Yesterday I lamented the impending departure of Richard Nash from Soft Skull Press. One of the things that I enjoy about him is that he is almost always the first publisher to embrace Web 2.0 concepts like social media.

When I asked to be added as a friend of Soft Skull on Facebook, it was Richard himself sending me a greeting, and he can Twitter with the best of them.

A lot of people in publishing are having a difficult time getting their heads around these concepts. I heard from my friend Tod at Exterminating Angel Press that a prospective intern she interviewed recently had no idea what Twitter was and was even clueless as to what a weblink is. And this was a young man in his early twenties, somebody you would assume would be jacked into all of this stuff.

All of this is a very roundabout excuse for me to link to this post on Anthro Goggles about four science fiction books you should read if you’re working in social media. And if you are working at all, you should be using some kind of social media.

The titles selected seem pretty first rate. Personally, I’m only familiar with William Gibson’s Pattern Recognition, but I admit that the article made me genuinely curious about Daemon, much more so than all of the self-published-book-becomes-legitimate-hit hype surrounding it.

And be sure to read the comments, which make additional recommendations-especially Charles Stross’ Halting State, which knocked my socks off.

(via io9.com)

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I was already having a miserable morning yesterday when news arrived, via PW, that Richard Nash was preparing to leave Soft Skull and Counterpoint press on March 10th.

According to his post on Soft Skull News, Nash says that he will be “consulting and freelancing”, assuring us that this is not “a euphemism for leaving publishing”.

I hope not. I don’t know what he has on the burner, but I know it’ll be kick-ass. He has genuinely made publishing interesting for the last few years, and the poor sucker that Charlie Winton hires to replace him has enormous shoes to fill.

Richard, I raise my Bushmills (well, Black Bush to be specific) to your efforts and to your future. Sláinte!

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Jeff Bezos was on the Daily Show Monday evening, pimping the Kindle 2.0, which began shipping to customers that day.

What I really liked about the interview was how Stewart kept pointing out that a lot of Amazon’s business model is based on paying in advance for something. He would point out that free shipping via Amazon Prime isn’t really free if it costs nearly eighty bucks a year. Then Stewart reacts with counterfeit astonishment that after you spend over $350 for the thing “you have to BUY the books too”.

Bezos’ reaction is to bray like a donkey in heat, or, as somebody over at Gizmodo put it, like a gassed hyena.

Speaking of Gizmodo, if you want to see what a Kindle 2.0 looks like on the inside, check this out.

(via Paper Cuts)

Edit-I took the embedded video was mucking up the page formating, so I removed it. If you click on the Paper Cuts link, you can see the video.

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According to the New York Observer, Ballantine has acquired a forthcoming memoir by comedienne Kathy Griffin for the bargain price of $2 million.

Nice one, Sonny. Keep rearranging those deck chairs, I think you’re almost there.

I think this anonymous comment accompanying the post sums it up best: If I were a laid off Random House staffer, I would be thinking homicidal thoughts.

(Photo by Getty Images)

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Novelist Haruki Murakami was recently in Jerusalem accepting a literary prize for “the freedom of the individual in society”, and he delivered a simple, yet heartbreakingly devestating speech on the role of the novelist in wartime.

Salon released a transcript of this speech on an otherwise slow newsday this past Friday, and is well worth checking out.

(photo by Baz Ratner/Reuters)

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There’s some kind of crud that is making the rounds, and people are dropping like flies.

I am now one of said flies.

So, no posts today, except to remind you to stock up on Slumdog Millionaire, which seems to have won every Oscar imaginable last night.

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There just isn’t a lot going on in publishing the last day or so, and frankly, I’m too tired right now to be opinionated

So while my juices are recharging, here are a few interesting links worth clicking.

Folks in publishing who still have jobs wax rhapsodic on “the good old days” over at PW.

Conversational Reading continues its fascinating series How To Publish in a Recession. This time, they speak with Coffee House Press’ Allan Kornblum.

Anderson News tried to strong-arm an extra 7 cents per magazine distributed, and was crippled when publishers tell them to get lost. Now, they’re calling it quits. You’re going to have to look extra hard to find a copy of Newsweek come Friday.

io9 has a roundup of Nine SciFi Books That Deserve To Be Movies. Think of this as a counterbalance to the Slate piece from yesterday. Personally, while I can’t wait for a film of Richard K. Morgan’s Altered Carbon, it will be hard for a film adaptation of Austin Grossman’s Soon I Will Be Invincible to top Joss Whedon’s Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog.

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Writing over at Slate, Willing Davidson asks the question “Why does Hollywood take our favorite novels and turn them into crap“?

What follows is an impassioned explanation for why movies almost always fail to live up to the novels they are adapted from.

Of course, movies are made for a different audience, and film conveys emotion and details in a much different fashion. Still, few things are as heartbreaking as watching your favorite literary work torn asunder by Hollywood hacks.

But, I would also counter, that some films are much better than the books they sprang from: Giant and Gone With The Wind are two that leap to mind.

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I was reading somewhere, I don’t remember if it was in Publishers Lunch or Shelf Awareness, but I did read today that BEA was working to lower hotel costs for BEA attendees (which would presumably include booksellers and smaller publishers).

So, I take back a bit of what I said. Twenty bucks off a $200 a night notel room is still better than a poke in the eye. That will pay for at least a few cab rides to the Javits convention center.

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Sorry to have two cranky, I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore kind of posts in a row. This has just been bugging me.

It should come as no suprise that Reed Exhibitions has decided to keep Book Expo America in NYC for the foreseeable future.

In a post about the firing of Publishers Weekly editor Sara Nelson, I commented that the magazine (which is owned by Reed Exhibitions) was really only interested in the lucre it collected from publishers.

Keeping BEA in NYC furthers this argument. An article in PW quotes Larry Fensterman, industry vp and show manager for BEA as saying “By keeping the show in New York, BEA executives hope to lower the costs for the major publishers…” Did I mention that PW is owned by Reed Exhibitions? The article doesn’t.

Lowering the costs for the major publishers. But forcing the smaller publishers, wholesalers and booksellers to pay through the nose by traveling to one of the most expensive cities in America.

Personally, yes, I would rather go to NYC than Las Vegas, but, I also know more than one bookseller who quite enjoys going to the show when it is Chicago. And having the show on the west coast once in a while lowers the costs for booksellers west of the Mississippi.

I’d like to see what Reed is going to do to lower costs for the aforementioned parties, or if they are even interested.

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