**************

* The New Author Pitch: Show, Don’t Sell

Learn how to use the right words to get noticed by the various audiences you want to reach:

http://www.alanrinzler.com/blog/2012/01/16/the-new-author-pitch-show-don%E2%80%99t-sell/

* What Are The Best Times to Blog?

Based on this infographic, there is one particular time that is perfect for your post to go live:

http://danzarrella.com/infographic-what-are-the-best-times-to-blog.html

* 3 Metrics that Will Change the Way You Market on Facebook

Understanding what to track will allow you to get the most out of Facebook:

http://mashable.com/2012/01/20/facebook-metrics-marketing/

* How to Increase Your Book’s Amazon Rank

It’s about building visibility and credibility, as one author explains:

http://www.bookbuzzr.com/blog/author-interviews/how-to-increase-your-books-amazon-rank/

* 11 Marketing Tips for LinkedIn

Did you know LinkedIn has 135 million users? Here are ways to use LinkedIn to your advantage:

http://thenextweb.com/socialmedia/2012/01/16/11-useful-tips-for-marketing-your-brand-on-linkedin/

* An Interesting Graph on Best Times for Posting

Timing does matter, and this study may have you considering some new options for posting content:

http://danzarrella.com/infographic-how-to-use-contra-competitive-timing-for-more-retweets-likes-comments-and-clicks.html

* Facebook Plugins Keep People On Websites 50% Longer

Logging in with Facebook is not just convenient; it keeps users on those websites longer:

http://www.allfacebook.com/facebook-plugins-sticky-2012-01

About our guest: Mari Smith is a social media expert and trainer who is considered the queen of Facebook. She was dubbed “the Pied Piper of the Online World” by Fastcompany.com. http://www.marismith.com/books/

People have always done business with people they know, like, and trust. That’s what relationship marketing is all about. In today’s world, thanks to social networking online, there are new, more direct ways of connecting with potential fans, buyers, associates, etc. Mari explains how it all works.

* Traditional marketing focuses on the transaction and closing the sale.

* Relationship marketing focuses on building long-term relationships with customers and clients. Social media makes this kind of relationship building easier than ever.

For example, Facebook has reduced the six degrees of separation to four, Mari says.

That means if you really want to go after specific influencers or potential clients you can court them via social media. You will find all manner of information on them. Do your homework and come into the relationship demonstrating that you care, that you know something about them.

The Hollywood Squares approach

Mari thought it was cool to use this idea: she created a grid of 16 to 25 people similar to the game show. The squares can include celebrities or influencers – these are people you’d like to meet, share information with, etc. Once your squares have been filled you must be deliberate and strategic about reaching out to them. Handpick individuals you really want to meet. Mari had 20 people on her squares and has finally met all of them; she’ll now work on her next set.

Personalization matters

What are some things you can do before a networking event? Mari says: do homework. People want to be seen, heard and acknowledged. With minimal effort you can find out about people in advance using social media.

Mari uses the hashtag on Twitter, which helps to group Tweets together from the same event such as #BlogWorld. Mari will reach out to people she’d like to network with, Tweet to them and indicate she is looking forward to meeting them.

Build on those relationships over time, in person.

Using social media wisely

How much time should anyone spend networking on social media? Mari believes 10 minutes in the morning and 10 minutes in the afternoon is the minimum. If you can do two 20-minute sessions per day, even better.

Keep yourself disciplined. Otherwise you can get caught up in other things like the latest celebrity scandal. Just make sure you handle the actual relationship building. You can outsource someone to select the content you choose to share on social media, Mari says, but you should be the one actively reaching out to others to create and maintain relationships.

Generating good content is one half of the equation for relationship marketing. Engagement is the other half, although you have to make it a strategic engagement in order to get your target people into your sales funnel. You have to have good content to attract them initially and then engagement allows you to build relationships and keep them.

A word on Google+

There’s been some hype about Google+ stealing Facebook’s momentum. Mari doesn’t believe that, but Google+ is growing its own extremely loyal fan base. Silicon Valley is very devoted – people you never found on social media before have adopted Google+. They are not taking away from Facebook but creating a whole new category.

