Industry & Advocacy News
October 6, 2017
Our round-up of articles of interest and key news affecting authors. In this week’s edition: The Nobel Prize for Literature, Penguin Random House buys Sasquatch Books, and more…
U.S. Copyright Office Revises Its Compendium
Federal Register
The U.S. Copyright Office revised and released an update to its administrative manual, the Compendium of U.S. Copyright Office Practices, Third Edition, on September 29, 2017. Some of its updates include the Office’s use of an applicant’s email address as its primary mode of contact, an update to the Best Edition requirement that allows works exclusively published digitally to be submitted in a digital format, and its 2014 rule holding that a work’s “date of publication” for purposes of terminating rights transfers is the date the work is to be published under the contract, not the actual date of publication.
Penguin Random House Buys Sasquatch Books
Publishers Weekly
Sasquatch Books, listed as one of Publishers Weekly’s fastest growing independent publishers of 2016, has been acquired by Penguin Random House for an undisclosed amount. Founded in 1986, Sasquatch has been a distribution client of Penguin Random House Publisher Services for five years. The publisher, whose books cover topics such as nature, travel, and gardening, will remain in Seattle and there are currently no plans on changing the publisher’s management or staff.
Final Chapter for Another Hong Kong Bookstore
Asia Sentinel
On October 2, Flowbooks, one of the last independent bookstores in Hong Kong, was forced to shut down due to financial difficulties. The 20-year-old bookstore was first padlocked earlier this year when its owner was unable to pay overdue rent. After raising funds from the public, the store was able to open again for a short period of time in September before having to close its doors again. Surdham Lam, the shop’s owner, says he’s found a new location for Flowbooks but as of yet lacks the funds needed to open up again. In the meantime, his stock is being looked after by other local booksellers.
What Happens When a Big-Name Author Is Sued for Copyright Infringement
Huffington Post
The Huffington Post details Dallas author Charles C. Green’s lawsuit against author Chad Harbach for alleged similarities between Green’s unpublished manuscript and Harbach’s best-selling 2011 debut The Art of Fielding. As the lawsuit advances, Green’s legal team will have to prove that there is a more than suspicious level of similarity between the two books and also that Harbach had access to the original work at all.
The Nobel Prize in Literature 2017
BBC
The 2017 Nobel Prize for Literature has been awarded to Kazuo Ishiguro, “who, in novels of great emotional force, has uncovered the abyss beneath our illusory sense of connection with the world.”
Photo credit: Nobel Prize Medal in Chemistry by Adam Baker under CC by 2.0
