Claire Ryan of The Raynfall Agency posted a pretty good article today on piracy; it includes the agency's thoughts about what authors need to know, along with some practical tips for avoiding piracy of their works. Ryan didn't cover anything new, but she did discuss the basics. I agree with most of what she wrote, but I think she weakened her argument right at the end. Removing DRM and making books available in all territories? That's excellent advice. Readers are far less likely to pirate if they can get your books in the format they like. And if the book is free of...

British book bloggers and tweeters are enthusing over the 'First Editions, Second Thoughts' auction at Sotheby's of print first editions annotated by their authors, including JK Rowling, Hilary Mantel, Philip Pullman, Nick Hornby and Ian McEwan, to be sold off in aid of English PEN. The Guardian has put together a beautiful clickable interactive gallery of the sale. Rowling's marks on a first edition copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Sorcerer's Stone in the U.S.) include hilarious insight into the genesis of Quidditch, which, her annotation states, "was invented in a small hotel in Manchester after a row with...

Lifehacker has a great analysis of why Yahoo's recent Flickr tweaking is a little but underhanded—paid users, who never had a storage limit in the first place, suddenly do, and there are ads now... Briefly mentioned, but not fully explored, is the bigger issue: How many of us really care about the service Flickr offers these days? I used to use Flickr as a place to park photos so I could share them in a blog post or via a link. Now, I can snap the photo directly on my phone and share it from my camera roll, via email or blog...

Amazon Fights to Keep Secrets in eBook Trial (Publisher's Weekly) Amazon attorneys last week filed a letter with the court asking that it be allowed to redact sensitive business information about its Kindle e-book program gathered as evidence for the upcoming Apple price-fixing trial. --- CourseSmart Enhances its eTextbook Offerings (Good e-Reader) With some reports showing that the Android platform currently holds about 68% of the market for applications, digital content creators are taking steps to increase their current offerings to meet these customers where their devices are. CourseSmart, a leading provider of digital educational materials and textbooks, has been available on the Android...

Summer is almost here, and it's time to find some light vacation reading. If you're a fan of light fantasy and haven't tried The Iron Druid series by Kevin Hearne, I'd suggest you give them a look. The basic premise is that the main character, Atticus O'Sullivan, is the last Druid, and he's 21 centuries old. He's hardly an old fogey, though. He uses his herb lore to brew a tea that keeps him young and looking about 21. He's got a sidekick, an Irish wolfhound named Oberon, and the exchanges between Atticus and Oberon are among the best parts of the...

In my grandfather's day, if you saw it on the front page of the newspaper, it must be true. My, how times have changed! A bizarre story is gripping my city this week, and nobody knows if it's true or if it isn't. The fact that somebody told it to somebody else is news enough! It's almost too bizarre to even begin explaining. Our mayor, Rob Ford, is, to put it in the kindest way, a character. His dislike for the Toronto Star, a major local paper, is legendary and well-established. Their dislike of him is as established. But when they...

Whenever Stephen King releases a novel, readers line up to grab his latest book. But those looking to download the digital version of Joyland might never get the option. King will not release Joyland as an e-book when it comes out on June 4, according to the Wall Street Journal. King, an e-book pioneer, held on to the novel’s digital rights in hopes of spurring his fans to buy the print edition in bookstores. He said it is unclear when he will make the coming-of-age tale available digitally. “I have no plans for a digital version,” Mr. King said. “Maybe at some point,...

I'd like to introduce you to my friend Alexander Christou. Xander, as he likes to be called, is eleven years old and one of the smartest kids I know. He’s a passionate reader, a great soccer player, speaks Greek (his father is from Greece), and is a more engaging, interesting conversationalist than some adults I know! Xander blogs about what he reads from his home in Austin, Texas, where he lives with his parents: Karen, an artist, and Christos, a designer. He’s a huge fan and supporter of Austin’s great indie bookstore, BookPeople, and he's in touch with Topher Bradfield, their Children's Outreach Coordinator...

Yahoo confirms $1.1 billion Tumblr acquisition (CNET) Yahoo announced the news on Monday, saying that it "promises not to screw [Tumblr] up." Yahoo paid $1.1 billion for Tumblr, and the company has confirmed that "substantially all of which is payable in cash." When can a book be digital-only, and when does it need to be print too? (paidContent) Book publishers discussed digital-first and digital-only initiatives at the Making Information Pay conference this week. OverDrive & SourceBooks Test Lending Same eBook to Millions of People (AppNewser) OverDrive has launched a pilot program that will allow millions of library patrons to check out the same eBook all at once...

As reported in the San Francisco Appeal, a literary agent, Jillian Manus, paid $47,000 for the privilege of naming a Sumatran tiger cub at San Francisco Zoo "Jillian" -- "presumably after herself." The naming rights were sold off as part of the zoo's ZooFest fundraiser. Before jumping to conclusions about how much money Jillian Manus makes out of her authors, who include Newt Gingrich and Jerry Rice, it's only fair to point out that the fee for that tiger's name might have come out of the pocket of her husband, venture capitalist Alan Salzman. (You can read more about their lifestyle...

By Christina Jones Rumors are swirling that Yahoo is in talks to acquire Tumblr. Apparently Ken Goldman, Yahoo’s CFO, explained the Internet giant’s concern for its aging users. In an attempt to appeal to the 18-24 year-old-demographic, they’re seriously considering bring Tumblr on board. “One of our challenges is we have an aging demographic,” explained Goldman at JP Morgan’s Global Technology conference. “Part of it is going to be just visibility again in making ourselves cool, which we got away from for a couple of years.” Tumblr is certainly gaining momentum in popularity, traffic and revenue. Just last month, comScore reported the...

I guess I'd forgotten. Now that all the the publishing players have settled, abandoning agency pricing and returning to the wholesale slums, the DOJ/e-book antitrust case, which popped up again in everyone's news feeds this week, feels a little anticlimactic. The DOJ, perhaps simply because it's what it found, or perhaps because there's no one left to pick on, is framing the last defendant standing, Apple, as the "ringmaster" in the price-fixing suit, according the New York Times. With the case set to go to trial June 3 in New York (and what a fine note on which to end BEA), I find myself wondering: At...