Tuesday News: bookselling via Twitter, the legality of data retention, media whitewashing, and struggle over Sendak’s estate
Publishing Newsbookselling / data retention / diversity / EU laws / films / Hachette / human rights / lawsuit / Maurice Sendak / media / privacy / probate / security / social media / UK6 Comments
Hachette Tries Selling Books via Twitter – So Hachette is experimenting with new ways to sell books direct to readers, and its collaboration with Gumroad to sell books on Twitter is set to launch this week, beginning with books from Amanda Palmer, Chris Hadfield and The Onion. This is apparently a new type of deal for both Hachette and Gumroad, and if it works, the initiative will expand to include more authors and books. Given the marketing fatigue many readers seem to feel, especially with social media, it’s going to be interesting to see how this goes.
The push is part of a promotion that will make these titles available for sale for a limited time in limited quantities. Each title sold will also come with a special bonus for customers. Palmer’s book, for example, will include a manuscript page with notes by, among others, her husband, novelist Neil Gaiman. This effort with Hachette marks Gumroad’s first partnership with a major book publisher. –Publishers Weekly
UK court to review legality of web snooping law – A bipartisan challenge to the Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Act (DRIPA) has been given the green light by the UK High Court, which granted judicial review of the law to determine whether it violates European human rights laws. The Netherlands has recently been sued for its data retention practices, and Sweden, which is also following the UK example of rushing legislation through, may be next. This reminds me of the way the US Congress pushed the first version of the Patriot Act through, even though a number of members didn’t have time to read the legislation in its entirety.
DRIPA was fast-tracked in July after Europe’s highest court struck down an EU-wide mandate for telcos to store records of their users’ communications. Although it was billed as an emergency measure to allow the U.K. to continue its data retention efforts – and it is indeed time-limited until the end of 2016 — it effectively expanded the scope of what information must be stored, to include metadata about people’s social media conversations and potentially many other kinds of web communications. –Gigaom
Diversity in Film: The media reacts – A short but good piece that opens up a conversation about how the diversification of Hollywood is not just about pushing studios and filmmakers, but also about holding the media accountable for its role in covering the issues. Easily expandable to other realms of entertainment, as well.
Last week we talked about Hollywood’s (ongoing) diversity problem in context to Rupert Murdoch’s and Ridley Scott’s outright offensive attitudes regarding the whitewashing controversy surroundedExodus: Gods & Guyliner. This week, we’re taking a look how the media covers stories like this. I don’t want to hold the media up as some kind of noble crusader—though it has its moments—but the conversation around race and diversity, especially right now in the US, is more often than not driven by narratives shaped by the media. I recognize my place is in the back of the classroom, throwing spitballs at teacher, but it’s important to not only hold up the studios who make the movies for scrutiny but the media outlets who cover them. After all, Murdoch owns a movie studio AND a news network. –Lainey Gossip
Sendak’s Estate: Debating Where the Things Go – Not too long ago I posted a story about how the Rosenbach Museum and Library was suing the Maurice Sendak estate over a number of books that were apparently promised to them after the author’s death. This piece presents the other side of the controversy, via an interview with Lynn Caponera, who took care of Sendak and his home for 30 years, and is now co-executor of his estate. It’s an incredibly interesting story, in which a woman who clearly had a central role in Sendak’s life is under scrutiny now that Sendak is gone, and even though he made all the legal preparations to put her in an authoritative role.
Ms. Caponera, who came to work for Mr. Sendak at the age of 19, is now an executor of his estate and president of his foundation. Recently she and the estate’s other two executors decided to withdraw more than 10,000 original artworks Mr. Sendak had lent over decades to the Rosenbach Museum and Library in Philadelphia, where many assumed the bulk of his work would remain. The works are now headed back here, to a house museum being planned by the foundation, a decision that some are questioning. They are also expressing concerns about the ability of Ms. Caponera, 54, who did not attend college and has no formal business training, to shepherd a complex philanthropic foundation worth tens of millions of dollars. –New York Times
Maybe I’m over-sensitized, but “they are also expressing concerns about the ability of Ms. Caponera, 54, who did not attend college and has no formal business training” sent my ‘splainy-senses a-tingling.
Does anyone else doubt that they’d express their “concerns” about a MR. Caponera in quite the same way?
Sounds like Ms. Caponera has all the professional help she needs in the form of the two other executors and that she knows EXACTLY what Mr. Sendak wanted done.
Agreed. I thought those “concerns” horribly condescending, especially given the estate is in a position to hire all the expert help needed.
@Isobel Carr: Yes, and I think that’s key. She is the authority in more than one sense – as an authority on the estate (i.e. what Sendak wanted) and in having authority over the estate, along with two other people. It’s like she’s being undermined in the second sense as a way of invalidating what is obviously within her personal knowledge (and perhaps the only, or at least primary person in that position) in the first sense.
Uh oh, loads of major producers, directors and pretty much folks from every sector of the video game industry don’t have college degrees or have formal business training AND the average age is 35 — and that industry’s worth billions! Clearly we’re all incapable, it’s why our company is still hiring and expanding and building new studios and —
Oh wait. Still mostly dudes. Carry on.
“Loaned” is the key word as they were not deeded in his will, right? Mr Sendak could have called them one Friday to say he wanted them back to donate to 15 children’s hospitals and the loan would be over. I could see the value of a dedicated museum.