I'm a bit behind on reading Rusch's blog on the business of being a writer, but one of her recent articles on binge reading (which also touched on Hydra) was excellent food for thought. Note that her article didn't cover Hydra's recent changes in its royalty and payment structure, but that doesn't mean it isn't worth reading, both as readers and as writers. Rusch discusses reader habits, and how there's no such things as "too many books" for a popular author. She also talks about why traditional publishers limit the number of books an author can release in a year. (Hint, it's...

Q&A: Hydra DP and Digital Publishing Director Allison Dobson on New Author Contracts (Digital Book World) Is Social Reading the Future of Books? I Hope Not! (Good e-Reader) How to Use a Kindle as a Bookmark (Galleycat) Will Mobile Education Arrive in the Digital World? (Media Shift) Kindle Daily Deals: Blood Man by Paul Cleave (and 3 others)  ...

Many publishing insiders and authors have been discussing Random House over the past week. The company might wish it had stayed out of the news as criticisms came down over its digital imprints, especially Hydra, which handles science fiction. In case you missed the news, here’s the basic version: Contract specifications for Hydra were made public, and many realized the terms were not ideal for authors. The digital imprints offered a publishing package with no advance, and with net proceeds that would be split 50/50. In addition, the author would have to pay a one-time fee for set-up costs such as...

TeleRead has earlier covered two stories about some bad publishing experiments: The first was about the scammy contracts Random House was offering authors who signed with their digital-only imprint. The second was about a Canadian newspaper, the National Post, which was trying to extract 'licensing' payments from readers who were trying to quote from their stories in a legal way under fair use rules. In both these stories, I pointed out that neither business was being illegal, per se—but that they were being fishy, and would learn their lesson if people raised a loud enough hue and cry. Well, it's happened! I...

Here's why American Airlines chose Samsung over Apple when it bought 17,000 tablets (Business Insider) Top novelists look to e-books to challenge the rules of fiction (The Guardian) Beware Random House's E-Book Imprints (Forbes) Mythical Hydra Beast: Pros and Cons (Digital Book World) Kindle Daily Deals: The Chronicles of Narnia books for $1.99/ea. (and others) ...

Walmart Passed on Barnes & Noble Before, Maybe it Should Look Again (Yahoo Finance) Hydra is Appropriately Named (Digital Book World) Disney's Hyperion Will Reportedly Sell Off Most Titles, Focus on TV-Related Books (Paid Content) How Much Time and Effort Should Publishers be Spending on Startups? (Mike Shatzkin) Kindle Daily Deals: Illuminations by Mart Sharratt (and 3 others)...