Publishing Predictions for 2012

Digital Book World has published a list of ten predictions for change in the publishing industry for 2012. None of them are surprising.

http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2011/ten-bold-predictions-for-book-publishing-in-2012/?et_mid=531908&rid=2646413

1. We will see more self-published best-sellers next year with an exponential rise in the number of million-selling authors.

2. Large publishing companies will go through major restructurings, creating new positions and redundancies of all shapes and sizes.

3. Amazon will come out with a larger tablet with an 8.9-inch screen and it will be priced at $299 or lower.

4. Apple will come out with a smaller iPad at a reduced price.

5. Sony will get a second life in the e-reader game when Pottermore launches in the Spring.

6. Literary agencies will engage in a campaign to communicate the value of their services to the book industry.

7. Authors will become disenchanted with the rights they sign away to publishers. Shorter and more flexible copyright terms will become more attractive to authors.

8. The standard e-book royalty from major publishing houses will rise next year and will escalate with increased sales.

9. Standards of what an app and what a book is will change and apps will eventually be sold in the iBookstore.

10. More publishing companies will form in-house transmedia groups.

12 Days of Christmas, Editorial Version

The 12 Days of Christmas—for word nerds and grammar geeks

http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/10268.aspx

For example:
The Ghost of Christmas Future Perfect Passive: "Ebenezer! You will have been disappointed with your life."

Rap to Writing

http://vimeo.com/33410512

A rap video about The Elements of Style by Strunk and White, from students at Columbia Journalism School!

Winner: Bad Sex in Fiction Award

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/dec/06/david-guterson-bad-sex-award

An over-reliance on coy terms such as "family jewels", "back door" and "front parlour" has won acclaimed American novelist David Guterson the dubious accolade of the Literary Review's bad sex in fiction award.

Guterson, who took the literary world by storm in 1994 with his bestselling debut Snow Falling on Cedars, snaffled the bad sex prize for his fifth novel, Ed King, a modern reimagining of the Oedipus myth. His win was announced in the apt setting of the In & Out Club in London by Carry On star Barbara Windsor; although the American writer was unable to accept his award of a plaster foot in person, he took his triumph in good spirits, saying in response that "Oedipus practically invented bad sex, so I'm not in the least bit surprised".

Guterson edged out strong competition from Haruki Murakami's long-awaited new novel 1Q84, which sees the Japanese writer pen the immortal line: "A freshly made ear and a freshly made vagina look very much alike, Tengo thought".