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For the book publishers and authors perspective, Borders was once a worthy rival to Barnes & Noble. Perhaps even bigger than B&N. The two brick-and-mortar chain bookstores were able to offer better prices than independent bookstores and drove many out of business. But that was before the success of Amazon and other online retailers brought the phrase “brick and mortar” into regular use — and once that happened, everything changed; indeed many UK book publishers watched in horror last year the UK divison of Borders hit the wall.

Barnes & Noble, if buffeted by Amazon’s success, has remained afloat; Borders has been taking on water.

On Dec. 30 Borders announced it would not make payments owed to some publishers, without specifying whom. Hachette confirmed that it was among those who would not be paid by Borders.

Borders has nearly 200 Waldenbooks and Borders Express outlets slated for closure before the month of January is out. Additional Borders stores are also set to close, including Westwood’s.

Borders is also cutting back on staff. On Wednesday, Borders announced that it would close a distribution center in Tennessee, eliminating more than 300 jobs; 15 management positions were eliminated Friday. And the resignation of two top executives — the chief information officer and general counsel — was announced at the beginning of 2011.

Meanwhile, Borders is seeking to restructure its debt like the frantic chess of a brutal endgame. On Thursday, Borders met with publishers and proposed that the payments owed by the bookseller be reclassified as a loan, as part of that refinancing. “But on Friday, publishers remained skeptical of the proposal put forth by Borders,” the New York Times reports. “One publisher said that the proposal was not enough to convince the group that Borders had found a way to revive its business, and that they were less optimistic than ever that publishers could return to doing business with Borders.”

Nevertheless, Borders — which lost money in the first three quarters of 2010 — remains the second-largest bookstore chain by revenue. Its loss would have a significant effect on book publishers across the United States.

Investors, however, seem cheered by the recent news swirling around Borders. Shares rose 12% on Thursday after reports that the bookseller was close to securing financing.

Last month, for the first time, The Bookseller trade magazine’s annual forward-gazing FutureBook conference was sold out. The previous year, only 150 people from the world of book publishing, writing and technology had gathered to lecture and gossip about where the book goes next. Last month, 400 crammed the halls. Book Publishers, it seems, have finally clicked when it comes to the digital world. But where are all the writers?

Kate Pullinger used to be a regular key speaker at such meetings. An acclaimed christian book publishers‘ author in the traditional, codex format of books, Pullinger is currently longlisted for the Impac Dublin Literary Award and the winner of the Canadian Governor General’s Award for Fiction for her book The Mistress of Nothing, the story a Victorian lady and her maid who set sail down the Nile. She has mastered the codex form, with six novels to her name, but over the past 10 years she has also been pushing the boundaries of digital fiction. “But I haven’t been to many conferences in the past three years,” she tells me. “I was almost always the only writer there, and I got tired of that.”

In the past year, publishers have leapt at the chance of finding ways to make the digital book work. Taking advantage of the interactivity of platforms such as e-readers, iPads and smartphones, they have found considerable success with non-fiction. Jamie Oliver’s “20 Minute Meals” has been a chart-topper among the apps. Stephen Fry released a version of his ebook publishing autobiography as an app, “MyFry”, for the iPhone, which invites users to scroll around a dial to access different segments of his life. Another runaway success has been “The Elements” by Theodore Gray, a science book that was adapted for the iPad and provides in-depth descriptions and images of every element in the periodic table. Since Touch Press launched it in digital form in April, it has sold 160,000 copies and generated $2m in revenue.

But fiction has not found the transition to anything other than the e-book format so easy. “Fiction seems not to be grasping the potential,” says Pullinger. “Many of the apps and enhanced e-books are just codex books with videos and notes shovelled in – like DVDs with their added extras.”

Pullinger started working in online fiction with the TrAce Online Writing Centre, based at Nottingham Trent University, a decade ago. “I was asked to teach online creative-story writing,” she says. “Back in 2001, this was new to me. I only really used the internet for booking flights and sending emails. But after teaching the course, I found that it’s a useful environment for focusing on the text, and that I had a kind of affinity for it.”

Since then she has been experimenting, often in collaboration with the electronic artist Chris Joseph, on several major projects. “Inanimate Alice”, which came out in 2005, is a sequence of stories about a young girl who exists between real and digital worlds. The written narrative is deliberately minimalist and built into a rich audio-visual experience. Then came “Flight Paths”, begun in 2007, which Pullinger describes as a “networked novel”. It was inspired by the news story of an illegal immigrant who had stowed away behind the landing wheel of an aircraft, only to fall to Earth in suburban London. In addition to her own resulting short story, Pullinger invited others to contribute their own takes on the theme. “The third phase of ‘Flight Paths’ is now about to come together in digital and print,&rdq

Google Inc., owner of the world’s most popular search engine, is starting an electronic book- selling service today with almost 4,000 publishers, in a challenge to Amazon.com Inc. and Apple Inc.

The service, called Google eBooks, features about 3 million titles for free and hundreds of thousands for purchase, the company said today in a post on its website. Book Publishers include Random House Group Ltd. and HarperCollins Publishers.

“They’re going to have access to many, many more books than anyone else,” said James McQuivey, an analyst with Forrester Research Inc. in Cambridge, Massachusetts. “This is the time to be doing it” because the market is growing so quickly, he said.

Google, looking to improve its search service while expanding beyond traditional online advertising, is adding a revenue source that’s built from its multiyear effort to scan the world’s books. The number of electronic-reading devices sold in the U.S. should jump to 29.4 million in 2015 from 3.7 million by the end of last year, according to Forrester.

