When I phoned Neil Gaiman last week to ask him about the stramash over Apple’s new iBooks Author app , he said publishing these days was like “the Klondike. Nobody knows what’s going on. All they know is that there’s gold in them that hills and they want to try to get hold of it.”
via guardian.co.uk
Очень точное сравнение. Не потому что Нил Гейман, а потому, что ровно то же самое, только по-русски, сказал мне мой друг, издатель, который The Guardian не читает, несколько дней назад.
The only solution ultimately is a political one. As we grow increasingly disillusioned with quick-fix consumerism, we may want to consider an option which exists in many non-digital industries: quite simply, demanding that writers get paid a living wage for their work. Do we respect the art and craft of writing enough to make such demands? If we do not, we will have returned to the garret, only this time, the writer will not be alone in his or her cold little room, and will be writing to and for a computer screen, trying to get hits on their site that will draw the attention of the new culture lords – the service providers and the advertisers.
Mamut said there was “a massive amount of work to be done” following his acquisition of the chain. He said: “If we can make a turnaround, improve everything, have good books properly displayed, a good atmosphere, good recommendations [with] marketing and investment of course, then I think we can compete with a company named Amazon.com. I can’t imagine that life can be replaced with a computer universe. I can’t accept it.
Plans to block websites alleged to facilitate copyright infringement are to be dropped by the UK government. The announcement was made by Business secretary Vince Cable following a review by communications regulator OFCOM which found that blocking provisions in the Digital Economy Act would not be effective. Nevertheless, website blocking will be attempted, just by other means.
via torrentfreak.com
via polit.ru
Хороший обзор ситуации вокруг английского Digital Economy Act.
Klebanoff, who founded New York-based digital publisher Rosetta Books in 2001, met UK-based agents last week and addressed a meeting of about 65 agents organised by the Association of Authors Agents on Monday.
Klebanoff is looking for backlist titles where digital rights are unassigned, with a view to acquiring both world rights or US rights alone. He said Rosetta was offering a royalty more than double that on offer from large print publishers—a 50% net royalty payment for up to 2,500 copies sold and then 60% after.
Mamut, who has a house in Kensington, is a regular customer at Daunt’s Holland Park branch. So far, so comradely – but the future may not be so cosy.
via guardian.co.uk
По-домашнему так. Просто Мамут захаживал в его книжный магазин.
Дядька, однака, вполне симпатичный.
via unbound.co.uk
Хорошая идея — авторы обещают написать книгу, а будущие читатели их поддерживают. Терри Джонс, Эми Дженкинс, Гэвин Претор-Пини, Джонатан Мидс, Тибор Фишер. Вполне хипстерские имена.
50% авторам, другая половина — проекту. Ставки невеликие — от 1500 до 3000 фунтов.
Пока поддержка смешная, но 50 дней ещё осталось до конца сбора средств.
Вери гуд. Если бы аналогичные финансовые инструменты были доступны в России (блокировка и полный возврат средств в случае, если проект не набирает нужных денег в назначенный срок), можно было бы такое и здесь замутить.
Ipreview Final Report by Vladimir Haritonov on Scribd
Estimates of the scale of illegal digital downloads in the UK ranges between 13 per cent and 65 per cent in two studies published last year. A detailed survey of UK and international data finds that very little of it is supported by transparent research criteria. Meanwhile sales and profitability levels in most creative business sectors appear to be holding up reasonably well. We conclude that many creative businesses are experiencing turbulence from digital copyright infringement, but that at the level of the whole economy, measurable impacts are not as stark as is sometimes suggested.