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Romanian prisoners that write books can reduce their sentences by 30 days, but not for much longer.

The country plans to repeal the privilege because officials claim that the privilege is being abused. For example, one prisoner wrote a 212 page book in a mere seven hours. BBC has the scoop:

Justice Minister Raluca Pruna said abuse of the system had spiralled out of control, and the law was being changed by emergency decree. Last year, convicts published more than 300 books – some churned out several books in record time.

The American Booksellers Association, the Association of American Publishers, Authors Guild, the European & International Booksellers Federation and PEN American Center have released a statement about the disappearance of the five Hong Kong booksellers.

Earlier this week Hong Kong legislator held a press conference expressing concern that the five missing book professionals from the Mighty Current publishing house were taken for working on books critical of the Chinese government.

Here is an excerpt from the association’s joint statement:

ABA, AAP, AG, EIBF and PEN urge the Chinese government to explain the disappearance of the Hong Kong booksellers. If they are in custody, we call for their immediate release. When Great Britain relinquished control of Hong Kong in 1997, China promised to protect freedom of press there for 50 years. The summary abduction of men who are engaged in the publication and sale of books would be a very serious violation of press freedom and would have a profoundly chilling effect on free speech in Hong Kong.

E-book company Open Road is restructuring its management as it shifts its business focus from just e-books to all digital content.

The company will now focus in two areas: publishing and content. To support the evolution the company has promoted two employees and hired two new employees.

Rachel Chou, a founding member of Open Road and chief market and product officer, has been promoted to general manager/chief content officer. Tina Pohlman has been promoted to executive vice president/publisher. Jeff Driskill has joined the firm as chief financial officer. Matt Shatz joins as senior vice president of sales and business development.

Freelance journalist Abby Norman has inked a book deal with Nation Books.

The publishing house has acquired her medical mystery, Flare: A Life on the Pain Scale. The book deals with the “debilitating chronic pain associated with undiagnosed endometriosis; the disparity in how the medical community and society at large treats women and men in pain; and one remarkable young woman’s resilience, determination, and ultimate triumph in challenging these entrenched mores and getting her life back.”

Alessandra Bastagli at Nation Books acquired the world English rights to the title from Tisse Takagi at The Science Factory.

Ariel Richardson, associate editor at Chronicle Books, has some great advice for job applicants looking to get into the book industry.

In a blog post on the publisher’s house she shares advice on networking, internships and the kinds of jobs out there in the publishing business. Here is an excerpt:

And finally, read the genre you want to edit. As Stephen King so aptly puts it in On Writing, “The more you read, the less apt you are to make a fool of yourself with your pen or word processor.” So, if you’re interested in mysteries, read the Edgars. If you’re interested in children’s literature, read the ALA award winners every year—and livestream the awards to get a feel for the excitement.

Middle school and high school students can nominate their teacher in the My Favorite Teacher Contest at Barnes & Noble.

Kids are encouraged to compose essays, poems or thank-you letters describing their appreciation and admiration for a teacher. Follow this link for the entry form and official rules.

Participating schools must collect the essays and turn them in at their local Barnes & Noble store by March 1, 2016. Students who would like to nominate a teacher from a school that is not participating can turn in their entires directly to the store or mail in entries.

The contest includes for a variety of prizes for local and regional winners. Check it out:

Each regional winner will receive a $500 Barnes & Noble gift card and a NOOK by Samsung.   From the pool of regional winners, Barnes & Noble will name one teacher the Barnes & Noble National Teacher of the Year. The winning teacher will receive $5,000 and the title of “Barnes & Noble My Favorite Teacher of the Year.” The national winner will be recognized at a special community celebration at their local Barnes & Noble store, and the winning teacher’s school will receive $5,000. The student who writes the national winning essay, poem or thank-you letter will win a $500 Barnes & Noble gift card and a NOOK by Samsung device.

More than 500,000 readers have signed up for the 2016 Goodreads reading challenge.

The challenge allows readers to set personal reading goals for the year. So far, 28,723,103 books have been pledged and 243,287 have already been completed. The average books pledged is 49 books. Fifty-nine challenges have already been completed.

Follow this link to take the challenge.

The New York Times is launching a new bi-weekly column dedicated to book reviews about works of science fiction and fantasy.

The column, which is called “Otherworldly”, is written by novelist N.K. Jemisin. The first edition looks at four titles: China Miéville’s This Census-Taker;  Emma Newman’s Planetfall; All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders; and Keith Lee Morris’s Travelers Rest. The column goes live in the publication’s weekend edition in print, but is already available online.

Here is more about the column from Jemisin’s website:

I’m an eclectic reader, so the new column will obviously feature science fiction, fantasy, horror, some YA, some graphic novels, some anthologies, and even some nonfiction where it impacts the genre. I’ve got no problem with self-published or small-press books, although I believe the NYT has a policy forbidding selfpubs if they can’t be found in “general interest” bookstores, whatever that means. I like books that feature complex characters, period, but stereotypes piss me off and stuff I’ve seen too often bores the shit out of me.

