Category: News (Page 3 of 10)

J. Mark Bertrand has something brewing:

"You’ll have to supply the soundtrack yourself. Imagine the Gorillaz doing "Clint Eastwood" — The future is coming on — or maybe Kate Bush’s "Cloudbusting" — I just know that something good is going to happen. Something good is going to happen, but I can’t tell you about it yet. All I can do is flash the logo up and let you wonder. I can’t tell you what "LiT" is or what the name signifies. I can’t tell you what it means for you. All I can say is that it’s coming. And it’s gonna be cool.

Stay tuned…."

It apparently involves espionage, stealth dialog . . . and Ninjas. Or something.

Hmmm. What is it? Stay tuned at www.jmarkbertrand.com

Google launched a controversial digital book site:

The Internet search giant said the initial collection will include "public domain" works — those without current copyright protection — in an apparent effort to ease concerns that have led to legal challenges.

"Because they’re out of copyright, these cultural artifacts can be read in their entirety online at http://print.google.com, where anyone can search and browse every page," Google said in a statement.

"They are fully searchable and users can save individual page images."

—

Google launched its controversial effort to digitize millions of books for online viewing — but said it would limit access to any copyrighted material for now.

I imagine in a few years no one will give this a second thought, and will be amazed there was ever a world without this feature. There has been quite a furor over this, but I can’t see this as anything but a good thing. 

Read more at Yahoo! News

Chick Lit is hot. According to Jana Reiss, religion book review editor for Publishers Weekly:

It’s the hottest trend going in Christian fiction. It’s trendy, it’s edgy, and it’s appealing to that all-important younger market.

According to the Christian Booksellers Association, it’s a market that drives sales of Christian fiction to more than $2 billion annually.

What’s fueling this trend, and is Chick Lit the best name for it? Insight from this great articles says: 

Of the country’s estimated 3.5 million single evangelical Christians, three-quarters are women, Golan says. But putting them all in the "I’m 30 and have to meet Mr. Right now" category would be a mistake, she says. That’s why Steeple Hill Books prefers "hip lit" to "chick lit."

Read full article: Christian chick lit is trendy

Google Print is still in Beta, but this upcoming service will be yet another way to make your book ‘search engine friendly’. Google’s description of this tool:

Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information, but much of that information isn’t yet online. Google Print aims to get it there by putting book content where you can find it most easily – right in your Google search results. Just do a search on the Google Print homepage. When we find a book whose content contains a match for your search terms, we’ll link to it in your search results. Click a book title and you’ll see the page of the book that has your search terms, along with other information about the book and "Buy this Book" links to online bookstores (you can view the entirety of public domain books or, for books under copyright, just a few pages or in some cases, only the title’s bibliographic data and brief snippets). You can also search for more information within that specific book and find nearby libraries that have it.

A very nice article on the future growth of the CBA market:

Most agree that the category’s growth is noteworthy, and there is no end in sight. In 2009, industry experts expect the religious books segment to account for $2.91 billion, which represents about a 50 percent increase from 2004, Greco added. The category includes Bibles, New Testaments, hymnals and prayer books along with a more nebulous category of "other religious," which accounted for $1.28 billion in 2004, Greco said.

With some comments on the rules of this genre: 

Other religious books encompass thrillers, mysteries, a burgeoning romance category and general fiction, he added. There are no bodice-rippers in the Christian romance market, and many publishers have a list of taboo subjects that include premarital sex, bad language and homosexuality, said industry members.

Read more: DenverPost.com