THE SKINNY ON DAVID BRADLEY: New owner of The Atlantic Monthly is a budding magazine mogul - a guy who says all the right things. New York Observer 9/30/99

GUNTER GRASS WINS LITERATURE NOBEL: He found out as he was going to the dentist - he missed the appointment. CBC 9/30/99
     ALSO: More on Gunter NPR Morning Edition 9/30/99 [Real Audio clip]

ATLANTIC CURRENTS: David Bradley visited his newly-acquired Atlantic Monthly magazine Tuesday with a message for the staff: "Stay the course. I'm not planning big changes." Boston Globe 9/29/99

THINK YOU CAN SELL THAT FIRST NOVEL? At the risk of being inundated, a London publisher reveals the do's and don't's of getting published. He says it's the best time ever for first-time authors to get into print. The London Telegraph 9/28/99

BOOKS ON DEMAND: Netbooks offers downloadable books online - readers can pick their own typefaces and search text with a click.  Publisher's Weekly 9/28/99

ATLANTIC CROSSING: Mort Zuckerman surprised the magazine world yesterday when he sold The Atlantic, one of his prized publications, to the publisher of the National Journal. New owner plans to replace William Whitworth, the Atlantic's longtime editor, with Michael Kelly. Washington Post 9/28/99

THE WRITE STUFF: After publishers turned her down, she self-published on the internet. Now she's got a major book contract. Cleveland Plain Dealer 9/26/99

BETTER ALTERNATIVES? Stern publishing puts its chain of alternative weeklies up for sale (Village Voice, Seattle Weekly among them) but the price is so high, observers predict it'll be gobbled up by a media giant. If so, what will be so alternative about them? Chicago Tribune 9/24/99 

WORDS FOR HIRE: Hollywood is so desperate for scripts, writers with even a tiny buzz are getting contracts.
Variety 9/23/99

BOOK OF LISTS: Barnes and Noble decides to start its own list of bestsellers. It's not just a simple switch of lists, says one publisher: "A lot of us will have to rethink what a [New York] Times bestseller' means." Publisher's Weekly 9/22/99  

With more than 100 books about Diana on the market, what makes Sally Bedell Smith's new biography different? Source notes, she says. The Diana industry rolls on. Toronto Globe and Mail 9/22/99 

Booker finalists: no Rushdie or Doyle... this year's edition of the prestigious book award sets off with the usual cargo of controversies. Toronto Globe and Mail 9/22/99
     PLUS: A first time novelist is among the finalists. BBC 9/22/99

WHAT, ME WORRY? Concerns about e-commerce and national chains have waned, and the bargain-book business is flourishing. Publisher's Weekly 9/21/99

IF LA'S POETS ALL WENT AWAY, would anyone notice? Brendan Bernhard ponders the low stature of poetry in our society at the end of the millennium. LA Weekly 9/23/99

Why Johnny can't read? The Washington Post's Jonathan Yardley says that modern school reading lists are largely devoid of literary merit. Washington Post 9/15/99

BOOKS IN PRINT: A computerized analysis of the 18 million books in the Library of Congress (the world's largest library) shows there are nearly twice as many books about Christ (17,239) as about his nearest challenger, William Shakespeare, and four times as many as about Lenin, who occupies third place on the list, with 4,492. Sydney Morning Herald  9/15/99

THE US IS ALREADY THE FIFTH LARGEST SPANISH-SPEAKING COUNTRY IN THE WORLD But the market for Spanish books is as diverse as the Mexicans, Cubans, Puerto Ricans, Central Americans and other Latinos within it. Publisher's Weekly 9/13/99

Chapter Too: Giant Canadian book retailer Chapters is reportedly telling Canadian book publishers they won't be getting some of the chain's fall orders until they agree to give higher discounts to Pegasus, the retailer's wholesale subsidiary. Toronto Globe and Mail 9/14/99
      PLUS: SANTA CRUZ FIGHTS THE ARRIVAL OF BORDERS Publisher's Weekly 9/13/99

The New York Times Bestseller list: Amazon, the online retailer, recently marshaled its attorneys for the right to use the list in its marketing. Now book superstore Barnes & Noble has announced it doesn't want to use the list at all. What's the fuss about? New York Times 9/13/99

Writing with substance: Is it really true that "the question is no longer what the writer has written but rather who the writer is?" Jonathan Yardley writes about the pressures of writing literate. Washington Post 9/13/99

AGENT? PUBLISHER? BOOK SELLER? The internet is changing the roles of those who help get authors' work to print. Publisher's Weekly 9/6/99

SURE YOU CAN TAKE IT TO THE BATHROOM, but this ultimate test of two electronic books still isn't enough to impress technology critic Sven Birkerts.