Kobo has launched in Germany, the cornerstone of a plan to dominate European e-bookselling.
European Lit Published with Passion, Promoted with Wine
With a focused list of short translations, UK’s Peirene Press has quickly developed a cult following among London’s smart set.
The Goose That Laid the Golden Egg: A Brief Lesson in German Publishing Psychology
At the Publishers’ Forum in Berlin earlier this month, it became clear that German publishers have no desire or need to rush into digital publishing. By Amanda DeMarco “It’s inevitable.” At the Publishers’ Forum hosted by digital services provider Klopotek in Berlin earlier this month, several versions of the phrase “Shape your own future!” cropped up in presentations. At first I thought …
Read This: Tim Parks on Stamm’s European Economy and Franzen’s American Excess
By Edward Nawotka The New York Review of Books has an intriguing essay by Tim Parks about the differences between the European and American sensibility in writing fiction, with a focus on the work of Swiss writer Peter Stamm and the American Jonathan Franzen: Parks begins… I’m English and live in Italy. During March, within two or three days of …
Mathias Énard’s ‘Zone’: Brilliance in a Single 517 Page Sentence
By Dennis Abrams It really shouldn’t work at all — Matias Énard’s Zone. This novel, the story of Francis Servain Mirkovic, fighter in the Balkan Wars, spy, and amateur historian, traveling from Milan to Rome by train, carrying a briefcase filled with names, photos, and information about the violent history of the lands surrounding the Mediterranean – the “Zone,” as …
Does Europe Need a Single Open Market for E-books?
By Edward Nawotka As discussed in today’s lead story, European laws governing the sale of books vary wildly from country to country, often favoring print over e-books. Many of the major markets have fixed book pricing and part of the reasoning behind fixed book prices is that it allows all retailers to compete on a level playing field when it …
In Europe E-books are Approached with “Concern, Not Hysteria,” says Italy’s Mussinelli
By Daniel Kalder MILAN: “The problem in Italy and in Europe in general, is that data on e-books is scarce, says Cristina Mussinelli, a digital publishing consultant for the Italian Publishers Association and European member of the IDPF board. “There is no central entity collecting information in an organized way, and the ways in which different countries collect data may not …
Is 2011 the Tipping Point for E-books in Europe?
Europe’s e-book market is growing, but is it robust enough to attract the mass market? By Edward Nawotka Today’s lead story looks at the growth of e-books in Europe, which has been slow and pragmatic and has long lagged behind the US and Japan. But the introduction of several new platforms, devices and digitization projects at the end of 2010 …
EU Report Urges 7-Year Limit on Commercially Digitized Works
By Hannah Johnson Yesterday, the European Commission released a report which proposes a seven-year period of use on digitized, public domain works. This proposal seems aimed specifically at Google and its ongoing book scanning project. The New York Times reports: “During a period of preferential use, a public domain book, for instance, that was digitized by Google would be available …
Best of Publishing Perspectives 2010: Europe
Publishing Perspectives aims to bring you new and important stories from the international publishing community, stories that don’t always get reported in English. Today, we present our list of this year’s best stories from Europe that represent the major issues and developments there over the last 12 months. France France’s Fnac Introduces FnacBook, E-Reader War Heats Up Read the article …