Interesting Book-y News

I am off today to collect the Boy Giant Teenager from boarding school/prison. It is apparently the boy's 16th birthday today. I've been operating from the fact that he's 13 and the sister is 15 but apparently time has passed- that of course has implications on me that I would not like to scratch at. In Botswana, unlike in America where I grew up, 16 is not such an important birthday since children here cannot get their driver's licences until they turn 18 , unless you are one of the Giant Teenagers who believe that President Khama upped the age to 21. Their mother told them she read it in the newspaper. It really does pay to keep up with those current affairs.

But that is not what this post is about -this post is about book news. If you recall a few days ago I wrote about not being very loyal to a particular publisher, it seems I'm not alone. John Le Carré has also recently swapped publishers. This interesting article in the Guardian speaks about the history of writers changing publishers and agents, sometimes under quite unfriendly terms.

And what about ebooks and the royalties for authors? I've mentioned before about fighting for higher royalty rates for ebooks. It looks like publishers, on the other hand are trying to squeeze the writer for no reason except that they can. Apparently in America the standard royalty rate for ebooks is 25%, Macmillan has sent out a new standard contract with ebook royalties at 20%. In this article from The New York Times, literary agent Richard Curtis feels that already 25% was too low and suggest taking into account the small set up costs authors should be making 50% of ebooks. Considering the slashing of the price, 50% seems fair.

Something to think about this weekend. I am off to the beautiful Tswapong Hills. Have a great weekend- I intend to!