frauenfelder. "You just made a mistake of carelessness, which is human and forgivable." At the same time, the writer wondered if companies exist--like Turnitin--to make sure that notes didn't get absorbed into text.

What do the nonfiction writers in the audience think? Frauenfelder raises a point about a cut-and-paste writing world: "I think many non-fiction writers share the same nagging fear that their source notes will accidentally get mixed into the manuscript without proper attribution. Because it's so easy to copy and paste, this kind of thing is going to happen to other writers. I'm working on a book now and I really hope I haven't screwed up! I wonder if there's some kind of company I can hire to check my manuscript before the book gets published?"

As Apple celebrates the more than one million iPhone 3G S units sold over the weekend, ScrollMotion announced a partnership to bring content from scores of major book, magazine and newspaper publishers to the iPhone.

The company has partnered with the distributor, LibreDigital, bringing the company's library of books, newspapers and magazines, including HarperCollins, Hachette, Simon & Schuster, and Baker & Taylor and Wiley. In addition, ScrollMotion sealed individual agreements with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Simon & Schuster, Random House, Tribune Company and Wiley to create more content for the iPhone.

Here's a statement from ScrollMotion CEO John Lema: "Digital content efforts to-date have fallen short of reader and publisher expectations because they've tried to shoe-horn print content into a digital package ... Readers don't just want utility; they want to be excited by the experience of reading and interacting with the text. We believe we've found the formula to make digital fun, and, in-turn, profitable."

The NY Times reports that Inkwell Publishing Solutions has left scores freelance writers unpaid for work they completed on textbooks, providing a gloomy glimpse into the freelance writing pool.

According to the freelancers, Inkwell explained that they were owed money by conglomerate publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt--but the publisher did not return the newspaper's calls for comment. The overall atmosphere of sadness among freelance writers in the article is heartbreaking.

Here's more from the article: "More than 30 freelancers who were interviewed by phone or e-mail told the same story: Inkwell stopped paying them for work on textbooks, claiming that Houghton had stopped paying it...In the real world, the books are written and edited by faceless workers in textbook factory towns like New York." (Via Publishers Weekly)

In a recent profile of romance writing superstar Nora Roberts, the New Yorker painted the publishing industry in some broad stroke statistics.

The long essay casually drops the fact that Roberts sells 27 books every minute, no easy feat in this publishing recession. In 2004, Forbes estimated that she earns more than John Grisham or Stephen King. To top it all off, the story's lead gave a shout out to the book blog, Smart Bitches, Trashy Books, a site with a permanent spot on this GalleyCat editor's RSS Feed.

Here's the best figure of all, the article's look the publishing industry at large: "According to the R.W.A., romance generated nearly $1.4 billion in sales in 2007, more than science fiction and fantasy combined (seven hundred million dollars), mystery (six hundred and fifty million) or literary fiction (four hundred and sixty-six million). Of people who read books, one in five read romance."