Adolf Hitler’s anti-Semitic manifesto Mein Kampf has been banned from Germany for 70 years, but will return to German bookstores next month.

In Germany, a book’s copyright expires 70 years after the author’s death. Next year, marks the 70th anniversary of Hitler’s suicide. “That means Bavaria’s state finance ministry, which holds the copyright, can no longer use it to prevent the work’s publication beyond Dec. 31,” explains News Australia.

The new edition is stirring debate and bringing out the critics who fear that the book will not just be used as a reference text for criticism, but will taken seriously. A German edition of the text is available in the United States from Amazon.

German readers are in for a real treat this holiday season: they can trade their unwanted holiday gifts in for books.

Trade publisher Bastei Lübbe and book retailer Hugendubel have teamed up and placed vending machines where people can drop off a Christmas present they received but don’t want and get a free book for doing so. Bastei Lübbe is donating the books for the giveaway. The unwanted gifts will be donated to charity.

The Bookseller has the scoop:

The device will be set up outside Hugendubel branches on 28th December in a busy shopping centre in Munich, followed by appearances in Ingolstadt (29th December) and Nuremberg (30th December).

The New York Times has chosen their favorite book covers giving some much deserved praise to book designers.

Among the books that earned the honor are: The Complete Stories by Clarice Lispector which was designed by Paul Sahre; Satin Island by Tom McCarthy which was designed by Peter Mendelsund; and KL: A History of the Nazi Concentration Camps by Nikolaus Wachsmann and designed by Alex Merto.

Here is more from The Times:

Books and their covers are confronting their own awkward questions of relevance and value in the escalating competition for attention against screens the size of Jumbotrons (or, conversely, wristwatches). To see publishers answer this concern with the craft, sophistication and pictorial wit that go into an increasing number of book covers each year reinforces the certainty that one of our oldest technologies remains one of our most perfect.

Starring in a Showtime documentary can help boost book sales, according to a new report in The New York Post.

The publication found that former CIA directors featured in Showtime’s documentary “The Spymasters,” have seen their book sales increase since the show aired in November. Here is more from Page Six:

Books by Leon Panetta, Michael Morell and Jose Rodriguez also got similar boosts, and we hear pre-orders for Gen. Michael Hayden’s “Playing to the Edge,” out Feb. 23, also shot up.

Golden Globe-winning actress Jamie Lee Curtis will host the Children’s Author Breakfast at BookExpo America (BEA).

As Master of Ceremonies, Curtis will also talk about her new children’s book, which comes out next fall. Authors Sabaa Tahir, Gene Luen Yang and Dav Pilkey will join Curtis on the stage to speak about their upcoming books.

The Children’s Author Breakfast is usually attended by more than 1,000 attendees from across the book business.

The event will take place on Friday, May 13.

The New Yorker writers have selected their favorite books of 2015.

The list includes recommendations from Joshua Rothman, Jennifer Gonnerman, Ben Marcus, Rebecca Mead, Amanda Petrusic, Daniel Mendelsohn, Vinson Cunningham, Elif Batuman, Alexandra Schwartz, Rachel Kushner, Hua Hsu, Judith Thurman, Alexis Okeowo, Lauren Collins, Nick Paumgarten, Carrie Battan, and Ben Lerner.

The list includes 49 book recommendations ranging from fiction and nonfiction to memoirs and graphic novels.

Global children’s publisher Scholastic Corporation earned $619 million in revenue during the second quarter of fiscal 2016 up from $611.1 million during the comparable quarter last year, the company reported today. Operating profit for Q2 2016 were down 5 percent versus the prior year period.

The company’s sales during the quarter were driven by sales growth in book fairs and trade channels in the Children’s Book Publishing and Distribution segment along with classroom magazines, custom publishing and teaching resources.

“The positive global climate for quality children’s books continued in the second quarter, as evidenced by solid performance in our US book fairs and trade channels, as well as improved results in trade publishing internationally, where we achieved trade sales growth in almost every market,” stated Richard Robinson, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer. “These gains, however, were more than offset by declines in our international operations due to the impact of foreign exchange,” .

The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (Cilip) has launched a new campaign to push the UK government to think twice before shutting down libraries and to take better care of those that remain.

The My Library By Right effort aims to champion “the public’s right to libraries” by leaning on a 1964 British law, the Public Libraries and Museums Act, to provide quality public library services to citizens across the country.

“Public libraries are not a luxury. Their provision is not discretionary – Local Councils have a statutory duty,” stated Nick Poole, Chief Executive at CILIP. “For millions of people every year library services are a lifeline. That is why the statutory right to a quality public library service was established under the 1964 Public Libraries and Museums Act.” (Via The Guardian).

The push includes a petition calling on the government to fulfill their obligations; National Libraries Day on the 6th of February; and a parliamentary lobby organised by Speak up for Libraries (SUFL).

