Tribune Company Files for Bankruptcy

The Tribune Company filed for bankruptcy protection in a federal court in Delaware on Monday, as the publisher of newspapers like The Los Angeles Times and The Chicago Tribune struggled to cope with rising debt and falling ad revenue.

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11:28 AM | 0 comments

A huge plus for the Auckland Writers and Readers Festival

The famous Auckland Writers and Readers Festival will truly glitter on its tenth birthday next May. While the program is always exciting, next year the winners of the 23rd Commonwealth Writer's Prize will be announced in a scintillating ceremony.

All eight regional winners -- who will be announced in March 2009 -- will take part in the activities, and visit schools and literary bodies while they are in the country. This Festival is always a big boost for the cultural scene in Auckland, with famous writers, critics, and journalists flitting here and there in the crowd. Next year, obviously, be bigger, brighter, and better than ever, with visitors arriving from all over the world.

While the first deadline for entry has passed, publishers are urged to make late entries. They can do this as long as they notify the relevant chair, and get the books in by December 31, 2008.

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4:18 PM | 0 comments

Woes in the media world continue

At Viacom and NBC Universal more than a thousand jobs are being shed before Christmas, according to the New York Times.

Sumner M. Redstone has announced that Viacom would shave seven percent of its workforce, and freeze salaries for top managers, in an effort to save about $200 million next year. NBC Universal, likewise, is going to lay off five hundred staff, including some veteran correspondents.

At Universal Studios, a memo from chairman Marc Shmuger announces that staff numbers will be cut by three percent, and the studios will be "scaling back on travel, overtime, consultants, premiers, conferences, newspaper marketing and general administrative costs."

"This kind of message is never easy," said Jeffrey A. Zucker, CEO of Universal (which is owned by the General Electric Company). Executives at the Walt Disney Company, the News Corporation and CBS are preparing themselves to issue that "kind of message," too, as sales and advertising revenue dry up.

Employees who have lost their jobs at Viacom, including those at Paramount Studios, will be paid until December 31, and then get some kind of severance payment. "Saying goodbye to friends and colleagues is always difficult," say the president, Philippe P. Dauman, and Thomas E. Dooley, the chief financial officer. It must be hard for them to feel their pain, though -- their salaries might be frozen, but they will still receive an end-of-year bonus for navigating the firm in rocky financial waters. Last year, Mr. Dauman's bonus was $7 million, and apparently the target this this year's sterling work is to be $9.5 million. Last year, Mr. Dooley's bonus was $5.6 million, and this year it is slated to be $7.6 million.

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1:24 PM | 0 comments

WORD OF THE YEAR

Actually, it should be PHRASE of the year. I learn to my amusement that Webster's New World College Dictionary runs an annual "word of the year" competition.

And the shortlist for the 2008 accolade has just been announced:

Overshare

Leisure sickness

Cyberchondriac

Selective ignorance

Youthanasia

You can vote for the winner at http://www.newworldword.com/

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12:04 PM | 0 comments

SPOT THE DIFFERENCE

Chris Kelly, in an amusing blog on Huffington Post, headlined GET SARAH PALIN'S NEW BOOK -- FREE! breaks the news that magazine Newsmax is offering "Sarah Palin's new book" for just the cost of shipping.

"Except," as she found on clicking onto the offer, "it's an old book, it's not by Sarah Palin, you'll pay three times the cost of shipping, and you'll have to subscribe to Newsmax magazine.

Yes, it's the same old biography I blogged about myself during that long, riveting, and often mind-boggling presidential campaign, written by Kaylene Johnson and lifted out of obscurity when Sarah abruptly hit the headlines. Now, Newsmax is trying to get the same boost out of the Alaskan Belle -- but without the expense of updating the book.

As Kelly points out (did she succumb and buy the book to check?), John McCain's name doesn't make the index, though a quote from him now appears on the cover. Yes, the only revised bit of the book is the jacket. One word has been removed from the old title. See if you can find it.

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11:01 AM | 0 comments

Simon & Schuster trims staff

More alarming news from the Wall Street fallout -- Lay-offs at Simon & Schuster

According to Publisher's Lunch a memo from the CEO of the publishing house, which in the past has enjoyed huge sales (after paying huge advances) of books written by such glittering stars as Mary Higgins Clark and Stephen King, announces that Simon & Schuster has "enacted a reduction in staff in which 35 positions across the company were eliminated, from areas including our publishing divisions and international, operations and sales.

"Despite having "literally examined our budget line-by-line to find those areas large and small where we might further economize," Reidy goes on, "today's action is an unavoidable acknowledgment of the current bookselling marketplace and what may very well be a prolonged period of economic instability. In light of this uncertainty, we must responsibly position ourselves for challenges both near term and long."

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12:06 PM | 0 comments

A JK ROWLING ORIGINAL BEEDLE ON DISPLAY

An Original Copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard on Display in New York

One of just seven original copies of J. K. Rowling’s The Tales of Beedle the Bard, which was handwritten and illustrated by the author of the you-know-who series, is on display at the New York Public Library’s Bill Blass public catalog room from December 4, 2008, to January 4, 2009.

December 4 is altogether a huge day for ordinary common-or-garden Harry Potter fans, as Beedle goes on sale on the website of www.amazon.com Big collectors have already signed up for their special edition, which is valued at $100 greenbacks, and comes with a deluxe jacket, ten extra illustrations, a metal skull, a velvet bag embroidered with JKR's signature, and a set of fake gems.

The story of this book is worth a novel in itself. 'Way back when, JK Rowling handwrote and hand-illustrated this little group of tales, and six copies were made. Late 2007, one copy was auctioned to raise money for JKR's favorite charity. Amazon bid $3.98 million -- which may explain why www.amazon.com has exclusive rights to the launch.

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11:40 AM | 0 comments