The skies in Philadelphia are clear, but inside the Pennsylvania Convention Center, more than 8000 public librarians have gathered under cloudy and foggy conditions to ponder the challenge of e-book pricing and availability. Reporting from the bi-annual Public Library Association conference in Philadelphia, PW Features Editor Andrew Albanese notes a strong turnout of PLA members, [...]
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PW’s Week Ahead 03.09.12
Digital changes everything – and disrupting business models is only part of it. Relationships among partners likewise are undergoing radical transformation. In the quiet halls of public libraries, the rising volume of buzz you hear is what to do about those publishers. “The tension between libraries and publishers is at a fever pitch,” PW’s Andrew [...]
BTB #283: Predicting the Present
Predicting the future is a dangerous proposition, but predicting the present isn’t necessarily any easier a task. In his closing keynote presentation to the recent NFAIS 2012 Conference, Joseph Esposito echoed science fiction author William Gibson, who said, “The future is already here – it’s just not very evenly distributed.” In other words, the raw [...]
PW’s Week Ahead 03.02.12
Once upon a time, Christopher Columbus got credit for discovering the New World. These days, the Italian navigator is lucky to avoid blame for all the ills that have befallen two continents over the last five centuries. In other words, discovery isn’t what it used to be. And when it comes to books, the dilemma [...]
PW’s Week Ahead 02.24.12
The arrival in January of Apple’s new iBooks Author tool for developing and publishing digital literature may signal a new phase of e-book development that’s good news for tablets, and maybe not such great news for e-ink readers. At least, that’s the view of a PW blogger Peter Brantley, who also serves as the Director [...]
PW’s Week Ahead 02.17.12
Organized by the iconoclastic technology publishing house O’Reilly Media, the annual “Tools of Change” conference has offered a staging for what PW’s Andrew Albanese calls, “a classic clash of traditional publishing institutions and new technology.” Albanese tells CCC’s Chris Kenneally, “There was a real sense that the publishing business is now a digital first game—even [...]
PW’s Week Ahead: 02.10.12
Every spring and fall season, Publishers Weekly selects a dozen or so authors with promising debuts in fiction. It’s a rather coveted distinction—any new author, especially in fiction, fears being lost in the onslaught of the season’s titles, so to get singled out in the months leading up to their pub date can mean a [...]
BTB #279: Publishing University Arriving in San Francisco
For almost 30 years, the 3,000-member Independent Book Publishers Association has focused its efforts on the success of emerging and experienced publishers through education. For 2012, the IBPA has moved its annual Publishing University event to the West Coast and arrives at the Sheraton Fisherman’s Wharf Hotel in San Francisco on March 9 for two [...]
PW’s Week Ahead: 02.03.12
They sell books, don’t they? This week, Amazon and Barnes & Noble make news over which books they sell – and which ones they won’t. And a new entry in the fantasy genre, Rose Fox tells us, finds Hurricane Katrina unleashing magical forces as well as meteorological ones. “Ever since Amazon began expanding its publishing [...]
PW’s Week Ahead 01.27.12
Returning from ALA’s midwinter meeting, which included the annual presentations of the Caldecott and Newbery prizes, PW’s Features Editor Andrew Albanese notes the number of issues facing libraries these days —from budget stress and complex technology, to copyright and legislative issues. “But no issue has loomed larger for libraries than the lending of library e-books,” [...]