Ingram Content Group has acquired Aer.io, a service that allows publishers, retailers and authors to sell and produce both print and e-books directly to readers from their websites, blogs and social networks.

Aer.io’s platform allows publishers, authors and booksellers – essentially anyone with an online presence – to market, produce and sell their books worldwide on their own sites. A reader can purchase the e-book file or order a POD book from the author’s site and Are.io will fulfill the order.

Now users will be able to push this content out to Ingram’s global distribution network, as well.

Self-publishing giant Smashwords has signed new e-book distribution agreements that will help authors get their books in the hands of more global readers.

Back in October, the company partnered with Gardners Books to bring Smashwords titles to libraries across the U.K. Now, the website has expanded its e-book distribution network even further with new partnerships with Tolino, Odilo and Yuzu.

The Tolino partnership will put Smashwords e-books into several of Germany’s largest e-book retailers including: Thalia, Welbild, Hugendubel, Der Club, Bücher.de, meine BUCHhandlung, eBook.de, and derClub.de. The Odilo deal will expand Smashwords’ library distribution to 2,100 libraries in 43 countries across Europe, Latin America and North America. The partnership with Yuzu will help self-pubslihed authors reach the education market. Powered by Barnes & Noble College, Yuzu powers digital e-books across 473 college bookstores.

TV personality Nicole Lapin has inked a six-figure deal with Crown Publishing for her second book, Boss Bitch.

The book will serve as “a practical nuts-and –bolts guide for any woman who wants to pursue an entrepreneurial venture as the next stage or learn how to enjoy the freedom and empowerment that comes with being the boss of you,” explains the press release. The hardcover edition is due out in early 2017. Steve Troha of Folio Literary Management sold North American rights to Talia Krohn at Crown Publishing.

The star of CW’s Hatched and money columnist for Redbook Magazine published her first book, Rich Bitch, earlier this year.

Simon & Schuster will publish an unauthorized Taylor Swift book next year and the content for the new title will be crowdsourced by fans.

The publisher is hosting several contests that call for fan participation. For instance, fans can enter the title contest and share their idea for the best book title. The winner will receive $2500 and will get to name the book. There is also an honorary author contest in which fans can submit a video explaining why their name should be on the book as author. The winner gets $10,000 and a trip to New York. Beginning in February, the publisher will open up the cover design contest.

The illustrated scrapbook is slated for publication on Oct. 24, 2016, the 10-year anniversary of her first album.

The New York Times has released its best books of 2015 lists.

Instead of releasing one top 10 list like many publications, The Times opted to have three top 10 lists, each one selected by one of the publication’s three daily book critics: Michiko Kakutani, Janet Maslin and Dwight Garner. Each selection includes the book’s title, author, and a description about why it was chosen, along with a link to a review of the book.

The Story of the Lost Child by Elena Ferrante was among the selected works on  Kakutani’s list. The Cartel by Don Winslow made Maslin’s list. H Is For Hawk by Helen Macdonald was one of Garner’s picks.

Despite the fact that less people are reading books, books themselves are actually growing in length, according to new research from James Finlayson at Vervesearch and published by Flipsnack.

The research analyzed more than 2,500 bestsellers list and found that the average number of pages in a book has increased by 25 percent in the last 15 years. Books published today have on average about 80 pages more than they did in 1999. The Guardian the scoop:

The first five years of Booker-winning novels average out at around 300 pages, but even taking into account Julian Barnes’s 2011 triumph with his 160-page novella The Sense of an Ending, the last five years of Booker laureates weigh in at an average of 520 pages. This year’s winner was brief only in name: Marlon James’s 700-page A Brief History of Seven Killings.

A Wisconsin school board member is hoping to remove, For Every Child a Better World by Jim Henson, from it kindergarten class’ reading list.

Marshfield School Board member Mary Carney thinks that the content is inappropriate for the age of the children. In the book Kermit the Frog teaches young readers that some other young children lack basic necessities such as housing, water, food, and medical care. The Marshfield Herald has more:

“I just have concerns that it’s too graphic, even though these are Muppets characters,” Carney said. “Unfortunately in this world there is a lot of war and strife and poverty; I understand that. I just don’t know how appropriate that is to be teaching that to 5-year-olds.”

Carney hopes the school board will remove the title from the 2016 curriculum. School Board vice president Amber Leifheit, the person in charge of the School Board’s Curriculum and Instruction Committee, thinks that the book teaches compassion.

Penguin Random House has released new terms for e-book licenses sold to  libraries.

Beginning on January 1, 2016, all Penguin and Random House adult and children’s frontlist and backlist e-book titles will employ the same perpetual licensing model, which Random House has been using for years. Under the new model, libraries will own titles they purchase after January 1 in perpetuity.

The pricing will be “variable and flexible.” “Penguin Random House will continue to regularly adjust prices for public and school library purchase of individual e-books, with prices ranging from under $20 per title to a newly set maximum of $65 (both USD and CAD), reduced from the current cap U.S. $85/Canada $95,” the company explained in the release.