Download the full show at: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/thepublishinginsiders/2012/01/10/facebook-facts-from-social-media-expert-mari-smith

****

Upcoming Episode:

Please join us Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2012 at 4 p.m. Pacific for Special Guest Jim Kukral:

For over 15 years, Jim Kukral has helped small businesses and large companies like FedEx, Sherwin Williams, Ernst & Young and Progressive Auto Insurance understand how to:

* Build successful new online businesses or energize and refresh existing ones

* Leverage social media for more sales, leads and publicity

* Create imaginative marketing campaigns that get talked about

* Innovate new products and services that could positively change your business bottom line

* Attract first-class publicity that actually means something and gives an ROI

* Make more profits with less work

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/thepublishinginsiders/2012/01/12/special-guest-jim-kukral

* Marketing Your eBook as an Audiobook

Image via Wikipedia

When it comes to your eBook, consider it one of your marketing techniques and offer it in audio format to reach an even larger audience:

http://www.famousbloggers.net/marketing-ebook-audiobook.html

* 5 Easy Ways to Promote Your Articles and Blog Posts Through Social Media

Image by dannysullivan via Flickr

It’s actually pretty easy to automate your posts so they appear on a variety of social media sites and increase your exposure:

http://bookmarketingmaven.typepad.com/book_marketing_maven/2011/05/5-easy-ways-to-promote-your-articles-and-blog-posts-through-social-media.html

* How Writers Can Build An Online Presence To Sell More Books

Image by cromdia via Flickr

Writers need to have an online presence, and when done correctly, that Internet activity can help sell your book:

http://bubblecow.net/what-is-the-point-of-writing-a-book-if-you-have-no-online-presence

* What Shopping Channels Can Teach Us About Selling

Image via Wikipedia

When you break down the shopping channels’ methods of selling you’ll see quite a bit of brilliance behind their strategy that can be applied to your own marketing and sales efforts:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/penny-c-sansevieri/what-shopping-channels-ca_b_865976.html

* 3 Publishing Trends Writers Must Stay On Top Of

Image via Wikipedia

Agents as publishers; Amazon becoming a publisher and the steady increase in eBook sales are must-know issues for authors:

http://blog.writersdigest.com/norules/2011/05/23/3PublishingTrendsWritersMustStayOnTopOf.aspx

* How to Send Visitors Away from Your Website in Two Seconds or Less

Image by etgeek (Eric) via Flickr

Guess how long the average website visit lasts… two seconds. Make sure your site will encourage them to stay:

http://www.bloggingbistro.com/how-to-send-visitors-away-from-your-website-in-two-seconds-or-less/

* But, can you get me on Oprah?

Image via Wikipedia

The seven words publicists will no longer hear – and they are rejoicing:

http://www.amarketingexpert.com/but-can-you-get-me-on-oprah/

* 8 Ways to Successfully Sell Using Social Media

Image via Wikipedia

Learn how to maximize your social media strategy with these methods that will help you find friends, fans and followers:

http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/8-ways-to-successfully-sell-using-social-media/

* The Resume Is Dead, The Bio Is King

Image via Wikipedia

Your online bio is what people look for to find out who you really are. Does your bio put your best face forward?

http://the99percent.com/tips/7025/The-Resume-Is-Dead-The-Bio-Is-King

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Look, with all due respect to the show, the woman, and the legend she leaves behind, most of us in PR have heard “But, can you get me on Oprah?” more times than we care to admit, and sometimes we’d hear this from authors who have no business being on the show. I once heard it from a guy who wrote a book on fly fishing. All righty then.

As I watched some of the final show, I heard more voices around me, more PR people cheering the end of the Oprah show. Though after the initial comment, there was some nervous laughter. I mean, who wants to admit we’re tired of Oprah? How wildly unpopular! But, it’s not that we’re tired of her. We’re just tired of being asked. But actually, it’s not even that. I think for the right author and message, Oprah was a great target.

Image via Wikipedia

The problem was that the show got so many pitches, and had such a lengthy pitch process, that the process of getting an author considered was enormous and sometimes a waste of an author’s time and effort. However, while there was a “chance” to be on her show, an author would hold onto that dream. Even the: “I have a connection to Oprah!” which turns out, was a friend of a friend, of a friend, of a friend who has a grooming shop who knows someone, who knows someone, who knows Oprah’s dog groomers. Great, that’s only 97 degrees of separation. My favorite, however, was this: “Can you get me on Ocra?” I have a rule: you have to be able to pronounce the name of the show you are going to be on. Period. End of story.

