Ursula Mackenzie

Leading publishing figures stressed the importance of becoming more outward-looking at the final plenary session. Pan Macmillan m.d. Anthony Forbes Watson said the publisher was trying to break down its old methods of working and focus the whole company on “reader engagement”. He said: “We are probably only 10% of the way there and what we will look like in five years’ time we don’t know.”

 

Claire Ryan writes in to tell us that Tor's anti-DRM policy is not making some other publishers happy. According to letters received by Cory Doctorow, Hachette UK is telling its stable of authors that they must use DRM, not just for the ebooks it publishes, but for all publishers distributing the same ebooks in other territories.

"I’ve just seen a letter sent to an author who has published books under Hachette’s imprints in some territories and with Tor Books and its sister companies in other territories (Tor is part of Macmillan)…"

Publisher concerns over whether the e-book agency model can survive globally in the wake of the US Department of Justice lawsuit and widespread frustration at the delay of the Nook device launching in the UK were the two main topics of conversation in the halls of the this week. Yet publishers also noted a busier fair, and many said that Chinas Market Focus would be a springboard to open up the country to Western publishers. Many heaped praise on Macmillan and Penguin, the two Big Six US publishers who are still fighting the DoJ suit. Zeus founder Anthony Cheetham

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