Category Archives: Briefly Noted

Briefly Noted

Briefly Noted | The short story gets big – The Irish Times – Sat, Feb 25, 2012

February 25, 2012 – 2:18 pm

Rather nice piece on short stories in the Irish Times this weekend. Well worth a read:

So what’s the story? Is it all just a coincidence or is something new in the literary air?

Our passion for electronic media provides part of the answer. Bloomsbury spells it out in an online introduction to its spring story series: “In the last few years there’s been a perceptible growth in enthusiasm for short stories, as opinion and debate are distilled into 140 characters, the internet stealthily erodes our attention span, and advertisers train our minds to receive and buy into new ideas in 30 seconds. As life speeds up, so does our appreciation of ‘short’ and the appeal of a story is perfectly crafted to the length of a commute, a lunch break, the last minutes of the day before switching off the light.”

via The short story gets big – The Irish Times – Sat, Feb 25, 2012.

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Briefly Noted | ‘Proactive’ indies become regional winners | The Bookseller

February 24, 2012 – 9:04 am

Three shops—Mainstreet Trading from St Boswells in the Scottish Borders, Dublin’s The Gutter Bookshop and The Chorleywood Bookshop—have all won their regions for the second consecutive year. Mainstreet also previously won the Walker Books ­Children’s Independent Bookshop of the Year in 2009.   

Rosamund de la Hey, who co-owns Mainstreet with husband Bill, said Mainstreet had focused in the past year on “keeping in touch with our customers”. She added: “You have to think laterally. We have tried to be proactive, doing a lot of marketing online and with social media, as well as instore.” 

via ‘Proactive’ indies become regional winners | The Bookseller.

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Briefly Noted | Publishers make bid to close filesharing sites | Technology | guardian.co.uk

February 20, 2012 – 12:55 pm

Ireland-based websites Library.nu and ifile.it were served with cease and desist court orders on Tuesday after two major publishing groups accused the sites of earning $10.6m £6.7m in revenue a year.

The action against alleged filesharers came amid fresh opposition to controversial anti-piracy legislation in Europe. Internet advocacy groups have expressed concern about the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement Acta which has so far been signed by 22 EU member states, including the UK.

via Publishers make bid to close filesharing sites | Technology | guardian.co.uk.

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Briefly Noted | The bargain bookseller | Get London Reading

February 13, 2012 – 3:15 pm

The numbers involved are colossal, driven by those low prices: last year The Book People sold 250,000 cook books by Jamie Oliver, 130,000 by baking model Lorraine Pascale, plus 120,000 books of poetry. In a world where a new novel rarely sells 1,000 copies, this gives them vast power. “They are the biggest customer for an awful lot of British publishers,” says literary agent Jonathan Lloyd.

As a result, Glaister’s reaction to an early proof copy is as anxiously awaited as the twitch of a Roman emperor’s thumb. If she dislikes a cover or takes against an intro, editors will tweak rather than lose the chance of 40,000 advance sales. If she’s keen, success is – almost – assured. A Stolen Life, Jaycee Dugard’s account of her 18-year abduction by a paedophile, sold 80,000 copies through The Book People, 20,000 through the trade.

via The bargain bookseller | Get London Reading.

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Briefly Noted | Eight years late and six times over budget, a book on the history of St Stephen’s Green is costing the taxpayer €900 per copy – National News – Independent.ie

February 13, 2012 – 9:44 am

Instead the OPW dramatically scaled back what they wanted, despite paying about €400,000. It was agreed the author would write a standalone title on St Stephens Green. The book ‘St Stephens Green 1660-1875’ has been acclaimed by critics, but has sold only 443 copies since it was published in October. The book retails at €35, which equates to a cost to the taxpayer of about €900 per copy if you take the overall €400,000 payment into account.

via Eight years late and six times over budget, a book on the history of St Stephen’s Green is costing the taxpayer €900 per copy – National News – Independent.ie.

