Uncategorized | July 22, 2004

Thinking about getting published in a hurry? Try Random House’s self-publishing venture, Xlibris. Xlibris will give you what you need to become your own publisher. You give them your manuscript and Xlibris will work with you to format it and design a cover, and then the completed file is stored digitally. Your book is added to their online bookstore along with other popular booksellers at Amazon.com and Borders.com. When someone places an order for a copy, they will have a copy of your book printed up and ship it out, splitting the royalties with you.

It is depressing to hear that Americans are reading less, but not to worry there is hope: Oprah Winfrey. Since Winfrey named Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina to her book club, copies of the Russian novel are almost impossible to find on shelves, reports the Philadelphia Inquirer. Ms. Winfrey is once again breathing new life into classic literature. Thank you, Oprah.

Last month at the Hay-on-Wye book festival in Britain, the people in charge of the Orange Prize for women’s fiction asked 500 patrons to choose their definitive “must have” bookshelf of 50 books by living writers. Vote for your choices and see theirs.