Most PR people worth their salt have all had a crack at the show, and some have even been lucky enough to have guests on. I know from experience that pitching the Oprah Show for even just one author could be a full-time job. Getting on the show could be golden for some, and for the publicist that pulled this off – our hats off to him or her for this achievement. But now that it’s over, we look back on the buzz around Oprah and many wonder: “Who will take her place?” Let’s hope no one. The world had the Oprah Show and it was great, let’s try something new. I can hardly wait to see what it will be.

Image by emdot via Flickr

In the meantime, I toast every author who has ever seen their career skyrocket after being on the show and I, along with probably every publicist in the US, am thrilled to never again hear: “But, can you get me on Oprah?”

Have you checked out the giveaways for participating bloggers this year? AME is one of the sponsors, and we’re giving away a Kindle: http://www.armchairbea.com/p/giveaways.html. There are tons of books and other goodies that will be given away this week. Individual bloggers are also conducting some of their own giveaways, and you can find them on Twitter by using the #ArmchairBEA hashtag.

Today’s topic is favorite books of 2011 so far. I haven’t read as many books as I would have liked, but so far I’ve really enjoyed the following (these books may have been published prior to 2011 but I’ve only just read them):

* Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime by John Heilemann – a great book for political junkies like me! Plus, I did a lot of volunteer work during the 2008 presidential campaign so this was a great opportunity to learn about what really went on behind the scenes.

* Bringing Adam Home: The Abduction That Changed America by Les Standiford – hard to read but worth it, the back story behind the host of America’s Most Wanted and the saga to bring his son’s killer to justice. I can’t believe Fox is canceling the show – again. The first time around, viewer protests brought the show back. I hope it happens again; whatever the show costs to produce, it really does help catch criminals.

* Summer and the City: A Carrie Diaries Novel by Candace Bushnell – a really fun read. I think Candace did a great job developing the teenage Carrie. I don’t usually read YA books. I have nothing against them, it’s just I have so many other pressing books on my list. I was intrigued by the concept of teenage Carrie in a book. I read the first book, The Carrie Diaries, last year and liked it so I looked forward to this follow-up. By the end of this book, Carrie is friends with Samantha and Miranda and finally meets Charlotte. I think a third book will be warranted!

And now, a nice cat shot to prove that Foo loves Kindle. I’m not sure why, but he loves to curl up with it. Here he is with my Kindle 2. Apparently he can read upside down

I have a huge list of books I want to read… and that’s not counting what will be introduced at BEA. I’m almost afraid to see what’s there. But, books I look forward to reading this year include:

* Elizabeth I: A Novel by Margaret George. A Tudor novel? I’m there!

* The Red Queen by Philippa Gregory. Her books are so much fun to read, a good mix of fact and fiction.

* Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand. I’ve already read an excerpt from Vanity Fair magazine. What a great book this is going to be.

* Politics and Pasta: How I Prosecuted Mobsters, Rebuilt a Dying City, Dined with Sinatra, Spent Five Years in a Federally Funded Gated Community, and Lived to Tell the Tale by David Fisher and Vincent “Buddy” Cianci. I lived in Rhode Island during one of Buddy’s infamous terms as mayors and even worked for a friend of his one summer. I can’t wait to see what he has to say!

* The Sword of Medina by Sherry Jones. I enjoyed The Jewel of Medina, the first book and I really look forward to the sequel.

* The Complete Tudors: Nine Historical Novels by Jean Plaidy. Jean also wrote as Victoria Holt and as Philippa Carr and several other pen names. Anyway, I think my Tudor fix will be met very nicely with this set!

And, since today is my birthday, I’m going to take a little time off to do some reading. Have a great day!

