News Blips
By Therese Walsh | July 16, 2008 |
Life’s been nutty for Kath and me lately, but we don’t want you starving for books & business news. Here are some of the latest happenings:
Merriam-Webster added some new words to the dictionary last week, including “webinar,” “fanboy,” and one that should’ve been there eons ago (says the health writer in me), “phytonutrient.”
Salman Rushdie won the Best of the Booker award –an award created in order to celebrate 40 years of this prestigious annual UK award.
A 400-year-old stolen work of Shakespeare’s–missing for a decade–has been recovered.
From Publisher’s Weekly:
Borders has added a new audiobook download service, which it is calling Borders Audiobook Downloads, to its remade Borders.com Web site. The service launched yesterday with 15,000 titles, including fiction and nonfiction bestsellers, classics, self-help and children’s books. Borders will add hundreds of new titles each week.
Ebooks seem to be riding high tide right now. Amazon is reporting that the Kindle accounts for 12% of the sales for all book titles sold…and some of them sold to agent Nathan Bransford. Click HERE to read his agently opinion on the reader’s usefulness.
In more news from the blogosphere…JA Konrath from A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing is offering a free download of a compilation of some of his best blog posts, called…A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing Book. The book is described as “An all-inclusive writing book over four years in the making, filled with more than 750 pages of tips, tricks, and advice. And it’s 100% free.” Download it for yourself in PDF format HERE.
Dear Author has just started a new series of posts called “If you Like.” Each post will focus on one particular author, starting with this week’s If You Like author, Judith McNaught. DA has the low-down on what you might expect from a McNaught romance, then lists a few authors you might like if McNaught writes to your tastes.
Finally, if you’re bored–or just interested in a little procrastination (but just a little, right?)–why not check out TypeRacer? Enter into typing battles with friends or strangers and learn how fast your fingers really are.
Write on!
Therese Walsh (she/her) co-founded Writer Unboxed in 2006 and is the site’s editorial director. She was the editor of WU’s only book, Author in Progress, and runs the Writer Unboxed UnConference.
Her second novel, The Moon Sisters, received starred reviews and was named one of the best books of the year by Library Journal and Book Riot.
Learn more about Therese on her website, and sign up for her newsletter to be among the first to hear about any new projects.
Holy cow! TypeRacer is awesome! I made it to the top 20 for a brief, shining moment. :)
I know! It’s addicting, isn’t it? :)