BTW New Briefs

Forbes: Publishers Need to Help Bookstores Become Sustainable

On Wednesday, July 27, Forbes columnist Robert Picard wrote about recent changes in the book distribution channel that are leaving cities and towns without booksellers or that require consumers to travel significant distances to reach a bookstore.

“The shifting distribution patterns for books mean publishers now need strategies to make local independent bookstores sustainable and to help restore local booksellers where they no longer exist,” Picard said. “ Policymakers need to ensure that tax codes and other regulations do not disadvantage physical booksellers compared to those who sell online.

“Unless there is concerted effort to solve the challenges of book distribution, we will all be worse off and culture diminished.”

New York Times Notes Quickening Pace to Paperbacks

A July 26 article in the New York Times observes that publishers are more often not waiting the traditional year before bringing out paperback editions of bestselling titles, such as Swamplandia! by Karen Russell, The Tiger’s Wife  by Téa Obreht, and Those Guys Have All the Fun by James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales.

Driving the faster pace to paperbacks is the desire to take advantage of the momentum generated by the simultaneous release of hardcover and e-book editions as well as price.

“I’m looking to do it more and more,” Jane von Mehren, the publisher of trade paperbacks at Random House, told the Times. “We feel as though there is this trade paperback book buyer that we want to make sure is still getting served.”

E-books are part of the reason for the trend of hurrying up paperback,” said Carrie Kania, the publisher of Harper Perennial and It Books. “You don’t have to wait for a lower-priced version of that book now. I think we need to move more quickly in general.”

However, several publishers told the Times that the one-year window was still the rule for most books, especially those that are still selling well in hardcover.

Apple Enforces iOS4 App Guidelines

Earlier this week, Apple started enforcing iOS4 (the operating system used for the iPhone, iPad, iTouch, etc.) app guidelines to prevent e-tailers from providing in-app buy links that avoid Apple’s purchasing system. The Apple purchasing system deducts a 30 percent commission from each sale.

Consumers can still buy their e-books from a retailer other than Apple on their iPad, but they must go outside of the app to a web browser to make the purchase. E-books, including Google eBooks™, regardless of whether they are bought via Apple or another retailer, can still be viewed on the iPad.

This past week, e-book stores, including the Kindle app, Barnes & Noble, Blio, and Kobo removed in-app links to their sites. The guidelines not only require e-tailers to remove in-app links to outside e-tailers, but to remove any messages about purchasing content outside of Apple. 

Comic Industry Presents 2011 Awards

The 2011 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards were presented by Comic-Con International (Comic-Con®) on Friday, July 22, at a gala ceremony at the Hilton Bayfront in San Diego. The event ended on an unusual note, with the Best Graphic Album-New category going to two winners: Jim McCann and Janet Lee’s Return of the Dapper Men (Archaia) and Dan Clowes’ Wilson (Drawn & Quarterly).

Among this year’s other winners of the “Oscars®” of comics were:

• Best Short Story: “Post Mortem,” by Greg Rucka and Michael Lark, in I Am an Avenger #2 (Marvel)
• Best Single Issue (or One-Shot): Hellboy: Double Feature of Evil, by Mike Mignola and Richard Corben (Dark Horse)
• Best Continuing Series: Chew, by John Layman and Rob Guillory (Image)
• Best Limited Series: Daytripper, by Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá (Vertigo/DC)
• Best New Series: American Vampire, by Scott Snyder, Stephen King, and Rafael Albuquerque (Vertigo/DC)
• Best Anthology: Mouse Guard: Legends of the Guard, edited by Paul Morrissey and David Petersen (Archaia)

The complete list of winners is available at comic-con.org.

Man Booker Prize Longlist Unveiled

The longlist for the 2011 Man Booker Prize for Fictionwas announced on Tuesday, July 26, in London. The 13 books on the list include one former Man Booker Prize winner, two previously shortlisted writers and one longlisted author, four first time novelists, and three Canadian writers.

The “Man Booker Dozen” longlist, which were chosen from a total of 138 books, includes:

• The Sense of an Ending, by Julian Barnes (Jonathan Cape/ Random House)
• On Canaan’s Side, by Sebastian Barry  (Faber)
• Jamrach’s Menagerie, by Carol Birch (Canongate Books)
• The Sisters Brothers, by Patrick deWitt (Granta)
• Half Blood Blues, by Esi Edugyan (Serpent’s Tail/ Profile)
• A Cupboard Full of Coats, by Yvvette Edwards(Oneworld)
• The Stranger’s Child, by Alan Hollinghurst (Picador/ Pan Macmillan)
• Pigeon English, by Stephen Kelman(Bloomsbury)
• The Last Hundred Days, by Patrick McGuinness (Seren Books)
• Snowdrops, by A.D. Miller (Atlantic)
• Far to Go, by Alison Pick (Headline Review)
• The Testament of Jessie Lamb, by Jane Rogers(Sandstone Press)
• Derby Day, by D.J. Taylor (Chatto & Windus/Random House)

The shortlist of six authors will be announced on Tuesday, September 6, at a press conference at Man Group’s London headquarters. The winner of the 2011 Man Booker Prize for Fiction will be announced on Tuesday, October 18, at a dinner at London’s Guildhall and will be broadcast on the BBC.