With this post, PublishingTrends.com continues its regular column in which it reviews, explicates and excerpts books that we think will resonate with people in the business of publishing and media. **** John B. Thompson, University of Cambridge-based sociologist and author of Merchants of Culture: The Publishing Business in the Twenty-First Century (Plume, trade paper, 2nd Ed….Continue Reading
Alongside the human rights and free speech issues that were raised at the London Book Fair’s China World Market Focus this year, there loomed the quintessentially Chinese issue of size, both in terms of population and expanse of land. When it comes to serving China’s public libraries, the country’s 1.3 billion readers remain a huge…Continue Reading
Protesting government controls on “harmful” content, 10 major Japanese manga publishers announced their boycott of the 2011 International Anime Fair (IAF) and teamed with a number of anime studios to form a rival event, the Anime Contents Expo (ACE). Both events were canceled of the earthquake last March, but were scheduled again this year. The…Continue Reading
On Wednesday, February 29, 2012, eve of the 35th annual conference of the Association of Writers & Writers Programs (AWP), the members of the Council of Literary Magazines & Presses (CLMP) met for a general meeting. About 100 CLMP members were in attendance, representing largely non-profit presses and magazines, generally with very small lists and…Continue Reading
Compared to the buzz over Toy Fair 2011’s co-located digital conference, Engage!, the “tech-mood” at Toy Fair 2012 was more subdued yet also more universal. The year, Engage! (now Digital Kids) will be setting up shop on its own in Los Angeles from April 21-25, and at this past week’s Toy Fair, digital components and…Continue Reading
The unusual tactics publishers in lesser-spoken languages are using to sell some rights, already. The Millennium Trilogy may be on English-language bestseller lists all over the world, but that doesn’t mean translated literature has “arrived” quite yet. The famous 3 percent of translated books on the US market, according to (who else?) Three Percent at…Continue Reading
This year’s technology-devoted Toy Fair 2011 conference and expo, Engage!, featured about 20 booths filled not so much with toys as . . . ideas. Or, rather, LCD screens with flashing bullet points and reps eager to discuss things like “Virtual Worlds Rights and Law” and “Virtual World Brand Development.” There was definitely less to play…Continue Reading
