California Literary Review

Robert Giroux, Publisher, Dies at 94: Robert Giroux, an editor and publisher who introduced and nurtured some of the major authors of the 20th century and ultimately added his name to one of the nation’s most distinguished publishing houses, died on Friday in Tinton Falls, N.J. He was 94. [NYT]

Booksellers Try to Find the Key in Selling to Inmates: With 2.3 million Americans behind bars—including 1.5 million incarcerated in state institutions—inmates represent a significant market for booksellers, but reaching prisoners can be a difficult proposition, loaded with red tape and byzantine rules. [Publishers Weekly]

E-books don’t furnish a room: The ownership of books is a big deal, of course. Books do furnish a room, as Anthony Powell knew. There is nothing like finding your A-level notes – or your parents’ – in an ancient Penguin paperback. Your new temporary crush can’t scrawl his book recommendations on the title page of the novel you are reading if that novel is trapped inside 260g of plastic. And imagine walking into a new acquaintance’s house to find no books. It wouldn’t seem right to examine the contents of a friend’s Kindle while he was out of the room making coffee. [Independent]

Small Book Publishers Offered New Technology: The new service, called Constellation, will allow independent publishers to make use of electronic readers, digital book search, print-on-demand and other digital formats at rates negotiated by Perseus on their behalf. [NYT]

Print Run Continues to Rise for ‘Hockey Mom’ : Interest in Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, and the book about her, continues to grow. Epicenter Press, the Washington state publisher with the only book on the Alaska governor, has gone back to press with Lightning Source for another 11,000 copies of Sarah: How a Hockey Mom Turned Alaska’s Political Establishment Upside Down, bringing the total number of copies done with the print-on-demand publisher up to 51,000. [Publishers Weekly]