“This is a rapidly growing market, and there’s obviously plenty of room in this market for a number of competitors,” Scott Dougall, director of product management for Google Books, said in an interview. “We’re taking this seriously.”

The eBooks service can be accessed on computers with modern browsers, smartphones and tablets from multiple operating systems including Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS.

The service will work on some e-readers as well, including Barnes & Noble Inc.’s Nook. It isn’t accessible on Amazon’s Kindle, Google spokeswoman Jeannie Hornung said.

Google also will let independent booksellers set up digital stores, helping them compete with Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Members of the American Booksellers Association are able to participate in the program.

While revenue sharing varies, the book publisher receives the majority of the sale through a purchase on Google. With independent booksellers, publishers will typically get the largest portion of the sale, though not necessarily the majority, Hornung said in an interview.

Google’s rivals already are benefitting from growing interest in digital books. The Kindle, which has more than 757,000 books titles, should generate $5.32 billion in revenue in 2012, up from an estimated $2.81 billion for 2010, according to Sandeep Aggarwal, an analyst at Caris & Co.

Apple, which launched its electronic book service earlier this year, had 35 million books downloaded through Sept. 1, the company said.

Libraries nationwide will highlight America’s rich literary history this week by exhibiting novels and book publishers that have been banned over the years.

In homage to the American Library Association’s annual Banned Books Week, UCSB’s library will be spotlighting books ranging from Harper Lee’s classic To Kill a Mockingbird to Stephanie Meyer’s best-selling Twilight series. The event provides students with the opportunity to study ideas and literary topics that have been repressed through history.

Aside from drawing attention to the practice of banning books, Jane Faulkner, Davidson’s librarian for the English and French collections, said UCSB’s nod to the ALA also reveals the appeal of forbidden fruit.

“[For the display in the library lobby] we actually had 25 or 30 copies of banned books,” Faulkner said. “Delightfully, half of the books that we had originally put on display are now [checked out]. Ironically, once a book has been banned, it flies off the shelf.”

Although ALA has hosted the event in years past, this is the first time that UCSB’s library has chosen to present an exhibition in honor of the week.

According to Janet Martorana, Collections Outreach chair — the committee that compiled the display — the exhibition allows the student body to appreciate the importance of banned books.

“I want students to read those banned books,” Martorana said. “It’s important to hear thoughts that one doesn’t necessarily agree with because it shows the bigger picture.”

Additionally, Martorana said the books, ranging from contemporary banned books of book publishers to infamous classics, were all chosen to reiterate the importance of being open minded at a liberal college.

“These are important thoughts not just in a democracy or society, but certainly on a university campus and in a free open library,” Martorana said.

The exhibition also presents surprising statistics about the types of books that are normally banned and the reason for their censorship.

“It’s always striking to learn why a book has been banned,” Faulkner said. “[For example,] Twilight has been banned for ‘religious viewpoint.’”

Breanna Smith, a fourth-year English major, said ALA’s Banned Books Week is fundamental to the preservation of intellectual freedom.

“I think that it’s important to highlight that books are being banned, because much of the time people are not aware that it’s being done,” Smith said. “We assume in today’s society that we can do or watch whatever we want, but it’s important to demonstrate that there is still censorship going on in America.”

Banned Books At Nationwide US Libraries

Coming in with fall are three major events at the Alamogordo Public Library Ð Banned Books Week, the One City One Book program, and the Fall Used Book Sale.

Banned Books Week is underway, and runs through Saturday. The local highlight will be the costume gala from 6-8 p.m. Wednesday at the library.

Plan your Halloween costume early, and let it double as an entry in the gala. Dress as a character from a favorite banned book. One of last year’s winners was library supporter Nola Jones, who came in mourning clothes as Aunt Polly from “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,” by Mark Twain. Entry is free and refreshments will be provided.

“Anyone can attend, they don’t have to wear costumes,” said Amy Rivers, president of the Friends of the Library, which sponsors the costume gala.

Banned Books Week was started in 1982 by Chicago librarian Judith Kr

Sketching has been so much fun. Why didn't I start this sooner? The secret for me is to let myself off the "perfection" hook. I'm using a small freebie notebook from my husband. It's not at all precious. Also, I've given myself permission to draw a French fry if I want. My hubby's at CES (Consumer Electronics Show), so I took the kids out for lunch. As usual, I finished first and had to wait for them. This time, I had my trusty sketchbook and started to draw their lunch. It was fun and they loved it. They've each started their own book. Yippee!

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One of my favorite blogs is DaniDraws. She's compiled a list of her favorite blogs. I'm really excited about quite a few blogs. It's very addicting. I enjoy seeing what others are up to. It's a wonderful thing for one with a solo career.

Here's my list:
Holli Conger, DaniDraws, Genine's Art Blog, Claudine Helmuth, Paige Keiser, Elizabeth Dulemba, Scott Franson, Paula Becker,and last but not least, Paula Pertile. I add more all the time. Check these out and enjoy!

It's almost here! I finished the costumes for my sons right in the nick of time. I thought I'd finish them weeks ago, but life keeps happening. I used Claudine Helmuth's Sitting Pretty Poppets idea from the Martha Stewart Show. It was fun! I hope his angel and devil can make it through Halloween.

On another note we just had an exciting thunderstorm. It only lasted 15 minutes, but it was so exciting!! We almost never get those here. I'm from St. Louis, so it reminds me of home.