Every day Poets & Writers Magazine scans the headlines—from publishing reports to academic announcements to literary dispatches—for all the news that creative writers need to know. Here are today's stories:
Revisions to the Google Book Search settlement—which Google, the Authors Guild, and the Association of American Publishers submitted to federal court only minutes before the midnight deadline last Friday—include, among other things, a clarification of Google’s pricing algorithm and extended provisions for the handling of so-called “copyright orphans” (Wall Street Journal).
Reacting to news that the Google settlement will now apply only to works copyrighted in the United States or originally published in Canada, Great Britain, and Australia, publishers in Germany (Monsters and Critics) and New Zealand (National Business Review) have expressed concern at being left out.
Britain’s Publishers Association, which had remained neutral on the deal until now, has filed a letter in support of the revised Google Book Search settlement (Bookseller).
Meanwhile, the Open Book Alliance—a coalition comprising Amazon, Microsoft, the National Writers Union, and a handful of other, mostly literary, organizations—has accused Google and its partners of “performing a sleight of hand.”
Cyberculture blog Boing Boing has announced the results of its “iPhone Disappointment Haiku” competition.
Overdue for more than half a century, two library books—along with a $1000 fine—have been returned to an Arizona high school by an anonymous alum (Associated Press).
Sony is looking to cash in on the holiday market with romance- and crime-themed editions of its digital Reader (Computer Shopper).
Philip Kerr, Audrey Niffenegger, and Irvine Welsh are among the authors slated to appear at the next Adelaide Writers Week, which runs from February 28 to March 5 in the South Australian capital.