For those of us who haven’t hit the road, including yours truly, Armchair BEA is a way for bloggers, particularly book bloggers, to connect online, http://www.armchairbea.com/2011/05/kicking-off-armchair-bea.html . We’ll participate via our blog this week, and on Wednesday we will have a guest post from book blogger Heather at Capricious Reader http://www.capriciousreader.com/. We look forward to having Heather guest post on our blog, and I’m sure she’ll have some great advice for authors! That same day, an interview I did with Star Shadow blog will appear,  http://www.starshadowblog.com/. We encourage you to visit the Armchair BEA website to check out the list of participating bloggers and learn more about this vital piece of the online book world.

We’ve used our blog to keep authors and publishers apprised of what’s happening in the industry and to offer useful, practical marketing tips that anyone can implement – whether a first-time author or a publishing veteran. Our blog is primarily written by our CEO Penny Sansevieri and myself. We also post our popular Book Marketing Expert newsletter to our blog in order to share it with more readers. I’m a Kindle fanatic, coffee-drinking cat lover who loves to combine all three of those interests as often as possible. I’m not sure why, but my cat Foo just loves my Kindle and curls up with it as often as he can when I’m not using it. I’ll post a photo of kitty and Kindle this week. (For the record, our other cat Angus is completely uninterested in the Kindle!)

I do most of my reading on my bed where I can stretch out (plus have room for a cat or cats to join me), or on my favorite couch downstairs that looks into our backyard. That way I can look up from time to time and watch the birds. We have feeders and a birdbath out there and it’s fun to see how many bird species stop by. I turn 47 tomorrow, so I’ll be celebrating my birthday in some manner that will include curling up with a good read. I’m obsessed with fiction and nonfiction set in the Tudor era, but I also love historical fiction in general and true crime. I also read a lot of nonfiction books about politics and/or history.

You can find me on Library Thing http://www.librarything.com/home/PaulaatAME and Goodreads http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/809671-paula, Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/paula.krapf and Twitter http://twitter.com/PaulaatAME and Book Blogs on Ning http://bookblogs.ning.com/profile/Paula_Krapf.

Breaking news:

We’d be remiss if we didn’t comment on a huge development in the publishing world that broke last night: Larry Kirshbaum, former head of Time Warner Publishing and most recently a literary agent, has returned to publishing as VP and Publisher for Amazon Publishing. Essentially Larry will help Amazon become a general trade publisher. This is huge news in the publishing world and is going to have incredible impact, http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/47393-kirshbaum-named-publisher-of-amazon-publishing-group.html. Larry has been a great friend to AME and we can’t wait to see how this turns out. I can’t think  of anyone better suited to this role. Larry’s publishing credentials are impeccables, the list of bestselling authors he’s discovered is huge; he also experimented with digital books well ahead of the curve so he’s completely comfortable with publishing in a digital age.

Have a Happy Monday – and check in daily for the latest BEA and Armchair BEA developments!

Image by Intersection Consulting via Flickr

There’s a lot of information out there on the “how” of social media: How to set up a Twitter account, how to tweet, how to build a fan page, etc. But there isn’t a lot of information on why you’d want to use social media. You might say, “Well, everyone is doing it and having great success!” I would observe that not everyone is having great success; in fact, many authors I speak to are still trying to find their way online.

One thing that I’ve noticed when it comes to social media is that most of the time we think that it’s ok to just jump in, and that’s true — up to a point. You’d never think of driving from San Diego to New York without a roadmap or GPS, so why would you endeavor to promote yourself online without first mapping out a strategy and surveying the terrain?

Why does any of this matter? Well, I will tell you that the more work you do in preparation for your campaign, the less of an effort it will seem once you get started. Also, the more work you do now can and should save you considerable wasted expense later. You will know exactly where to spend your time and money and you will have a campaign that will not only feel seamless, but also move more quickly towards your success. Sound good? Then let’s begin!

Image by mediaquell via Flickr

Getting Started

One of the first things you’ll want to do when you start down this path of social media promotion is ask yourself: Why am I doing this? Well, you might say, to promote myself. Exactly! But (other than book sales), what is the motivation behind that promotion? The reason I say “other than book sales” is because you must have a broader scope to your work than just selling a book. If your single focus in promotion is to sell a book, you will be sorely disappointed. Your focus must be larger, such as:

• Expanding my business
• Increasing my speaking gigs
• Growing my platform

Then you’ll have a much better chance of success online and you’ll be ready to dig into online promotion. Let’s first look at growing your platform.

