Matt

Dear Publishing Business Today subscriber,

This week the Publishing Business Group will be taking a break from producing Publishing Business Today.

As we approach the end of 2012, we want to thank our readers for their support, kind words and continued readership.

Until then, we wish you a safe, happy and healthy New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.

A novelist's attack on an internet user who was apparently hoping to download her book illegally has gone viral on Twitter.

Rosie Fiore was searching for online reviews of her latest book Babies in Waiting when she found in a forum a request for “free book downloads” from a user called “Stinkle01”.

Ms Fiore, 44, of Mill Hill, wrote such an acerbic response that it was read by thousands of visitors to her website before being reposted on Twitter.

As I was writing this on the very cusp of Labor Day Weekend, my South Philadelphia neighbors were preparing for something very special: The Boss, Bruce Springsteen, will be playing two shows at Citizens Bank Park over the holiday weekend. The Asbury Park legend is an adopted favorite son (plus it'll be about the only interesting thing happening in the ballpark this summer).

Jane Smiley, author, "Private Life" Reading fiction is and always was about learning to see the world through often quite alien perspectives. This remains essential. Matt de la Peña, author, "Mexican WhiteBoy" Kafka believed a book should wake us up with a blow to the head. But we don’t want our novels to do that anymore. Robin Sloan, writer and media inventor New and maturing media are not a threat to the novel, but a reminder of why it has endured. Thomas Glave, author, "The Torturer's Wife" The ways in which we respond to the work of art in

“It’s not about who makes them first, but who makes them better.” That’s how Sony’s Sir Howard Stringer announced his upcoming tablets. Zing.

Meet the S and P, everyone. Sony just took the wraps off its first generation Android tablets a few moments ago at its 2011 IFA press event. But, as with most non-Apple products these day, there isn’t much to report. Sony used teasers and planted leaks over the last few months to generate buzz, which in turn, makes today’s announce a tad anticlimactic.