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Briefly Noted | Eason plans 150 job cuts to achieve €5m saving – The Irish Times – Wed, Feb 08, 2012

February 10, 2012 – 8:14 am

IRISH-OWNED book and stationery retailer Eason has reached agreement with staff on a cost reduction programme that will involve about 150 voluntary redundancies as it seeks to achieve savings of €5 million a year.

The company has also decided to close its shop at Talbot Street in north inner city Dublin.

It will cease trading on March 12th

via Eason plans 150 job cuts to achieve €5m saving – The Irish Times – Wed, Feb 08, 2012.

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Briefly Noted

Briefly Noted | And The Nation’s All-Time Favourite is: | | Childrens Books Ireland

February 10, 2012 – 8:13 am

Voters across Ireland have chosen John Boyne’s The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas as their all-time favourite of the 21 books which have won the annual Bisto Children’s Book of the Year Award since the awards began in 1990!

The Bisto Ballot was launched in March 2011 to mark the 21st anniversary of the awards. A specially commissioned 21st anniversary exhibition documenting the history of the awards and each of the winning titles has been on tour for the past ten months, allowing people the length and breadth of the country to cast their votes.

via And The Nation’s All-Time Favourite is: | | Childrens Books Ireland.

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Briefly Noted | James Joyce children’s story The Cats of Copenhagen gets first publication | Books | guardian.co.uk

February 10, 2012 – 8:12 am

Like its predecessor, The Cats of Copenhagen was written in a letter to Joyce’s grandchild, Stephen James Joyce, while the author was in Denmark and the four-year-old Stephen was in France. The new tale is “exquisite, surprising, and with a keen, almost anarchic subtext”, said Ithys, which has printed a limited run of 200 illustrated copies, ranging in price from €300 (£250) to €1,200.

“In early August 1936, Joyce had sent his grandson ‘a little cat filled with sweets’ – a kind of Trojan cat to outwit the grown-ups. A few weeks later, while in Copenhagen and probably after hunting for another fine gift, Joyce penned ‘Cats’, which begins: ‘Alas! I cannot send you a Copenhagen cat because there are no cats in Copenhagen.’ Surely there were cats in Copenhagen! But perhaps not secretly delicious ones. And so the story proceeds to describe a Copenhagen in which things are not what they seem,” said Herbert. “For an adult reader (and no doubt for a very clever child) ‘Cats’ reads as an anti-establishment text, critical of fat-cats and some authority figures, and it champions the exercise of common sense, individuality and free will.”

via James Joyce children’s story The Cats of Copenhagen gets first publication | Books | guardian.co.uk.

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Briefly Noted | Barnes & Noble, Taking On Amazon in the Fight of Its Life – NYTimes.com

January 30, 2012 – 11:18 am

ON Homer Avenue in downtown Palo Alto is a tiny, two-story building that once housed the maker of Palo Alto Bread. It was here, in March 2009, that Barnes & Noble brought a few new hires to create the Nook. Outsiders weren’t quite sure what the company was up to. The landlord figured that Mr. Lynch wanted to open a store.

What began as an almost quixotic effort to catch up with the Amazon Kindle has now grown into a 300-person operation in the heart of Silicon Valley. Mr. Lynch has hired engineers, software developers and designers, who are today spread among five low-slung buildings.

via Barnes & Noble, Taking On Amazon in the Fight of Its Life – NYTimes.com.

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Briefly Noted | The Irish middle class Mum who became an Escort – Books, Entertainment – Independent.ie

January 30, 2012 – 10:15 am

Written under the pseudonym Scarlett O’Kelly, the author gives an eye-opening picture of what she experienced when she resorted to prostitution to maintain her comfortable home and family lifestyle in the face of the financial collapse.

It is significant that a serious publisher like Penguin Ireland is bringing out the book, which is titled Between The Sheets. “This is a detailed account of a real person’s life,” says Penguin Ireland’s managing director, Michael McLoughlin. “We have checked this woman’s story thoroughly and we are satisfied that it’s genuine. What her book reveals is going to shock a lot of people, but it’s important that we all understand the impact the recession is having on our society at all levels.”

via The Irish middle class Mum who became an Escort – Books, Entertainment – Independent.ie.

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