Colin Robinson

Colin Robinson, co-founder of the New York independent publisher OR Books, has published a call in The Guardian that fits right into the dog days of summer. Entitled “Writers should take a year off, and give us all a break,” his plea asks for: “a writers’ moratorium. What if everyone could be persuaded to stop [...]

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The news that Penguin and Random House will merge into one large frankenpublisher sent shockwaves through the book industry as the frankenstorm lashed the northeast. The move is motivated by bad news—declining sales and troubled chains—and has inspired fears that there will be more bad news to come for the publishing industry.

But could there be a glimmer of hope in all of this pessimism? Gavin James Bower, editorial director at UK independent publisher Quartet Books, offered a positive spin on , speculating that the merger might offer opportunities for indie publishers.

Numbers show that the publishing industry is handling the rise of e-readers better than what folk knowledge might suggest.

The fall publishing season is in full swing. There can hardly have been a year with more luminaries atop both the fiction and nonfiction bestseller lists; J. K. Rowling, Michael Chabon, Ken Follett, Junot Diaz, among others, represent literary acclaim and commercial appeal. Diaz is having an especially good run. Stephen Colbert, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Neil Young, Bob Woodward, and Salman Rushdie are just a sampling of the nonfiction bestsellers.

How do you tell the story of Occupy Wall Street? An anonymous collective called "Writers for the 99%" is trying to do just that, creating a book for progressive publisher OR Books using a revolutionary writing method inspired by the movement's own democratic structure.

The book was announced yesterday, and OR Books co-founder, Colin Robinson, told The Huffington Post that their chosen writing method is both "terrifying and exhilarating."

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