Thursday, March 5, 2009

Book News, In Brief

Jack Kerouac's 'lost' novel, The Sea is My Brother, is to be published in its entirety for the first time later his year. According to The Guardian UK, it was written during Kerouac's years as a merchant seaman, and is about "man's simple revolt from society."


Amazon has finally done something right regarding e-books, and it has nothing to do with the Kindle! In a move that seemed inevitable, the big A has released a free application which allows e-books to be downloaded onto iPhones and iPods. Note to brick & mortar bookstores: This will hurt.


Desperate not to be left out of the digital market, Barnes & Noble has bought e-book publisher Fictionwise for $15.7 million. For Barnes & Noble's sake, let's hope this works a helluva lot better than their previous attempt at selling digital media.


Only weeks after shutting down two imprints and laying off an as-yet-unreported amount of staff and executives, HarperCollins has announced the opening of It Books, a pop culture, sports and style imprint. I suspect there will be a lot of familiar faces applying for positions.