As already noted in TeleRead, author Ted Heller has recently been bemoaning his woes as a self-publisher in Slate. He's now followed up with a further bulletin on his tribulations as an e-reader, first run on The Weeklings and also aired since on Slate. In particular, he cites the demise of that mobile billboard, the book jacket. Heller takes issue with the fact that Kindles and their ilk never show others your reading choices. "The Kindle tells you nothing about the book that’s being read and therefore nothing about the person reading it," Heller observes—though I'd object that this comes down...

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...

DBW featured a press release for BookLikes, a new social reading platform that is supposed to combine the features of Tumblr and Goodreads. I consider one of my roles here is to involve trying things out, and potentially wasting my time so you don't have to waste your. And my reaction to this site? Don't even bother. (Click here to see what TeleRead's Susan Lulgjuraj has to say about BookLikes.) Everyone seems to be wanting to get into the social reading space today, and honestly, I don't think we need yet another one. Especially not one that acts so much like Goodreads....

By Michael Weinstein There’s been a great deal of conjecture lately about the future of the bookstore: What will happen to the B&N stores (especially if they do plan to reduce the number of stores)? What about independent bookstores? Will Amazon crush bricks-and-mortar stores out of existence? Oh, lordy, will there even be such a thing as a bookstore!?!? Not surprisingly, this all made me think of a song. Under time pressure to have a song for the first Earth Day concert in 1970, the great Tom Paxton created the gold standard for songs about ecology when he wrote “Whose Garden Was...

What News Organizations are Learning from their eBook Efforts (Poynter) News organizations have responded to changes in readers’ habits by moving beyond the newsstand and toward the bookshelf, zeroing in on ebooks as a new revenue source and a way to explore genres not typically found on front pages or home pages. Back to the Future: What if the Mass Media Era was Just an Accident of History? (Paid Content) We are used to thinking of a “mass media” market made up of large newspapers and TV networks as the normal state of affairs in media, but what if that was just a...

A social entrepreneurship company based in Australia, Mailbooks for Good, has recently launched a literary-minded project that combines good design and a simple but strong idea with the joy of philanthropy. The company's tagline, "Re-gift the gift of reading," does a decent job of explaining the concept. But here's the general idea, direct from the MFG website: Mailbooks For Good is an innovation in book publishing, which allows you to donate books directly to those who need it. When the books are finished, readers simply turn the covers inside out and the books become pre-paid and pre-addressed packages. Once posted they are...

I know I'm coming a bit late to this party, but I was out of town while everyone was discussing James Patterson's ad. And I'm kind of glad I was. It gave me time to digest what other people were saying and form my own opinions. I wasn't in favor of the government bailout of the automobile and banking industry, for exactly this reason. We set a precedent. Now people can say, "Well you bailed them out; what about us?" Which is exactly what Patterson alluded to in his ad. That genie's out of the bottle. We're going to see lots more...

Attention library advocates in Alexandria, Va.: Talking points for the local budget debate are here. Leaving us in the dark about the source of this tidbit, a Washington Post headline in the Style section blog says: “Alexandria, Virginia: the most well-read city in America.” Similar words show up elsewhere in the media about my hometown, the oft-paradoxical Washington suburb of some 146,000 where a bronze Confederate soldier stands in the middle of Washington Street despite an African-American mayor and a generally progressive city council. Alas, however, our number one ranking isn’t based on actual books and other items read per capita. Rather our spot at the top reflects what the Post accurately mentions in the...

Tumblr has millions of active users, creating 90 million new posts a day. There are informative sites, funny sites and reflective sites. Throughout the years, some of Tumblr’s sites have become so popular some have even gotten book deals – well, 70, to be exact. Tumblr CEO David Karp revealed that number at the paidContent Live event earlier this month. “What’s even more interesting to me than people going through traditional paths are people who are using those new emerging platforms,” he said. “What’s so exciting to me about Tumblr as a media network today is this new generation of creative commercialization...

Happy Earth Day, everyone! Here at school, we are having a book exchange where students can bring in an old book and swap it for a new one. We're also having a litter-free lunch day and asking students and staff to bring all their lunches and snacks in reusable containers. And we're not the only ones celebrating Earth Day here—the Kindle Daily Deal features four kids books in honor of Earth Day. But it does not feature any adult choices. So with that in mind, I scoured the Kindle store in search of Earth-themed goodies. Happy reading!   No Impact Man by Colin Beavan...

By Erika Phyall For more than 50 years, National Library Week has highlighted the importance of libraries. Libraries and librarians play a crucial role in promoting reading and literacy. Although teachers often focus on teaching children how to read and building their general reading skills, it is libraries that help foster a love for reading, connecting children with books and communicating the importance of books to parents and the community. In honor of National Library Week, USC Rossier decided to highlight five infographics that also promote literacy. Happy reading!   1. Which Books Should You Read This Summer? Summer is the time to relax on the beach or curl...

Thanks to Jason Boog at GalleyCat for alerting me to this article from the American Library Association which, among other things, lists the top ten 'challenged' (aka 'banned') books of 2012. Here they are: • Captain Underpants (series), by Dav Pilkey • “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian,” by Sherman Alexie • “Thirteen Reasons Why,” by Jay Asher • “Fifty Shades of Grey,” by E. L. James • “And Tango Makes Three,” by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell • “The Kite Runner,” by Khaled Hosseini • “Looking for Alaska,” by John Green • Scary Stories (series), by Alvin Schwartz • “The Glass Castle,” by Jeannette Walls • “Beloved,” by Toni Morrison By far the most popular listed reason for the...