Image via Wikipedia

What’s your platform?

Before we can launch into what your platform is, you must first have a good grasp of what a platform is. A platform is not who you know, but who knows you. It’s your area of influence. Still unclear on this concept? Take heart, most authors leap into marketing without knowing what a platform is or how to grow it. First, let’s look at what might be considered to be a platform:

1. Your business: this is pretty obvious. You have a business and your business is your platform. Your reach and your influence are through your customers.

2. Your speaking: any speaking you do, whether paid or unpaid, is considered a platform.

3. Newsletter subscribers: these are people who want to know what you’re doing; they are your tribe and also part of your platform.

4. Existing fan bases: any connections, whether through speaking, your newsletter, or any other fan base can be considered part of your platform.

5. Associations/groups: do you belong to any type of related association? These people and this affiliation can also be part of your platform. Though perhaps less direct and immediate, I’ll walk you through how to solidify these contacts and bring them into your funnel.

6. Work you’ve done in the past: anything related to what you’ve written about now is part of your platform. Teaching, classes you’ve taken, speaking, or just life experiences as it relates to your topic can also be woven into your platform.

Image via Wikipedia

Identifying your platform

For non-fiction authors, the goal of identifying a platform you either have or wish to grow is pretty easy. But for fiction authors it can be a bit more challenging. Yes, you too must have a platform and generally, it is tied closely to your genre.

Every author, whether fiction or non-fiction needs a reach, and once you define where these folks are and how to get to them, you’ll begin to connect with readers both current and future, who can help you to expand your tribe. First, let’s look at defining those readers.

Image by Angela Tchou via Flickr

Let’s say you’ve written a fiction book and you are new to the industry and perplexed as to how you might go about expanding your readership. I suggest if this is you that you find other, similar authors in your market and research them online. Becoming your own detective is really the quickest way to piece together a platform and learn how their platform might help you build yours. For example, if you have written romance you can research the top 15 authors in your market. If you do this, I suggest looking at the midlist authors, not the top sellers like Danielle Steele, etc. who, through years of publishing, have grandfathered themselves into a mega-platform. Instead you want to look at authors who are likely on their own, meaning without the resources of a personal assistant or staff of a thousand. Research these authors and see where they end up online. Do they have Fan Pages on Facebook? Are they on Twitter? What groups do they participate in, etc.? Now you’ll start to get a sense of how a platform is built and what you need to do to grow yours.

If you’ve written non-fiction and the idea of a platform seems foreign to you then I suggest that you do the same thing, Follow your market, research others who share your specialty and uncover the different ways that they expand their reach via their platform.

Next time, we’re going to dig into your platform even further. We’ll look at the steps necessary to grow a platform and how to break this down into a manageable action plan.

Image via Wikipedia

* 7 Ways to Define Your Blog’s Target Readers, http://dld.bz/98K8.

* Marketing Tips for Authors: 5 Tips In Responding to Criticism, http://dld.bz/Ag7M.

* What to Focus on Once the Book is With the Publisher, http://dld.bz/9AyU.

* How to Build a Solid Social Media Platform, http://dld.bz/Ag8f.

* 7 Habits of Highly Effective Tweets, http://ow.ly/3iGzV.

* Google eBookstore: Your Next Sales Platform? http://dld.bz/Ag89.

Image by stevegarfield via Flickr

* Find an Agent for Your Book, http://dld.bz/AgAt.

* 40 Useful Things You to share on Twitter besides Blog Posts, http://ow.ly/3lMoM.

* Elements of a Successful Marketing Plan, http://dld.bz/AgAU.

* How to Keep Readers on Your Blog Longer, http://bit.ly/hw2uSV.

* Why Twitter is a Better Search Engine Than Google, http://dld.bz/AgBs.

* What Does it Mean to Comment on Blogs – and Why Bother? http://ow.ly/1araXt.

* When (or Why) Social Media Fails to Sell Books, http://dld.bz/AK5S.

* How to Become a Powerhouse Blogger in just 15 Minutes! http://retwt.me/1Q6MS.

