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Apple and Amazon – dog fight and bad influences on the market

11th June 2013

There was this blog from the Bookseller, which I am going to copy in total, as they say it so much better than I could. I am a mac user and I often order books through Amazon, but, as an independent publisher, it makes me upset to see how they try and control the market. Most interesting is that they are fighting over ebooks, when they soon will be last year's black. There are so many better options, especially for the kids that write for Bombadil and the many kids that value our brand. Trial and marginalisation (Submitted by Philip Jones) The Apple e-book price fixing case is a curious side-show for an industry that is already looking beyond the...

Lots of new things happening

5th June 2013

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When others go to the beach and enjoy their bank holiday weekend, we have been stuck inside (well most of the time :.D) working hard and getting the last pieces to fall into place. Our shop is ready now, and when it is released there will be new updates about our wonderful authors, their books, future books and publishing at large. We have also developed a dashboard which will show interesting information about what is selling. To keep the suspense, however, we will be releasing features - and books - a little at a time. So keep your eyes peeled. And that is not the only thing. We are also almost ready with our mentor-author stage gate document handling program,...

Dreams and reality

3rd May 2013

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There is a brilliant video called The happy List. It is about all the little things that we dream about, about reality, about how many prefer to live in a pretend world. It also raises interesting questions about what happiness is. I know reality is important, but I am in a world where, to some extent, the imagination becomes reality, and thus happiness is imagination. You read a book, you enter a wonderful world of make-believe, a world of thoughts and ideas and action. A pretend world where we can chose the topic, and forget about the world for a while. Saying that, some book topics are not wonderful and neither are they make-believe, but even with the worst of...

Books sales up in times of recession

1st May 2013

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It has long been known that more books are sold in times of financial difficulties than when times are good. One reason is that people spend more time at home, another is the link between studying and bad times. I know that literature is not always seen as education, and though some, like Fifty Shades of Grey, which has added greatly to the increase in book sales in 2012, is not really considered standard educational literature, then books as such, not to mention reading, exemplify learning. According to this morning's briefing in the Bookseller total book sales in digital and physical formats grew 4% in 2012 to a total of £3.3bn. That overall growth contrasts with a 2% dip recorded the...

Digital books cannot be resold according to court ruling

23rd April 2013

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According to news in the Bookseller, this morning, a German court has ruled that digital books cannot be resold by purchasers. The German District Court of Bielefeld ruled that digital and audiobooks were not subject to "exhaustion of the rights of the author" in the same way that physical books were in a recent court ruling, according to Publishers Weekly. Last July, the Court of Justice of the European Union upheld purchasers' rights to resell software through UsedSoft. However the German court has said digital books are distinct from software, and cannot be resold. The Booksellers Association in Germany has "welcomed" the court¹s ruling.

It does pay off to be a publisher – at least for some

23rd April 2013

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Last Sunday, the Sunday Times Rich List placed Waterstones' owner Alexander Mamut as the highest-ranking trade figure. Mr Mamut is placed 54th on the list, with a fortune of £1,483m according to the newspaper supplement; however, his riches are not all down to Waterstones, but due to his substantial Russian assets in property, construction and oil fields. However, there are several authors on the list, as well as other publishers. Viscount Cowdray and the Pearson family are in joint 224th place, down from a joint 164th place last year. The supplement has discounted their estimated fortune by £100m, and put the family stake in the Pearson media group, Penguin's parent-company, as being worth "only" £150m, below the 3% declarable limit....

Has publishing become the territory of geeks?

17th April 2013

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I am quite a gadget fan and love gadget shops. Almost as much as book shops. I also love geeks. I know that the word geeks used to have an unpleasant connotation, and I think I may be a bit of a hipster liking geeks before it because a positive things. But geeks are just fun. Geeks, and please correct me if I am wrong, was negative and for the inept. Now it is more positive, though main, I think for those involved in the work of gaming and computers. Recently, it seems, however, that geeks have "infiltrated" the world of publishing. Publishers have become hip and although there has always been a following, it tended to be, in my...

London Book Fair

16th April 2013

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The London Book Fair started yesterday 15th April 2013 in Earl's Court and will last until tomorrow, Wednesday. Today Michael Krüger was awarded the London Book Fair Lifetime Achievement Award. Michael Krüger has published no less than 16 Nobel laureates for literature, so he really is an amazing man. Congratulations! The London Book fair started in 1971 as a librarian's trade show (SPEX Small and Specialist Publishers' Exhibition) and has over the years evolved into one of the most prestigious events in publishing.

Signs of changes in the book industry visible at the London Book Fair

15th April 2013

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It was really interesting reading the following article in the Bookseller this morning. It shows that change is on its way and it is good to see that publishers and self-publisheed authors are finally meeting, though I do wonder if the self-published authors will just give up their ambitions of changing the industry once they are picked up by an agent of a big publishing house. At Bombadil we are dedicated to changing the world of publishing from the youth perspective. Here is a copy of the article, with a link above. Happy reading! The future of self-publishing, the new agency model and the Penguin Random House merger will be the hottest talking points at the London Book Fair, industry...

English spelling can be a bit of a hassle even for people who went to the old school

12th April 2013

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I was just sent this wonderful video About spelling lessons. It is a 102 year old gentleman explaining how difficult it is to spell English. I grew up with English, but I do agree that there are many peculiar spelling rules especially for the basic words. The more advance, the easier they become I think :-D

Apple and Amazon – dog fight and bad influences on the market

Lots of new things happening

Dreams and reality

Books sales up in times of recession

Digital books cannot be resold according to court ruling

It does pay off to be a publisher – at least for some

Has publishing become the territory of geeks?

London Book Fair

Signs of changes in the book industry visible at the London Book Fair

English spelling can be a bit of a hassle even for people who went to the old school

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