The WEB
of
ENGLISH
Publishing corner
Writing illustr
| Copyright, contracts, fees and royalties |
| Writing illustrated materials: some tips |
| Publishing courses around the world |
| Submitting material to a publisher |
| WEB OF ENGLISH HOME PAGE |
USEFUL PUBLISHING LINKS
Publishing
news
US-based source.
http://www.authorlink.com/pubnews.html
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Online site for the well-known US-based publishing and bookselling journal.
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
PUBLISHING NEWS
Online site for this UK publication.
http://www.publishingnews.co.uk/pn/default.asp?sg9t=5b71556e7fe2cf09835cead933ffe4ca THE BOOKSELLER
Online site for the UK-based Bookseller, ‘the meeting place for booksellers, publishers and librarians for over 140 years.’
http://www.thebookseller.com/news.html
BOOKWIRE
Not as useful as one might have expected from an organisation like Bowker, but probably worth a look.
http://www.bookwire.com/
Publishing
houses
Useful international list of links to publishers (and other book vendors).
http://www.acqweb.org/pubr.html
PLANETOFBOOKS
An orthographically-challenged source which nevertheless provides useful links to publishing houses worldwide.
http://planetofbooks.com/
LITERARY MARKET PLACE
The online version of the established print directory to the USA and international book publishing industry.
Free registration gives access to lists of publishers with addresses; subscription provides publisher profiles.
https://secure.infotoday.com/lmp/us/index_us.asp
Online booksellers
AMAZON.COMAccording to The Bookseller, 'thought to control a staggering 85% share of web-based book sales through its US and UK sites.'
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/subst/home/home.html/104-1150930-3411902
BARNES AND NOBLE
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/
BORDERS
No longer working with Amazon, Borders are setting up their own online bookstore in 2008. Beta site at:
http://beta.bordersstores.com/online/store/Home
BOOKSHOPS ONLINE
UK-based portal providing links to a whole range of bookselling sites, incuding second-hand and antiquarian booksellers.
http://bookshopsonline.com/bookshops/page.asp?tmplt=htm&wbpg=resources
BLACKWELLS
Specialises in academic titles.
http://bookshop.blackwell.co.uk/jsp/welcome.jsp
PLAY.COM
Started selling books only in 2004, but (according to The Bookseller) 'has since quietly built itself into the UK’s second-biggest online books player, and is planning dramatic expansion over the next few years'.
http://www.play.com/Books/Books/6-/RegionHome.html
Book fairs
BOOKEXPO AMERICA
Major US book fair
http://www.bookexpoamerica.com/
FRANKFURT BOOK FAIR
http://www.book-fair.com/en/fbf/
LONDON BOOK FAIR
http://www.londonbookfair.co.uk/
BOLOGNA CHILDREN'S BOOK FAIR
http://www.bookfair.bolognafiere.it/
TOKYO INTERNATIONAL BOOK FAIR
http://www.reedexpo.co.jp/tibf/english/
BEIJING INTERNATIONAL BOOK FAIR
For English, click on 'Overseas Exhibitor' at top right on the page specified below.
http://www.bibf.net/bibf/index.jsp
WORLD BOOK FAIR
Singapore’s fair.
http://www.bookfair.com.sg
Copyright
INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF REPRODUCTION RIGHTS ORGANISATIONS (IFRRO)
Federation of copyright licensing agencies worldwide.
http://www.ifrro.org/show.aspx?pageid=home
THE DIGITAL DILEMMA
Very interesting US report on ‘intellectual property in the information age’. (Rather curiously, you have to go right to
the bottom of each page to navigate to the next one.)
http://www.nap.edu/html/digital_dilemma/committee.html
COPYRIGHT MYTHS
Relates to US law, but interesting for other readers too. (Also has good links on recent electronic copyright developments.)
http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html
ASIAN COPYRIGHT HANDBOOK
Produced by the Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO
http://www.accu.or.jp/appreb/10copyr/hb_pdf/hbenglis.pdf
AN INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW PRIMER FOR MULTIMEDIA AND WEB DEVELOPERS
Useful material from the Electronic Frontier Foundation. (Over ten years old now, however, so important detail
probably needs double-checking.)
http://w2.eff.org/Censorship/Academic_edu/CAF/law/multimedia-handbook
‘COPYLEFT’
'Copyleft' is, to quote Wikipedia, 'a play on the word copyright and describes the practice of using copyright law to remove
restrictions on distributing copies and modified versions of a work for others and requiring that the same freedoms be preserved
in modified versions.'