Image via CrunchBase

* YouTube Trends – see what’s hot on YouTube Right Now, http://dld.bz/AK6k.

* How To Create A Facebook Fan Page For Your Book Or Author Brand (video), http://bit.ly/ewgTGp.

* Publishing Insiders Wrap-Up: Top Publishing Trends for 2011, http://nblo.gs/bReLW.

* How to Build Your Credibility as an Expert While Blogging, http://dld.bz/AK9d.

* Showing off the Best Material in Your Blog Archive: http://dld.bz/97NM.

Image by pollyalida via Flickr

* 10 Tips to Go From Novice to Noticed on Twitter, http://dld.bz/AK9E.

* Monetize It – JA Konrath Talks About How to Maximize Revenue From Your Books, http://bit.ly/dWi31n.

* How to Write a Press Release That Gets Attention, http://dld.bz/AKBd.

* Conquering Your Fears of Social Media, http://dld.bz/AKBQ.

Publishing is still in some limbo – Ron Burkle and Len Riggio continue to fight over the future of Barnes and Noble. More and more e-readers are coming onto the market, and there is now an e-reader priced under $100. What will the holidays bring in terms of price wars? It’s bound to be good for consumers. Meanwhile, Borders has had some layoffs and has stopped speaking to the media, apparently. The future of this bookstore chain has also been subject to much speculation, and its foray into selling e-readers and partnership with Build-A-Bear will be interesting to watch to see if it can turn things around.

There’s more back and forth over whether e-readers are the death of publishing or its salvation. Our conventional wisdom is: neither; e-readers represent another way to sell books.

Image via Wikipedia

There’s also a brouhahaha over the New York Times and its supposed love of Jonathan Franzen and other white male authors at the expense of women authors, but it’s hard to put Franzen in the same boat as Jodi Picoult who writes more mainstream, less literary books (as much as we enjoy her work). But we’ll say that any debate involving books (over, say: reality TV “stars,” and the like) is a good thing to take up headlines. For fun, check out Chick Lit versus Dude Lit, http://bit.ly/ah7yDF.

Finally: Knowledge is power: Read a banned book today, in honor of Banned Books Week, September 25-October 2, 2010! http://bit.ly/9KKcsm.

So, let’s look at some highlights of the week that was:

* 12 favorite non-book literary oddities on e-Bay, http://bit.ly/aI3k3P.

* ‘Dora The Explorer Book: Over 50 Million Copies Sold As Series Turns 10,’ http://huff.to/blUSYr.

* PC World looks at the next wave of e-readers coming soon, http://bit.ly/duNKzU.

* ‘To Self-Publish or Not to Self-Publish’ – very useful breakdown of the pros and cons, http://huff.to/8YJbHf.

Image via Wikipedia

* ‘Ron Charles Takes 60 Seconds to Save Book Reviewing,’ by using video, http://bit.ly/b4qAAW.

* ‘Fall Books 2010 Highlights: Who Made The Cut?’ http://huff.to/bGukuy.

* ‘Next Generation of E-Readers Could Be Flexible,’ http://bit.ly/a2yswY.

* Try the weird words quiz – recognize any of these? http://bit.ly/byUpM7.

* Catchy concepts in kids’ books (love these covers!) http://bit.ly/bxd9n4.

* Staples will start selling Amazon’s Kindle, http://bit.ly/9EQRCy.

* ‘Borders Slashes E-Reader Prices to $99,’ http://bit.ly/acA0Rq.

* ‘10 Facts About Books You Won’t Read in a Book About Books’ – fun video, http://bit.ly/bpSAUC.

* Stephenson and Bear Release ‘social Book’ a digital novel titled The Mongoliad, http://bit.ly/dcbM2z.

Image via Wikipedia

* Does a book’s popularity guarantee its movie’s success? http://bit.ly/dwwUYN.

* ‘Cool fall books: Warm up with these reads,’ http://bit.ly/9G8hev.

