It’s only been around since January 2003, but the United Nations System has put a great amount of effort in building this annual observance. I might have to go over to the Alabama Literacy Council Used Book Shop to buy that Iain Pears book I should have bought Friday night during ArtWalk… you know, just to honor ILD.
I haven’t tried it yet… but Penguin is now offering (what they call) ‘ebook tasters’. These are files are from upcoming or newly released books, in a digital download form. It seems they are only available in ePub format which means you’ll need an ereader or Adobe Digital Editions installed on your computer. I’m sure all of this is a DRM move, which I’m not sure is a wise thing, if you’re only giving away samples. Wouldn’t you want to make that as hassle free as possible?
I just started reading Jeff Gomez’s Print is Dead. It’s a strong title, but I haven’t even made it half way through the introduction and he’s already opened a paragraph with “While print is not yet dead…”.
It’s going to be hard to argue with someone who gets to have it both ways.
Epicenter Press is living the small press dream… they have stayed focused to their core material/genre and have turned out to be the only publisher with a book about the hottest topic in the US right now… McCain’s pick of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin for VP.
Epicenter, which publishes books on the Pacific Northwest, printed 13,000 Sarah: How a Hockey Mom Turned Alaska’s Political Establishment Upside Down, around last April.
Now, thanks to McCain’s nod, they have orders out for 40,000+ more. I bet it’s one big party over there! It’s great when things like this happen to smaller publishers. Here is a company that printed a book they believed there was a market for… a market so small that no big-house publisher would bother serving… and now they are reaping the rewards. Good for them! And it’s another example of why we’re all better off with small presses in the world!
