2010 London Book Festival Call for Entries

2010 LONDON BOOK FESTIVAL CALL FOR ENTRIES

LONDON/AUTHORLINK NEWS/May 24, 2010--The 2010 London Book Festival has issued a call for entries to its annual competition honoring the best of international publishing. The event will hold its annual awards program in January, 2011 at the city's famed Grosvenor House.

The 2010 London Book Festival will consider books in English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese and Italian in the competition. The works may be published, self-published or independent publisher non-fiction, fiction, children's books, poetry, art/photgraphy, teenage, how-to, audio/spoken word, comics/graphic novels, e-books, wild card (anything goes!), science fiction, romance and biography/autobiographical works.
A panel of judges will determine the winners based on the following criteria:
1) The story-telling ability of the author;
2) The potential of the work to win wider recognition from the international publishing community.
Our grand prize for the 2010 London Book Festival Author of the Year is $1500 in U.S. funds and a flight from your city of entry to London OR Los Angeles - your choice!

ENTRIES: Please classify your book and enter it in the following categories. Multiple entries must be accompanied by a separate fee for each book.
1) General Non-fiction
2) General Fiction
3) Children's books
4) E-books
5) Comics/graphic novels
6) Wild Card
7) Teenage
8) Science fiction
9) Romance
10) Biography/Autobiography
11) Audio/spoken word
12) How-To
13) Poetry
14) Art/Photography

FESTIVAL RULES: London Book Festival submissions cannot be returned. Each entry must contain a print-out of the official entry form, including your e-mail address and contact telephone number. All shipping and handling costs must be borne by entrants.
NOTIFICATION AND DEADLINES: The Festival will notify each entry of the receipt of their package via e-mail and will announce the winning entries at the LondonBookFestival.com web site.

Deadline submissions in each category must be postmarked by the close of business on November 25, 2010. Winners in each category will be notified by e-mail and the results posted on the site. Please note that judges read and consider submissions on an ongoing basis, comparing early entries with later submissions.

TO ENTER: Entry forms are available online at http://www.londonbookfestival.com or may be faxed/e-mailed to you by calling our office at 323-665-8080. Applications must be accompanied by a non-refundable entry fee via check, money order, credit card payment or PayPal online payment of $50 in U.S. dollars for each submission. Multiple submissions are permitted but each entry must be accompanied by a separate form and entry fee. Entry fee checks should be made payable to JM Northern Media LLC.

Entry packages should include one copy of the book; a copy of your official entry form; the entry fee or receipt from online payment; and any relevant marketing materials, i.e., press kits or other material that illuminates the background of your book. Entries should be mailed to:

JM Northern Media LLC
The London Book Festival
7095 Hollywood Blvd. Suite 864
Hollywood, CA 90028, USA
AWARDS: The London Book Festival selection committee reserves the right to determine the eligibility of any project.

The London Book Festival is produced by JM Northern Media LLC, producers of the Hollywood Book Festival, New York Book Festival and DIY Book Festival. We are sponsored by the Larimar St. Croix Writers Colony, eDivvy, Westside Websites and Shopanista.

Borders Raises $25 Million to Transform Brand

Borders Raises $25 Million to Transform Brand

ANN ARBOR, MICH/AUTHORLINK NEWS/May 21, 2010—Borders Group, Inc. has announced that an entity controlled by Bennett S. LeBow has agreed to invest $25 million in the company through a private purchase of 11.1 million shares of the company’s common stock.

The investment--coupled with the company’s recently announced financing--will strengthen Borders’ balance sheet and help fund the transformation of the Borders brand. Mr. LeBow’s investment will support several important financial and strategic initiatives such as improving the company’s capital position, addressing the store network to maximize productivity and profitability, maximizing the digital opportunity including growing Borders.com, and developing strategic business partnerships. The purchase is expected to close later today.

In connection with the investment, Mr. LeBow has joined the Board of Directors and has also been elected Chairman. Mr. LeBow is the Chairman of Vector Group, Ltd. (NYSE: VGR). Howard Lorber, who serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of Vector Group, has also joined the Board of Directors of Borders Group.

Additionally, in order to create the nine-member Board as required by the terms of the transaction, Richard “Mick” McGuire has resigned from the Board of Directors.

"I am pleased to welcome Ben aboard as the new Chairman," said McGuire. "Borders has made great progress in improving its financial and operating condition by exiting non-core businesses, reducing fixed costs, improving working capital efficiency, and focusing on operational excellence. More recently, the executive team has begun the process of repositioning the business and in-store experience to succeed in a future of electronic delivery..."

Pershing Square Capital Management, L.P. and its affiliates, which currently is a major shareholder of Borders Group, has indicated its support for the transaction.

Details of the purchase agreement will be included in a Form 8-K to be filed promptly with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, through its subsidiaries Borders Group, Inc. (NYSE: BGP) is a leading specialty retailer of books as well as other educational and entertainment items. The company employs approximately 19,500 throughout the U.S., primarily in its Borders® and Waldenbooks® stores. Online shopping is offered through borders.com.

Barnes & Noble PubIt! for Self-Published Authors

Barnes & Noble PubIt! for Self-Published Authors

AUTHORINK NEWS/May 20, 2010--For authors who simply want to publish their own work, Barnes & Noble is offering PubIt!(www.bn.com/pubit). The online system allows self-published authors to access and sell eBooks and other content on Barnes & Noble's Online and Digital Platforms.

The easy-to-use publishing and distribution platform offers authors of self-published works expanded distribution, visibility and Digital Rights Management protection.

PubIt! titles will be distributed through BN.COM and Barnes & Noble's eBookstore, which currently offers more than one million digital titles to millions of dedicated customers in-store and online.

Details about PubIt's royalty model and compensation process will be available next week.

Barnes & Noble customers will be able to browse, sample, buy and download the digital content in seconds to their devices with free BN reader software. Using Barnes & Noble's Read In Store(TM) technology, NOOK(TM) customers can also browse the complete contents of PubIt! titles while in Barnes & Noble stores.

PubIt! titles will be accessible on hundreds of devices including: NOOK by Barnes & Noble, PC, Mac®, iPad(TM), iPhone®, BlackBerry® and others. For more information on free BN eReader software and apps, visit www.bn.com/ebooks/download-reader.asp.

More information on PubIt!, which will be available this summer at www.bn.com/pubit.

Editor's Note: One wonders if we are simply creating more giant slush piles here.

Indy Book Publishers Name Franklin Finalists

Indy Book Publishers Name Franklin Finalists

AUTHORLINK NEWS/May 18, 2010--The Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) has announce finalists in the 2010 Benjamin Franklin Awards™. The three finalists in each of the 50 categories were selected from among more than 1,300 entries. One winner per category will be announced at the Benjamin Franklin Awards ceremony on Monday evening, May 24 at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City.

Let us know what you think of the winners. A complete listing of finalists can be found on the IBPA website

Anybody read any of these? How do they compare with releases by major publishers?

Google Hooks Up With Verizon Against iPad

Verizon Wireless is working with Google Inc. on a tablet computer, as the company tries catching up with iPad host AT&T. They say they'll have devices ready to show early next year. So, why do we need yet another tablet computer? Well, this one is supposed to be faster than all the rest, especially good for running video. We'll see. --May 12, 2010