* ‘The 11 Worst Memoir Covers Ever,’ Some of these are fun to look at! http://huff.to/9TdeBq.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Jodi Picoult Says Book Reviewers Favor “White Male Literary Darlings”: It’s Sexism, Not Sour Grapes (thefrisky.com)
• Randy Susan Meyers: Lit Versus Commercial Fiction: Writer Wars? (huffingtonpost.com)
• Jason Pinter: Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Weiner Speak Out On Franzen Feud: HuffPost Exclusive (huffingtonpost.com)

Round one goes to Random House, which “won” its battle with Wiley Agency’s Odyssey Books over digital rights. Wiley created Odyssey to publish e-books and signed an exclusive deal with Amazon to offer e-books of 20 classic titles, from the likes of Philip Roth, Martin Amis and John Updike, which Random House promptly protested. Since most of the Odyssey authors had print deals with Random House, the publisher claimed the digital rights as well; this week the matter was quietly settled between the two groups. Wiley has not released any statement about the resolution, but Random House announced that it will shortly sell 13 of those 20 Odyssey titles at various online sites (not just Amazon). For more, check out http://on.wsj.com/9DRGkA.

The battle for the future of Barnes & Noble gets ugly, with Len Riggio, chairman of the board, working hard to urge shareholders to reject any offers from Ron Burkle to purchase 30% of the company. Publishers Weekly breaks it down, http://bit.ly/b8tBqf.

We’d be remiss if we didn’t mention digital books and digital reading devices. Amazon.com was back in the news this week as its newest Kindle (called K3 by customers) started shipping. Reviews of the new device, which is lighter, slimmer, faster and offers better screen resolution, have been uniformly good and the first wave of K3 owners seem quite happy. Meanwhile, additional devices are entering the market at low prices, a color e-reader will be available soon, and everyone is waiting to see the price wars that will develop – especially around the holidays.

In other publishing news:

* The 10 highest-paid authors; James Patterson is at #1 with $70 million, http://bit.ly/cl7uNr.

* CVS will sell a $100 Sylvania netbook and a $179 e-reader this fall – Tylenol not included, http://bit.ly/dcUxDo.

* The words ‘Climate change’ and the ‘vuvuzela’ leave a mark on the Oxford Dictionary of English, http://bit.ly/9NELYm.

* ‘Get Ready for Ads in Books,’ (product placement in TV, movies paves the way), http://bit.ly/cQrQHm.

* ‘Breathtaking Adaptations: 13 Classic Books Transformed Into Graphic Novels,’ http://huff.to/bm7ubg.

* ‘Obama Gets Franzen Novel Early, and Publishing Panic Ensues,’ http://nyti.ms/9qBYTy.

* ‘Booksellers Brace for ‘Mockingjay’ Landing’ (and have high hopes for a bestseller), http://nyti.ms/b8ttOS.

* Check out the e-readers coming soon to Borders, including a tablet, http://bit.ly/92sZHb.

* ‘Medieval Copy Protection – the Book Curse to Keep Thieves at Bay,’ http://bit.ly/aok7PT.

* ‘Fusion: The Synergy of Images and Words,’ (great photos of readers with their books worldwide), http://bit.ly/9f0Xdw.

* ‘Aluratek’s E-reader Cracks the $100 Barrier,’ http://bit.ly/a9cFvX.

* Try the Ray Bradbury quiz in honor of his 90th birthday, http://bit.ly/byaLFQ.

* ‘Homer the Memoir Cat Gets a Comic Book,’ http://bit.ly/aH4Ad8.

* ‘Color Comes to an E-Reader, the Literati,’ http://nyti.ms/cFH36P.

* ’6 ‘Flashlight Worthy’ Children’s Books to Read After You Finish Mockingjay,’ http://huff.to/d9CIdy.

* ‘HarperCollins Releases Kids’ iPhone Apps,’ http://bit.ly/99rEUi.

* ‘The ABCs of E-Reading: People Are Reading More, Even While in a Kayak,’ http://bit.ly/bpJkcp.

* New Laura Lippman thriller sells more e-books than hardcovers, http://bit.ly/aYU5H1.

* ‘Empty Space: 40+ Stunning Minimalistic Book Covers,’ http://bit.ly/aIb4QM.

* ‘Cakes and Cupcakes Inspired by Books,’ (amazing and mouth watering!), http://bit.ly/cU751F.

* ‘Five Books to Read After Checking the Egg Recall List,’ http://bit.ly/bGAY53.

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