For nearly a decade, some say even longer, people in the publishing industry have been decrying the death of the midlist. Now, after a cluster of small presses have sprung up that trade in specialized categories and literary fiction, more commercial authors, abandoned by their big publishers, are finding there aren’t many options in the middle.

Let's talk about a dirty word.   MIDLIST. Some published authors seem to be quite worried about being called "midlist". But kids, I've got n...

John Scalzi put together a bingo card of hackneyed arguments for electronic publishing. I figure it's only right to return the favor...  Two squares are the same on both cards. I thought it was worth stressing that both sides use them.  Lest anybody think I'm descending into satire with the Shakespeare square, it was in the New York Times. I admit that it's otherwise so obviously contrary to fact that I'd feel silly including it at all.  (For those who don't know me, I am a professional copyeditor, and I love my career. Almost all my work comes from traditional publishers. This is why I care about well-meaning but misguided arguments that damage my own industry.)

Press director talks about clearing image rights for books.

People are increasingly happy to read magazine content on a tablet, but they  …

Good summary of the agency-vs.-wholesale argument, and the Macmillan vs. Amazon fiasco.

Hello World.   It is four weeks since my last posting.   I have been adrift in the ethers,  learning first-hand how deeply this digital  rev...

According to a new lawsuit, the Kindle combined with discounted $9.99 e-books  …

Every scholarly community has its disagreements, its tensions, its divides. One tension in the digital humanities that has received considerable attention is between those who build digital tools a…