All the news that's fit to print...

There's always a ton of publishing news going on, and I realize it's tough for most writers to stay on top of it all. The fact is, you DON'T NEED to stay on top of it all. But occasionally it's nice to know what's going on, so you can impress your friends or get girls to notice you at parties. So may I share a handful of things I think you should be aware of?

1. Barnes & Noble has decided not to carry any books published by Amazon. Books-a-Million made the same decision. That may not be a huge shocker (The Gap doesn't sell clothes from Abercrombie & Fitch), but fascinating none the less, as it sets up a battle between the nation's biggest retailers (and every writer's best supporters). The various sides are turning this into a blood feud. You can read about it here:

www.tinyurl.com/7blso7a

2. And that leads to an interesting discussion on the influence Amazon has in publishing these days. A fascinating story here, on "how Amazon is burning down publishing"...

http://tinyurl.com/889ot2s

3. And our friends at Digital Book World have explored how Barnes & Noble has certain advantages in the book wars:

http://tinyurl.com/7wslzzs

4. Meanwhile, over in the UK, there's interesting thinking on the ebook wars:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/dec/18/ebook-price-wars

5. And back here in the Colonies, somebody noticed that HarperCollins is using the Expresso Machine to make their backlist available:

http://tinyurl.com/7tta9yn

6. I found this fascinating -- a look at how important covers and complete information are to those who e-publish:

http://tinyurl.com/7o2ek54.pdf

7. And this gives me hope and makes all the noise of the ebook wars fade away -- World Book Night is coming April 25th. If you don't know about it, read this:

http://tinyurl.com/8y4kth5

8. This also made me happy -- a story about an editor deciding to become an agent:

http://tinyurl.com/89w95uf

9. One of the most intelligent reviews of the current e-book situation was shared with me by crime-noir novelist Les Edgerton:

http://tinyurl.com/778ecza

 

10. And finally, I have good news for all those who want to know more about writing. The aforementioned Mr Edgerton is teaching an online course at the New York Writers Workshop: http://newyorkwritersworkshop.com/category/courses/onlinefiction, AND famed novelist Lisa Samson has started offering training to support up-and-coming writers: http://luminarycreative.blogspot.com/  That is good news for writers -- and I'll say more about it in a few days. 

Okay -- now you're up to date!