FutureBook

After the huge success of July's Futurebook drinks night, we've booked a bigger bar for our next one which will be on 16th September. It will be held upstairs in the Yorkshire Grey bar in Theobalds Road in London, starting at 6.30. Read more »

Dean Johnson, Creative Director, Brandwidth gives us his review of the Kindle 3: I’m angry. Angry for two reasons: The first because I never like to start a blog post with the words “I’m angry”, the second because Amazon has failed me. I’ll get to that in a minute.

You’re an intelligent audience so I take it you all know what a Kindle is: It’s an eBook reader with a very specific role – provide the best black and white print simulation in the lightest, most conveniently-sized mobile digital device. Read more »

I'm developing a section on Futurebook.net of book app reviews and previews. Critiques of book apps; their usability, functionality and whether the app has enhanced the original book/narrative. I'm hoping these reviews will come from bloggers, reviewers and book trade folk. If you'd like to be involved, email me at sam.missingham@bookseller.co.uk. Kicking this off is Jennifer Lucy Allan's review of the Marvel app.  Read more »

The digital publishing industry in China is, like the rest of the world still in its infancy.Whilst the Chinese government official statistics claim that for the first time, more digitally published products were sold than physical (by value), it's very difficult to see how these statistics have been reached, especially when Xinhua, the sta Read more »

So, while you lot were drinking Mojitos and fine wines and some of us were toiling over our third novels and editing our second ones and preparing to become a dad for the first time, August was quite a startler. Read more »

It's weird that writers, most have whom have never made anything like a living out of their work when it was printed on paper, are now being drawn into fretting  about how publishers are going to earn a crust in the digital future. Read more »

Garbhan Downey has worked as a journalist, broadcaster, newspaper editor and literary editor. Currently an editor with Guildhall Press, he has published six novels and several non-fiction books. He talks us through his journey through publishing technology to releasing the first e-book from an Irish publisher: Read more »

The Man Booker Prize has launched a free app, apparently the "UK's first app for a literary prize". The free app offers access to the Booker archive, a history of the prize, author interviews, video content and audio. There is also a neat GPS service that will also allow users to search for their local book shop or to buy directly from online retailers' websites. Read more »

I received thirteen rejections before I decided to self-publish.  This was five years ago.  You hear disaster stories from self-published authors, mostly concerning the vanity press and/or boxes and boxes of books languishing in the spare room.  I’m one of the lucky ones.  I’ve recently signed a good six-figure deal for my Stonewylde Series with Gollancz (Orion Publishing Group) for the worldwide rights to my series. Read more »

Andrew Wylie and Random House have reached a truce over the agent's bold bid to bypass the traditional publishing route and publish direct to Amazon's Kindle device.

A joint statement issued by Markus Dohle, chairman & c.e.o., Random House and Andrew Wylie, president of The Wylie Agency read: Read more »