Industry & Advocacy News
February 25, 2022
In this week’s issue, how writing a children’s book may take away the gloom; the best layouts and design for a successful bookstore; Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is to be sold again, this time to a private equity firm; 55 authors in 11 categories have been nominated for this year’s Los Angeles Times Book Prizes; the U.S. Copyright Office reiterates that copyrights only belong to human-created works; and more.
Public domain photo by Ben White on Unsplash
Private Equity Firm Veritas to Acquire Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for $2.8 BillionPublishers LunchLess than a year after being acquired by Harper Collins, private equity firm Veritas Capital announced an agreement to purchase textbook publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for $21 a share, or approximately $2.8 billion.
Mariana Enriquez, Michael Connelly, S.A. Cosby Among LA Times Book Prize FinalistsLos Angeles TimesThe finalists for the 42nd Los Angeles Times Book Prizes were announced today with 55 nominees announced in 11 categories: Biography, Current Events, Fiction, First Novel, Graphic Novel, History, Mystery/Thriller, Poetry, Science & Technology, SciFi/Fantasy/Speculative Fiction, and Young Adult. The winners will be announced on April 22.
The Science and Recent History of Bookstore DesignBook RiotHow do you design a bricks and mortar bookstore to not only bring in lots of street traffic but make it easier for book browsers to find a book they will love?
Art Created By Artificial Intelligence Can’t Be Copyrighted, U.S. Agency RulesDot.LAA Missouri A.I. programmer tried to copyright a work of art developed by his Creativity Machine. But the U.S. Copyright Office denied his application, ruling (again) that copyrights can only be granted to works produced by “human authorship.”
How a Book is MadeThe New York TimesYou can practically hear the roar of the 200,000-pound printing press in this interactive feature that takes you behind the scenes to view how a manuscript gets turned into a printed book.
How Writing a Children’s Book is an Antidote to Doomsday ThinkingLitHubWriting for children can help uplift you even in these darker days.
How Scholars Once Feared That the Book Index Would Destroy ReadingLitHubA fascinating look at the history of the book index and its function for readers and writers.