In the next few months, she published several more manuscripts, and soon, the sales started piling up. By the end of the summer, Hocking had made enough money to quit her job, and in January 2011, she sold “an insane amount of books,” she said, estimating the total at 100,000.

Her sales numbers soon drew the attention of Macmillan, one of the largest publishers in the world, which signed her to a four-book deal for more than $2 million, followed by a deal to republish three of her most popular titles for $750,000 more.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/11/29/the-upsurge-in-self-published-books/3191731/

Vivalogue Announces New Self-Publishing Forum for Independent Authors

Vivalogue, an author services company which recently organized the Raindance Festival for Independent Authors, has launched a new website to provide networking, information and resources to the self-publishing community.

Vivalogue, an author services company based in New Westminster, BC, has strengthened its commitment to independent authors by launching a new networking cooperative for self-published authors and writers considering self-publishing.

The network “Raindance for Independent Authors” grew out of the Raindance Book Festival for Independent Authors held November 9, 2013 in Richmond, B.C. Believed to be the first of its kind in Canada, the festival included a book fair, workshops, editors’ ‘blue pencil’ sessions and a book drive supporting Frontier College. The festival was organized using a collaborative model which encouraged authors to contribute their collective time and talents. Authors identified this collaborative aspect of the festival as a key benefit of participation and expressed interest in continuing these relationships.

The core of the independent author network is a new website http://www.raindancebookfestival.comthat provides independent authors with networking opportunities, professional development, access to peer reviews and information on industry trends. It features books by festival authors, links to their websites, related news items and promotional videos filmed at the event. An associated Meetup Group has also been formed which will allow authors to meet on an informal basis, participate in peer review processes and discuss book marketing issues. The next Raindance Book Festival for Independent Authors is provisionally scheduled for May 2014.
http://www.newsday.com/business/press-releases/vivalogue-announces-new-self-publishing-forum-for-independent-authors-1.6516213

Anna Rafferty To Chair The London Book Fair Publishing For Digital Minds Conference

The London Book Fair, in association with the Publishers Association, is delighted to welcome Anna Rafferty, managing director of Penguin Digital as chair of the sixth Publishing for Digital Minds Conference on 7 April 2014.

Taking place on Monday for the first time in line with The London Book Fair’s new timings, the Publishing for Digital Minds Conference will bring a line-up of inspirational speakers together with an international audience to explore the future of global trade and academic publishing.

As digital publishing enters its ‘mature’ phase, perhaps the biggest issue facing the industry lies in how publishers can convert exciting innovations and experiments into commercially viable propositions. The next edition of Publishing for Digital Minds will tackle these issues head on, with topical sessions including a head-to-head debate on the viability of eBook subscription services.

As in previous years the conference will deliver a line-up of top tier speakers thereby ensuring attendees benefit from the insight and experience from the finest minds in the content industry. 2014 chair Anna Rafferty returns to Publishing for Digital Minds after delivering an electrifying keynote in this year’s conference calling for publishers to foster deeper relationships with their readers.

This Video Game Could Revolutionize Publishing—and Reading

When the Best Books of 2013 are listed, the most important may not make the cut. That’s because the most exciting literary innovation of the year is not a book at all, but a video game for iPad and iPhone.

Device 6 is a metaphysical thriller in which the world is made almost entirely from words. Playing it is like reading a book—except, in this book, the words veer off in unexpected directions, rather than progressing in orderly fashion down the page. When Anna, the game’s protagonist, turns a corner in the narrative, the text does too, swerving off to one side at a right angle, forcing the player to rotate the screen.
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/11/this-video-game-could-revolutionize-publishing-and-reading/281765/

Academic Publishing Alive and Thriving as Religion Scholars Meet

The American Academy of Religion (AAR) and the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) held their joint annual meetings in Baltimore Nov. 22-25, with more than 10,000 scholars in attendance, about evenly split between the two learned societies. With its combined book exhibit, the conference is an important place for academic religion publishers to sell books to scholars, pitch them for course adoptions, meet with current authors, and scout for new ones.

According to publishers, things look good in a market in which print sales are relatively stable and digital sales add to total revenues. The number of exhibitors plying their wares to scholars and, by extension, their students, grew by 15 percent from last year, to a total of 159, while the number of staff registered by exhibitors grew 8 percent over last year. Almost all of the exhibitors were book and software publishers, and they also took more booth space than last year. “Publishers have decided this is the conference to go to,” said John Kutsko, SBL executive director, who came to the organization following a long career in publishing at Abingdon Press. “To see that growth year to year is really heartening.”
http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/religion/article/60174-academic-publishing-alive-and-thriving-as-religion-scholars-meet.html

French writers, publishers condemn Turkey’s banning of Apollinaire

Sel Publishing House owner İrfan Sancı is one of two suspects in the case. DAILY NEWS photo, Hasan ALTINIŞIK

French writers and publishers wrote a letter to the Turkish Publishers Association (TYB), criticizing a court case on an “offensive” book written by Guillaume Apollinaire.

The Society of Men of Letters of France (SGDLF), French Publishers Association (SNE) and FrenchTranslators Association (SFT) have penned a letter criticizing a lawsuit in which Sel Publishing House owner İrfan Sancı and translator İsmail Yerguz have been convicted with 6 to 10 years imprisonment for releasing an Apollinaire book, “Young Don Juan’s Adventures.”
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/french-writers-publishers-condemn-turkeys-banning-of-apollinaire-.aspx?pageID=238&nID=58710&NewsCatID=351