Thomas Jefferson

Most of us have probably sold an old book at a yard sale, on eBay, given it to a library, or some such thing. We probably never gave it a second thought. Maybe we need to. Maybe we are criminals, violating copyright law.

A case has come before the Supreme Court that could turn some of our assumptions upside down, at least as pertains to books produced overseas. Take that, Gutenberg! You better read Johannes' copyright notice before you sell your copy of his bible.

From the NYPL Announcement: Thousands of historical documents at The New York Public Library – including material handwritten by George Washington and Thomas Jefferson and papers from authors such as Mark Twain – will soon be accessible to the public online, thanks in large part due to a generous gift of $500,000 from The Polonsky Foundation. [...]

“Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.” —Thomas Jefferson It’s not difficult to get a bit down about publishing lately. Manufacturing and distribution costs have skyrocketed (squeezing already tight profit margins), staffs must do more with less, there is less and less shelf space at bookstores to sell your books, digital publishing brings opportunity, but also risk as we venture into new territory, and today’s economy doesn’t help. But this issue of Book Business shows a silver lining. It points out stellar achievements