Dear Readers,
I’m going to discontinue just relisting what is in any particular issue of the newsletter—you have the Index for that. Instead, I’ll touch on themes and what I find exciting in the current issue.
We’ve got a lot in this issue about authors and their works. Some first-time authors and some who’ve been around a while. A common theme for them all, though, is promoting their own work, the pitfalls and virtues of self-publishing vs. traditional publishers, and the good, the bad and the ugly news about editors, agents, and publishers.
We’re also starting a series about reference books/research materials in this issue, which will be a continuing project for IOBA. This series will include everything book-related we can find, and will have lists and articles written by book people about their specialties and areas of expertise (with some catalog pages in later issues, as illustrations), plus links to excellent book-related sites. After the lists and articles have appeared in the newsletter, they will be archived on the IOBA site in an educational area, as part of an ongoing project for helping to educate newer booksellers and continuing education for those of us who have been around a while. They’ll also serve as a reference area for book buyers and collectors (and, of course, we hope many knowledgeable collectors will contribute to this project).
This time we’ve also covered subjects as diverse as Biblical sci-fi and views on pet afterlife to First Amendment rights and what is pornography as opposed to art. And, of course, coverage of current book world events such as book fairs and an upcoming Book Fest, our first coverage of a graphic novel, and various interviews and informational pieces on book-related people/matters. The interviews in this issue pretty much finish up our series on online book databases, whether new or established, for this year (though we’ll always cover any new developments).
And last, but certainly not least, we have brought you news from a legendary but very private book world figure about a revolutionary upgrade in the UIEE standard, including a new software program that is the first to utilize this upgrade.
Something for every interest, we hope.
Enjoy!
Shirley Bryant