Publishers to Delay E-books, Hachette UK Files Borders Lawsuit, and More

by
Adrian Versteegh
12.10.09

Every day Poets & Writers Magazine scans the headlines—from publishing reports to academic announcements to literary dispatches—for all the news that creative writers need to know. Here are today's stories:

Time magazine has named the Nook e-reader its number two gadget of 2009.

Concerned that ten-dollar e-books have been “cannibalizing” hardcover sales, Hachette and Simon & Schuster announced this week that they will begin delaying the electronic release of leading titles (Wall Street Journal).

Looking to recover its remaining stock and claim payment for books already sold, Hachette is suing the administrator of the recently bankrupted British division of Borders (Bookseller). Meanwhile, Borders UK CEO Philip Downer has been dismissed from the company in a second series of layoffs (Bookseller).

The success of Twilight is contributing to a renewal of popular interest in the Brontë sisters (Guardian).

Capote director Bennett Miller will helm the film adaptation of Michael Lewis’s baseball best-seller Moneyball (Norton, 2003) (New York Times).

Inspired by the results of a community survey, the King County Library System in Washington has opened an unstaffed miniature branch (Library Journal).

Duke University Press has published a doctoral dissertation by the late S. Ann Dunham, Barack Obama’s mother. Several of the President’s other relatives also have books due out soon (Christian Science Monitor).

Social networking site Goodreads, which lets bookworms share data and reading recommendations, has raised two million dollars to fund the expansion of its services (Publishers Weekly).