BRIGHTON
The Brighton Book Club / Annabel Thorpe, Judy Upton, Tom Johnstone, Waterstones Events and Publishing Industry Day
Today's show includes Ditching based Annabel Thorpe talking about her historical fiction set in Italy and how her work as a travel journalist has informed her writing. Judy Upton discusses her Sussex based mystery Series. Tom Johnstone talks about how he uses Brighton's unseen history to write short fiction. Sam at Brighton Waterstones talks about their jam-packed event programme in April and May and Anna Jefferson from New Writing South is back to discuss their Publishing Industry Day which is a must go-to for all aspiring authors in Sussex.
Super Early Bird Festival Passes for 2025 are on sale
Super Early Bird Festival Passes for 2025 are on sale: We're releasing a limited amount of Super Early Bird Festival Passes for The Coast is Queer. If you know you want to come, this is the best value you'll get a Festival Pass for, so don't miss out. The Coast is Queer is Brighton’s annual festival of LGBTQ+ writing. The first of its kind in the UK, the festival creates a space for queer readers, writers and allies to come together in a grassroots celebration of the written word and its ability to illuminate and enrich the life of our community.
Short Story Comics – Phoenix Art Space
Visual storytelling in the form of comic art is a rich and diverse form of visual communication. This one-day workshop will offer you insights in how to tell a story in comic form. The tutor will help you to explore sequential storytelling through materials and themes. With her guidance you will plan and create your own short story comic. Bring a story; a poem; an idea or simply an open mind.
INDEPENDENT
Should You Hire a Marketing Company to Launch Your Book?
You should have a dedicated KDP account. You should go claim your Amazon Author Central Profile. And you should publish direct to Amazon, one, because you're going to get a higher sales commission, 70 percent. […] We also recommend that in addition to that, you go through IngramSpark as well. And the reason for that is because IngramSpark uses or is essentially, Ingram is the largest distributor in the world. And so anybody who's anybody can purchase books through Ingram. […] That will make it much easier to get your books into bookstores if bookstores want to buy your books. There are some bookstores that won't buy anything from Amazon. And also Ingram allows you to discount your books so that it becomes more attractive for booksellers and retailers to be able to order it. […] And then you add Draft2Digital on top of that, at least for ebook distribution, because Draft2Digital will be able to get you into a lot of places that you can't get into yourself.
Studio | Book Works
The Studio offers a specialist bookbinding, printing and boxmaking service for a range of clients, including artists, designers, galleries and business. We provide bookbinding solutions, develop prototypes and specialise in unique book artworks, boxes and portfolios. We have an extensive range of examples of work and a huge stock of materials for clients to view. The Studio also offers tailored educational events, and bookbinding courses.
SELF-PUBLISHING QUESTION TIME with RACHAEL JONES from INGRAM SPARK and bestselling author RACHEL AMPHLETT – New Writing South
Put your questions to publishing professional Rachael Jones and bestselling crime-author Rachel Amphlett as they discuss all things Indie and self-publishing! More and more authors are stepping away from traditional publishing to retain creative control and own the whole process themselves. Deciding to take this leap can feel daunting, but this on-line event will guide you through the journey of publishing your own books, including how to get started with Ingram Spark. Pre-submit your questions to this Question Time style evening, exploring the dos and don’ts of getting your work out into the world through self-publishing.
HARDWARE
Is There A Future for Color e-Readers? - Good e-Reader
E-readers geared towards consumers are not in the best place right now. Customers are used to fonts looking amazing, and the reading experience being world-class. Current color e-paper does not accomplish this goal and creates many problems. […] Color e-paper shines with e-notebooks like the Remarkable Paper Pro, Fujitsu Quaderno A4, and Boox models. Editing PDF files on a device with a 2-4 week battery life is game-changing. Highlighting text in color, signing documents, freehand drawing, or taking notes is better on a color screen than a black-and-white one.
SOFTWARE
ABA Sends Letter to Department of Justice Opposing Amazon's Potential Acquisition of TikTok | the American Booksellers Association
Amazon’s market share in the bookselling industry makes it, by any antitrust standard, a monopoly. An Amazon takeover of TikTok would prevent a fair market, deter healthy competition and innovation, and further entrench Amazon’s monopoly power to the detriment of consumers, competition, and innovation. Amazon already has a chokehold on e-commerce — controlling a substantial share of online retail and dominating the bookselling market — and cloud computing and digital advertising — creating a sprawling network that competitors struggle to challenge.
Meta AI Lawsuit: US Publishers File Amicus Brief
A major artificial intelligence class-action lawsuit against Meta now includes a significant amicus brief in support of the plaintiffs. […] The lawsuit, filed December 22, 2023, in the Northern District of California, asserts that Meta appropriated millions of human-authored works—including books by the lead plaintiffs—for the purpose of training and accelerating its consumer-facing generative AI model called “LLaMA.” In other words, this is another case of “training” by a large language model, allegedly on copyrighted content without permission or payment.
The suit further asserts that Meta acquired much of the infringing material from notorious pirate sites on the watch-lists of the United States government, such as “Anna’s Archives” and “LibGen.”
METADATA
What’s a Bookseller to Do with BISAC Codes?
To wrap up 2024, the Book Industry Study Group updated its list of Book Industry Standards and Communications (BISAC) codes, used to standardize subject categories for books in the North American market, by adding 223 new headings and adjusting 129 existing codes. (One example: adding “cozy” to fiction/fantasy.) While publishing companies rely on BISACs to categorize their offerings, there is a consensus among independent booksellers that the system is, in the words of David Enyeart, manager of Next Chapter Books in St. Paul, Minn., “an interesting but minor tool”—one that can cause more problems than it solves for some stores. “We’re sitting on 9,000 books,” he said. “I can’t break them into 600 categories.”