I Wouldn’t Pay Any Attention to the Rumor About Walmart Buying Nook (The Digital Reader)
A juicy rumor crossed my desk this evening which is bound to get a lot of attention in the next few days. After looking into its provenance I am reasonably convinced that this rumor is completely bogus, but its origin is interesting enough that I wanted to share it.
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Dear The Toast and The Butter: Please Fix Your Rights Grab (UPDATE: They Did) (John Scalzi)
Writer Beware has posted a heads up for writers with regard to Web sites The Toast and The Butter, and the rights they are asking from contributors. Specifically, WB reports that contributors to the sites must hand over copyright (and, where applicable, moral rights).
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The bestseller effect (Seth Godin)
So, consider the trap that the bestseller effect sets: the publisher and the author want a bestseller, so they spend a lot of time and money on mass media, on storefront promotion, on even writing a book that feels like it will appeal to the second group. But! That’s not what the second market wants. What they consume (read/listen to) is what their peers demand they consume. They are protective of what they buy and consume, because they don’t have many slots for new books or new music.
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How Jessica Mitford Exposed A $48m Scam From America’s Literary Establishment (David Gaughran)
Jessica Mitford took on the American funeral industry, the California Department of Corrections, and the Ku Klux Klan, but it was her 1970 exposé of The Famous Writers School which led to Time calling her “The Queen of the Muckrakers.” And if a courageous editor hadn’t reversed his decision to kill her story, it might never have happened.
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Kindle Daily Deal: 12 Days of Deals
