Technology • Innovation • Publishing - Issue #173

Innovation

DAOs, A Canon

future.a16z.com

Curated resources for those seeking to understand, build, and otherwise get involved with decentralized autonomous organizations or DAOs. #DAOs

The First Edit to Wikipedia Is Being Auctioned as an NFT

gizmodo.com

The “Hello, World!” message was first penned by the platform’s co-founder back in 2001. #NFTs

The Age of Creativity!

rishad.substack.com

RT @rishad As we all fixate on forging things with the scalability, math and plumbing of data, a case may be made that true wealth and joy are being sculpted with the specialness, magic, and poetry of creativity.

Technology & Business

What Happened to Amazon’s Bookstore?

www.nytimes.com

A 2011 thriller was supposed to cost $15. One merchant listed it at $987, with a 17th-century publication date. That’s what happens in a marketplace where third-party sellers run wild. #Amazon

Amazon’s Christmas Shipping Plan to Combat Global Supply-Chain Crisis

www.bloomberg.com

Amazon is taking extreme measures to get Christmas packages to customers, from putting toys on steel-hauling cargo ships to sending out half-empty trucks.

Startup Via.Delivery Brings Buy Online, Pickup in Store to SMBs in the U.S. — multichannelmerchant.com

HT @BISG Via.Delivery, a startup platform offering buy online, pickup in store to smaller retail + ecommerce businesses, expands beyond its Russian roots launching in US w 21K+ pickup locations at pharmacies, convenience marts & grocery stores

Twitter’s new privacy policy could clash with journalism

www.cjr.org

Journalists and activists worry Twitter’s new privacy policy will be weaponized and will make their jobs harder, due to vague terms like “the public interest.” By @mathewi.

Publishing & Media

David Steinberger-Led Group Buys Ebook Publisher Open Road

www.wsj.com

The parties declined to disclose terms of the deal, but a person familiar with the sale said @OpenRoadMedia, which had been primarily owned by a group of institutional investors, sold for between $60 million and $80 million.

B&N NOOK GlowLight 4 has a pair of big advantages over Kindle — www.slashgear.com

Barnes & Noble has revealed its latest ereader, and if you’re still not on Team Kindle then the NOOK GlowLight 4 could prove persuasive. #Nook

The Kindle Vella Experience: Is It for You? — www.janefriedman.com

MT @JaneFriedman Novelist @audreykalman discusses her experience so far with Kindle Vella, the new serialization platform. She’s earned more in bonuses from Amazon than in reader payments.

Start Here: How to Write a Book Proposal + Book Proposal Template by Jane Friedman

www.janefriedman.com

MT @JaneFriedman I’ve freshly updated my foundational how-to article on writing a nonfiction book proposal. It now includes a Word template, formatted according to industry standards, with tips & guidance on each proposal section.

2022 literary calendar has 149 opportunities for celebrating all things books

buildbookbuzz.com

Incorporate several holidays from this extensive 2022 literary calendar into your book marketing plan for next year. Via @sandrabeckwith.

Alamo Colleges District In Texas Will Use BN College to Provide $17 Million In Free Textbooks

www.businesswire.com

HT @PublishersLunch

RBmedia acquired Toronto-based Author’s Republic

lunch.publishersmarketplace.com

HT @PublishersLunch @RBmediaCo acquired Toronto-based Author’s Republic, a distribution platform for self-published audiobooks. The deal includes the company’s Novel Audio audiobook publishing imprint as well. (Novel Audio was originally Audiobooks.com Publishing, and changed its name after the Audiobooks.com retail site was sold to RBmedia’s predecessor. And RBmedia just sold Audiobooks.com to Storytel.)

RR Donnelley Discloses A Second, Higher Bid From “A Strategic Party” As It Continues to Negotiate Sale

www.businesswire.com

HT @PublishersLunch #PrintingNews

When “Woke” Is Weaponized — www.slj.com

Tools for handling challenges to diverse books programs. #BookBanning

A Texas School District Banned My Book. Then Things Got Really Ugly.

www.texasmonthly.com

Malcolm X’s former prison cell to be library for incarcerated people

boingboing.net

The Boston Globe reports that Reginald Dwayne Betts, a MacArthur Award-winning poet who himself spent eight years in prison, plans to convert a prison cell at MCI-Norfolk into a new “Freedom Library,” as part of a grant project through the Mellon Foundation.

‘JRR Token’ is a punny name for a cryptocurrency, but Tolkien’s estate is not humored

www.npr.org 
The estate of fantasy writer J.R.R. Tolkien has successfully blocked a cryptocurrency called “JRR Token.”

Future doubles profits and grows revenue by 79% as ex-TI Media brands see ‘early momentum’ in US

pressgazette.co.uk

HT @BoSacks

Architectural Digest will publish its first global print issue as part of revamped international rollout strategy

digiday.com 
After experimenting with rolling out feature stories and videos globally this year, Architectural Digest will publish its first global magazine issue.

Elsevier acquires Osmosis.org, a digital health education platform

newsdirect.com

Time Magazine’s 100 Must-Read Books of 2021 — time.com

The fiction, nonfiction and poetry that shifted our perspectives, uncovered essential truths and encouraged us forward. #BestBooks

The New York Times: Best Books of 2021

www.nytimes.com 
Editors at The Times Book Review choose the best fiction and nonfiction titles this year.

WSJ 10 Best Books of 2021

www.wsj.com 
Selected by the editors of the Journal’s books pages, the year’s most distinguished works of fiction and nonfiction.

WaPo Best books of 2021

www.washingtonpost.com

These 10 stand-out books are an eclectic bunch, but all will make you see the world a little differently.

Best of Books 2021: In a huge year for publishing, why these 10 stood out — www.chicagotribune.com 
From the volatile “The Trees” to “100 Things We’ve Lost to the Internet,” these are books I wish I could read again for the first time.

Shelf Awareness Best Books of 2021

www.shelf-awareness.com

Christmas 2021: Authors and critics on their best books of the year, from Sorrow and Bliss to Assembly

inews.co.uk 
Elizabeth Day, Lisa Taddeo, David Nicholls and more reveal their top reads — and the gifts they’d most like to find under the tree

Resources & Opportunities

Penguin Hotline

www.penguinrandomhouse.com

I’m working the Penguin Hotline 12/6, 12/8, and 12/10! Ck out the #PenguinHotline to get a personalized list of recommendations. For every request btwn 12/1–12/15, the Penguin Hotline’ll donate $2 to ProLiteracy (up to $10K) And there are “golden tickets” to get recommendations from authors, such as Jasmine Guillory, Megan Abbott, Emma Straub, Emily Henry, Jason Mott, Chang rae-Lee, and more. The holidays are #BetterWithBooks#TeamPRH

The Bronx is Reading Bookstore | IFundWomen — ifundwomen.com

MT @bronxisreading Yerrrrr, #thebronx reads and we deserve a children’s bookstore period! Help us make this a reality. Donate & spread the word today!

WMG Holiday Party

womensmediagroup.org

@WMG_NYC Members: Don’t forget to sign up for this week’s FREE Holiday Party. It’s 12/9 from 6–8pm ET. Come celebrate with us, get to know your new fellow members, and reconnect with old friends. We’ll have guided breakout rooms with festive themes for intimate networking, contests for Best Zoom Décor and Most Creative Cocktail or Mocktail, and we’ll be naming a Belle of the Ball. So, feel free to dress to impress…without having to leave the comfort of your home!