Book News, In Brief

Sarah Palin has signed a deal to write her memoirs with publisher HarpyCollins...er, HarperControversy...I mean, HarperCollins.


Chuck Palahniuk did an interview with TIME Magazine. In it, he describes the story behind, the politics of, and the fractured dialect in his new book, Pygmy.


The London Free Press recently ran an interesting piece about their city's used booksellers. Not the normal, everyday, used bookstore booksellers, but the city's traveling used booksellers.


The Guardian UK has cast its monocle on the curious world of literary mapmakers. They're the imagination-fueled cartographers who draw up detailed diagrams of their favorite fictional territories (and perhaps the only folks producing fan-fic that will ever have a chance of being published).


Publishers Weekly posted a long list of ways in which the publishing industry is being transformed by the recession. Among the many vertical wrist-slitters are slipping hardcover sales, library budget cuts, and the decline of brick & mortar stores' share of the market. Among the slightly less depressing, horizontal wrist-slitters are the phasing out of print catalogues, a de-emphasis on in-person sales conferences, and reduced travel and attendance at trade shows.