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Ian McEwan's Atonement to Become Opera

Ian McEwan Atonement

The BBC reports that an opera version of Ian McEwan's novel Atonement is in the works. Composer Michael Berkeley will write the music for the opera and poet Craig Raine will write the libretto. The BBC says McEwan decided not to write the libretto.

Berkeley will write the music, with the poet Craig Raine writing the libretto after McEwan himself decided not to.

According to Berkeley, however, McEwan will have a "creative input" into the production, set to premiere in 2013.

"We're going to have several meetings with him so he can feed into what we're doing," he told the BBC News website.

McEwan has collaborated on a small-scale opera in the past. It was called For You. The film based on Atonement was nominated for several Oscars at the 80th Academy Awards. The novel made Time's list of the all-time Top 100 novels.

Posted on March 20, 2010
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John Grisham Ends Ebook Holdout

John Grisham has ended his long holdout on releasing ebook versions of his bestselling novels. Reuters reports that Grisham's publisher Random House announced that all 23 of Grishams' books are now available as electronic books from major retailers including Sony Reader Store, Barnes & Noble.com and Amazon.com.

The former lawyer, whose best sellers include "The Firm" and "A Time To Kill", had previously held off selling his books electronically, expressing concern that e-books would wipe out traditional book stores and make it harder for new writers to succeed.

But beginning Tuesday, all Grisham's fiction and non-fiction books will be available through e-book retailers, publisher Random House said.

Grisham has been critical of the ebook format. He said last year on the Today show, "If a new book is now worth about $9 then we have seriously devalued that book." John Grisham also told Matt Lauer, "If half of us are going to be doing it, then you're going to wipe out tons of bookstores and publishers and we�re going to buy it all online. I'm probably going to be all right - but the aspiring writers are going to have a very hard time getting published."

John Grisham did not give a statement now that all of his books are being sold as ebooks.

Photo: Maki Galimberti/Random House

Posted on March 18, 2010
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How To Make It As A Songwriter
Mary Dawson's new book, How to Get Somewhere in the Music Business from Nowhere with Nothing, gives you the inside scoop on how to make it in the music business as a songwriter. Mary teaches you all you need to know to make your songwriting dreams a reality. Click here to learn more.

Borders Plans to Encourage Book Club Gatherings

Borders Tiny Store

The Chicago Tribune reports that Borders has a new plan to get readers into its bookstores. Borders plans to encourage readers to hold book group gatherings inside its stores. The Tribune says Borders wants its bookstores to become more of a gathering place.

Signs and posters telling shoppers to bring their book group to the store have gone out from corporate headquarters in Ann Arbor, Mich., to Borders' 507 outposts, including 18 stores in the Chicago area, said Mary Davis, spokesman for the chain. Borders' Chicago flagship on North Michigan Avenue, which is slated to close next year, already has hosted a few private book clubs in its third-floor event space.

"We're encouraging stores to reach out to the public to say, �We're here,'" Davis said. "It's a way to drive traffic to the stores."

It sounds like a good plan. Many Borders stores now have cafes serving Seattle's Best coffee and plenty of chairs and tables for people to hang out. We saw some some ladies playing gin rummy at a Borders store the other day. Borders would be wise to also welcome writers' groups.

Posted on March 17, 2010
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Books Now Outnumber Games in the iTunes App Store

iTunes App Data

Apple's iTunes App store is a growing source for content. People download a wide variety of apps from navigation tools to shopping aids, but they also buy games and books on iTunes. Mobclix reports that the number of book apps on iTunes now outnumbers the number of games. You can see the latest chart here, which shows there are nearly 27,000 book apps on iTunes.

Penguin's digital publisher, Jeremy Ettinghausen, told the Guardian that most of the books listed on iTunes are free downloads. Ettinghausen also says "it's very easy to produce books for the iPhone" which helps explain why books outnumber games on iTunes.

Apple is hoping that when the iPad goes on sale on April 3rd more people will start buying books from iTunes.com. You can read more about how the iPad can be used as an ebook reader here.

Image: Mobclix

Posted on March 10, 2010
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B&N To Test Book Bundles That Include Ebook and Printed Book

Publishers Weekly is reporting that Barnes & Noble is considering a plan to bundle print books and ebooks. The digital and print book bundles will launch in about 60 to 90 days. The plan was announced by Barnes & Noble.com president William Lynch at the AAP annual meeting.

Publishers Weekly also reports that William Lynch predicts there will be less bookstores in the future but they won't completely go away.

While he predicted there will be fewer bookstores in the future, he said bookstores will never go away, agreeing with "interviewer" David Young of Hachette Book Group that bookstores are where bestsellers are made, particularly for books that are put in the front of the store.

The bookstores that remain will have to find ways to keep customer foot traffic high if they want to continue to be the place where "bestsellers are made."

Posted on March 9, 2010
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