Here are highlights from the links that I shared on Twitter this week @JensBookPage. Note that I also live-tweeted all of the Cybils panelists lists, and set up Twitter lists for each of the panels, and for the Cybils panelists as a whole. I'm not including those Tweets here. If you'd like to see the Cybils panels, just go to Cybils.com.
Book Lists
A Tuesday Ten: Science Fiction + Fantasy for kids set in NYC | Views From the Tesseract http://ow.ly/p2dFz #kidlit
New Stacked book list from Kimberly: Time Traveling Teens http://ow.ly/p2dJj #yalit
Stacked Book List: September Debut YA Novels, rounded up by @catagator http://ow.ly/oZvP6 #yalit
Three great picture book titles that address fear in @MotherReader Thursday Three | #kidlit http://ow.ly/p2cId
Top 10 Sports Books for Youth: 2013, by Daniel Kraus | Booklist http://ow.ly/oZvWE via @100scopenotes
Science-Themed Chapter Books (Fiction) for Kids from @momandkiddo http://ow.ly/oVwGT #kidlit
Cybils
On the #Cybils blog: Fiction Picture Books-- Category Description from @MotherReader http://ow.ly/p40XV #kidlit
On the #Cybils blog: Speculative Fiction --Elementary and Middle Grade --Category Description http://ow.ly/p2d7p @charlotteslib
On the #Cybils blog: Easy Reader- Category Description http://ow.ly/oZuZH| Category Organizer = @readingtub #kidlit
On the #Cybils blog: #BookApps category description http://ow.ly/oXhjO . Category organizer = @MaryAnnScheuer
EBooks
Test Driving Oyster, a "Netflix for Ebooks" - @ShiftTheDigital http://ow.ly/oXBqs
RT @tashrow E-readers: the best way to get the world’s children reading | Technology | The Observer http://buff.ly/1fQIbZm #ebooks #reading
Events
Get ready for Picture Book Month 2013 in November. Jules from 7-Imp is a Champion http://ow.ly/oZwch #kidlit
“Turning the Alphabet into Magic”: Celebrating Roald Dahl by Lauren Donovan | @NerdyBookClub http://ow.ly/oQQ6K #kidlit
"So, thank you, Roald Dahl, who knows how many readers you created besides Matilda." @randomlyreading on Dahl Day http://ow.ly/oQPzp
Growing Bookworms
Readers' Theatre: A great way to build fluency, expression & comprehension says @TrevorHCairney http://ow.ly/oZwkc #literacy
Sad post @StorySnoops on the joy being sucked from a daughter's love of reading by assigned summer reading http://ow.ly/oR2VV
Schools and Libraries
It's never too early: Conversations About Community in 3rd Grade by @frankisibberson http://ow.ly/oVxay
Bookless Public Library Opens In Texas : The Two-Way @NPRBooks http://ow.ly/oXfmd
Fun! Queens (NY) Librarian Reads to Alligator to Reward Summer Reading |@sljournal http://ow.ly/oXB9P
A travesty. New York librarian fired after speaking up for child who read too much @NYDailyNews via @PWKidsBookshelf http://ow.ly/p2bVW
How to Make School Better for Boys - Christina Hoff Sommers -@TheAtlantic http://ow.ly/p2cpA via @PWKidsBookshelf
How schools can help parents | Sound It Out by Joanne Meier |@ReadingRockets http://ow.ly/oZwu9 #literacy
Other Book-Related
Horror in YA Lit is a Staple, Not a Trend, says @catagator in @sljournal http://ow.ly/oQQS2 #yalit
The longlist for the 2013 National Book Award for Young People's Literature... via @bkshelvesofdoom http://ow.ly/oVwlG #yalit
Always good: Newbery / Caldecott 2014: Fall Prediction Edition from @fuseeight http://ow.ly/oVxfb #kidlit
Great photos of @CampHalfBlood (the camp) at @bookpeople in Austin, TX this summer http://ow.ly/oZvD2
'The Dream Thieves' Author @mstiefvater Picks YA's Most Epic Couples | @BookishHQ http://ow.ly/oXKOg via @PWKidsBookshelf
James Patterson to give $1 million to independent bookstores @latimes http://ow.ly/oXKto via @PWKidsBookshelf
Fun! Becky's Book Reviews: Blogging Advice from L.M. Montgomery http://ow.ly/oVy3a
GottaBook: The 14 Fibs of Gregory K. Book Trailer! http://ow.ly/oVx46 @gregpincus #kidlit #poetry
Programs and Research
RT @tashrow The U.S. Illiteracy Rate Hasn’t Changed In 10 Years http://buff.ly/15dvGWu #literacy
Reading for pleasure puts children ahead in the classroom, study finds http://ow.ly/oQRIB via @bkshelvesofdoom #litdup
Strong piece: Stopping bedtime stories too early can damage children's literacy - @Capitalbay1 http://ow.ly/p3ZWu via @readingtub
RT @Scholastic: Not surprised by this one: New study shows reading for fun can improve a child’s school performance http://bit.ly/16nFRI2 #readeveryday
© 2013 by Jennifer Robinson of Jen Robinson's Book Page. All rights reserved. You can also follow me @JensBookPage or at my Growing Bookworms page on Facebook.
I'm reading through all of it and tend to side with the Authors Guild, but mostly I think it's a fascinating debate about new technology. I'm going to mention it to my recently-graduated-from-Law-School new-technologies-IP-expert boyfriend. And maybe he'll write a paper about it. And submit it to a journal. Or maybe he'll be like, "Huh." And then we might never speak of it again. But I think it's fascinating.
I think a simple look at numbers would be enough to see who this change benefits (hint: it's not the authors). If a major publisher's sales for a given title have fallen low enough that they are not re-printing via traditional means, then they are not going to expend any money or effort on further promoting or pushing that book. Any incremental money they get from the "dribs and drabs" of every-once-in-a-while POD sales is a drop in the bucket to their bottom line. The only real reason they want to lock in these titles is simply on the chance that said author might eventually, someday, hit it big, either with them or with somebody else. Then they have a golden property still on their books that costs them nothing extra. Forget all about the other 99% of the books they also locked up to wither away and die with no further chance to make it with another publisher who might care more about the author or the niche the books inhabit... This isn't about altruism on the part of publishers just wanting to make sure readers can always find that one special book. It's about corporate avarice. And while an agent may be able to negotiate it out of contract, that's less likely to happen with new authors. And it's precisely the new author who has the most to lose: if the first publisher doesn't back that new writer at the beginning, there may still be time to switch horses and keep the career moving. But if the books are locked up forever with a house that spends all of its dollars on their mega blockbusters... well, 'nuff said. (Blogger still doesn't want to recognize me anymore. This is Kevin Radthorne again...)
Personally, I'm only seeing one winner here. The publisher.
The problem is I can't see many established authors signing a contract that includes this clause. The newbies may not mind the marriage, grateful as they usually are when they finally get contracted, but I definitely foresee many bitter divorce cases in the future, once they realise that actually the marriage isn't healthy for them.