Industry & Advocacy News
January 5, 2018
Our round-up of articles of interest and key news affecting authors. In this week’s edition: 2018 book publishing predictions, Spotify hit with a 1.6 billion lawsuit and more…
Indie Bookstores Tell Us About Their Most Stolen Books
Electric Literature
From Didion to Bukowski, Electric Literature talks to indie bookstores across the country to find out which books are most likely to be kidnapped from their stores.
Fred Bass, Who Made Strand Bookstore a Mecca, Dies at 89
The New York Times
Fred Bass, who transformed his father’s small used-book store into the mecca that is the Strand, died on Wednesday at his home in Manhattan.
Microsoft Quietly Rolls Out Its E-bookstore
Publishers Weekly
The Microsoft e-bookstore is said to be designed to “offer millions of people a great opportunity to get more value out of their PCs.”
Spotify Hit With $1.6 Billion Copyright Lawsuit
Reuters
Wixen Music Publishing is suing Spotify for allegedly using thousands of songs from Tom Petty, The Doors, and other artists without licenses or compensation.
Ninth Circuit: You Can Transfer Copyright Without Saying Copyright
Lexology
The Ninth Circuit recently held that Section 204(a) of the Copyright Act does not require a specific and particular reference to “copyright” for an effective transfer. Copyright transfer is effective even when transfer documents do not mention copyright, if it can be established from the facts that the parties intended to transfer copyright ownership.
2018 Book Publishing Predictions
Huffington Post
Smashwords founder Mark Coker’s 2018 forecasts for the publishing industry include the demise of independent ebook publishing and growth of audiobooks.
PW’s Top Publishing News Stories of 2017
Jim Milliot and John Maher of Publishers Weekly summarize the top PW publishing stories of 2017.
Making Sense of the New ‘20% Qualified Business Income Deduction’
Forbes
Forbes contributor Tony Nitti analyzes the new deductions for pass-through entities, concluding that without regulations, form instructions, or guidance from a lawmaker “who actually understands” the bill, it could take a while to get clarity on its provisions.
Photo credit: Tom Petty by musicisentropy licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