Electronic
publishing
Honco’s excellent website from Japan. Look at the archive (especially the ‘100 day dialogues’) as well as the current stuff.
[Sadly, this site now seems to be defunct.]
http://www.honco.net/index.html
INTERNATIONAL DIGITAL PUBLISHING FORUM
See especially the Open Publication Structure (OPS), successor to the Open eBook Publication Structure or "OEB" originally
produced in 1999.
http://www.idpf.org/
‘A REVIEW OF BOOKS IN THE AGE OF THEIR TECHNOLOGICAL OBSOLESCENCE’
Joseph Tabbi’s article begins, ‘To introduce an electronic book review, in the very medium that is reducing book technology
to a museum piece, is to confront some of the more persistent cultural contradictions of the past few decades.’
http://www.altx.com/ebr/tabbi.htm
HYPERMEDIA LINKS
Information on electronic books (including publishers)
http://home.pcisys.net/~stanford/hypermedia.htm
eBOOKS
A recent Business Week look at the current state of play. With a convergence of technological developments, is the e-book's
time finally coming?
http://www.businessweek.com/investor/content/oct2007/pi20071026_777647.htm?campaign_id=yhoo
THE XML FAQ
One place to start trying to get your head round XML. (I’ve yet to find a really good source for a simple introduction to
XML's relevance to publishing, specifically. If anyone reading this knows of one, please e-mail me at richardslessor@webofenglish.co.uk.)
http://xml.silmaril.ie/
SGML
A fairly simple initial introduction to the Standard Generalised Markup Language, ‘parent’ of HTML and XML.
http://www.freebsd.org/docproj/sgml.html
HYPERTEXT
Printed material is almost exclusively static and linear, but electronic on-screen presentations need not be either.
What are the implications for reading, writing and perhaps the very nature of knowledge and language? Wikipedia
offers an introduction to the ideas of hypertext and hypermedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypertext
International
organisations
‘IPA was founded in 1896 and represents the publishing industry world-wide through 78 national, regional and
specialised publishers associations in 65 countries.’
http://ipa-uie.org/
APPREB
Asia-Pacific Cooperative Programme in Reading Promotion and Book Development
http://www.accu.or.jp/appreb/index.html
AFRICAN PUBLISHERS' NETWORK (APNET)
Based in Accra, APNET is (to quote its website) 'a pan-African organization established in 1992, which brings
together national publishers associations and publishing communities to strengthen indigenous publishing
throughout Africa.' Also HQ of the African Publishing Institute, which aims to coordinate publishing education in Africa.
http://www.apnet.org/organization/index.htm
Provides useful links to resources related to editing.
http://www.the-efa.org/
AMERICAN COPY EDITORS' SOCIETY
Has some useful resources.
http://www.copyblock.com/acesdenver/
EDITORS' ASSOCIATION OF CANADA
http://www.editors.ca/
SOCIETY FOR EDITORS AND PROOFREADERS (UK)
http://sfep.org.uk/
Other good
publishing pages
Good links, well classified.
http://home.pcisys.net/~stanford/links.htm
BOOKJOBS.COM
Useful information about publishing from a US book industry recruitment agency
http://www.bookjobs.com/page.php?prmID=8
HANS ZELL
http://www.hanszell.co.uk/navtitle.shtml
IS IT A BOOK?
Some challenging but interesting articles on the past, present and future of ‘the book’.
http://www.philobiblon.com/isitabook/
AUTHORLINK
An interesting attempt to connect authors, editors and agents through an online site.
http://www.authorlink.com/
EAST ASIA PUBLISHERS CONFERENCE
To quote its website, 'The East Asia Publishers Conference is a nonprofit organization that brings together publishing professionals from throughout East Asia.'
http://www.eapubc.net/en/