Penguin’s Book Country online site helps new fiction authors

Book Country users are invited to submit work in certain genres: romance, fantasy, science fiction, thriller and mystery.  The Penguin-sponsored online site allows writers to post their own work — whether it’s an opening chapter or a full manuscript — and receive critiques from other users, who can comment on points like character development, pacing and dialogue.

The site will generate revenue by allowing users to self-publish their books for a fee by ordering printed copies.

The site will also explain the business of finding an agent, marketing and promoting a book, using social media and handling digital and subsidiary rights.

Barnes & Noble considers selling its Nook e-reader business

Despite record sales over the holiday season Barnes & Noble said it was considering spinning off its Nook business .

Holiday sales at B&N retail stores rose 2.5%, to about $1.2 billion, over the last nine weeks of 2011 compared with the same period in 2010. Sales of Nook devices and digital content rose 43% from a year earlier.

B&N CEO said, “We see substantial value in what we’ve built with our Nook business in only two years, and we believe it’s the right time to investigate our options to unlock that value,”

Which NYTimes best sellers are not available as e-books in libraries?

The only big-six publishers that make their e-books available to libraries are Random House, Penguin and Harper Collins.  However, Penguin’s new titles are no longer available and Harper Collins only allows an e-book to be borrowed 26 times before the library has to purchase a new copy.

This means that NYTimes best sellers like James Patterson’s “Kill Alex Cross,” Patricia Cornwell’s “Red Mist” and Michael Connelly’s “The Drop” cannot be borrowed as e-books.

The newest books available in libraries as e-books are all published by Random House but they are reviewing their policy and may start restricting e-book borrowing in libraries as well.

2012 films based on books

What do F. Scott Fitzgerald, Victor Hugo, Abraham Lincoln:  Vampire Hunter, Dr. Seuss and the Life of Pi have in common?

They are some of the films based on books being released in 2012.

Whether you’re interested in some new reading material or just curious about what will be leaping from the page to the screen, this slide show is for you.  It is full of information about the plots, stars and authors of 20 new movies based on books.

Want to know more about the movies?  Read more…..

BuzzSugar

Technorati Tags: free audio books

Some bookstores stand out — Why?

Amid the gloomy predictions about publishing and bookselling, Maryelizabeth Hart of San Diego and Redondo Beach-based Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore believes that the book industry is bigger and more diverse than some people realize.

Hart believes a significant factor is, ” a growing cultural consciousness of the value in buying local and/or buying independent.”  She thinks  people want something more authentic, with a human touch. Mysterious Galaxy launched the very successful Ladies, Lunch, and Literacy program to introduce new authors to readers and support nonprofit organizations.  That program, in turn, helped create an atmosphere that led to the new branch.

America’s beloved independent bookstores

Independent bookstores are facing a perfect storm — the economic downturn, the rise of e-books, competition from Amazon. But these stores drive the local literary culture, bring authors to town and match readers with books better than any online algorithm can.

When Salon asked their readers to select their favorite independent bookstores, they picked nine special shops from the Iliad in North Hollywood where Zola the cat presides over a shelves stocked with $2 bargains  to a 19th century barn converted into a 5-story bookstore in rural Pennsylvania.

What other shops did readers pick?  Read more……

Salon

Rosie the Red-nosed Reindeer?

“Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” was written in 1939 by Robert May, one of Montgomery Ward’s advertising copywriters, and was given away free to children as a way to drive traffic to the stores.

The response was overwhelming — at a time when a print-run of 50,000 books was considered a best-seller, the company gave away more than 2 million copies the first year and by the following year was selling an assortment of Rudolph-themed toys and other items.

May left Montgomery Ward to manage Rudolph’s career, which really took off after May’s brother-in-law Johnny Marks wrote the song (made famous by Gene Autry in 1949), and the release of an animated television special in 1964.

Children’s books from around the world come alive on Christmas trees

A holiday celebration at New York City’s Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum features eight decorated Christmas trees inspired by children’s books from around the world.

Visitors entering the mansion will first see a Christmas tree inspired by the popular children’s tale, The Polar Express.  The tree features cookies shaped like train engines, polar bears and snowflakes.

Another Christmas tree, is based on Beatrix Potter’s Tailor of Gloucester.   It features spools of thread and handmade mice fashioned after the book’s rodents who help a tailor finish a waistcoat.

The remaining trees are inspired by ‘Twas The Night Before Christmas, Madeline’s Christmas and other classics.

Four new fiction gems missed by the New York Times

Two novels and two short-story collections that are as well written and satisfying as anything on the best seller list are:

“The Inverted Forest” by John Dalton

“Of Beasts and Being” by Ian Foster

“The Book of Life” by Stuart Nadler

“East of the West” by Miroslav Penkow

Read more…..

TheDailyBeast

Technorati Tags: free audio books

Is this year’s best new fiction a Western?

“The Sisters Brothers” by Patrick deWitt was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in Britain and won the Canadian Governor General’s Award, the highest award a book can earn in Canada.

The story takes place during the California Gold Rush and stars two hired killers — the brothers Charlie and Eli Sisters.  Sixteen men are shot dead, two poisoned, one drowned and another is axed to death by his own hand.  The death count also includes two bears, two horses, one dog and nine beavers.