That’s right – LITOPIA AFTER DARK is back with a vengeance tonight – with an upgraded format and an in-your-face demeanor (well, if that’s OK with you…).  Our attitudinous panel comprises:

Dave Bartram a writer From England’s West country – wants to know what the heck’s happening to fairy tales - watch out, Shrek…

Martyn Daniels esteemed publishing consultant and blogger for the UK’s Booksellers Association – wants to know what the heck’s happening about the Great Google Book Bank Robbery - if you don’t know what that is, then you MUST listen to tonight’s show… because it affects every author…

John Quirk writer, publisher and marketing consultant from the Isle of Man, off England’s West coast – wants to know what the heck’s happening about dyslexic writers…

And Donna Ballman writer, leading lawyer and voice of LITOPIA DAILY’S Write Report – wants to know what the heck’s happening to the whole darn publishing business… Is it safe to come out now, or are we still panicking?

We covered a lot of essential ground in tonight’s show – be there in the Ustream Chatroom (8pm GMT) next Friday, and you can be part of the action!

Got news for us – or a comment? Then drop it into our Open Inbox: http://drop.io/litopia.

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Download the show as mp3 file

Links mentioned in the show…

Martyn Daniels blog, Brave New World…

The web continues to impact the US magazine sector with some 18 titles stopping their print presses in 2008 and now being joined only this month by Country Home, Electronic Gaming Monthly and Plenty magazines.
Advertising Age reported that Time Inc.’s digital ad revenue last year totalled an estimated $245 million, or 10% of the company’s total ad revenue. The revenue achieved is greater than some their competitors such as Conde Nast, who only achieved 3%, but not as much as others such as Martha Stewart magazines, which have achieved a greater percentage of their revenues. They suggest that anyone who is generating over 8% of print is ‘ahead of the digital curve’.
If you believe that sub prime only related to housing think again. Ad pages sales and their rate sales have been recently driven by increasing circulation at the cost of subscription prices, marketing, resource and distribution costs. When the ad pages crashed the circulation was at a height that was now longer realistic and for some, the gap between cost and revenue has become a gulf.

On Brave New World again, Martyn comments on the Great Book Bank Robbery…

On the 16th January on page 9 The Bookseller printed a whole page ‘Legal Notice’ on behalf of the Google Book Search Settlement Administration. We waited expecting some commentary or debate in the press but saw none.
The ‘Legal Notice’ was entitled ‘If you are a Book Author, Book Publisher or Other Person Who owns a Copyright in a Book or Other Writing’.
It went on ‘Your rights may be affected by a class action settlement regarding Google’s scanning and use of Books and other writings’. It warned, ‘This settlement may affect you because it covers US copyright interests in books published outside the US. If you hold such an interest in a book or other material in a book, this settlement could bind you unless you timely opt out.’

From The Times Online, Are fairy tales too scary for kids?…

A new survey suggests that they are! The poll, byTheBabyWebsite suggests that a quarter of parents have ditched classics such as Snow White and Hansel and Gretl in favour of more modern bedtime tales. Apparently they don’t like the messages (leaving poor Hansel and his sister alone in the forest is a no no, as is sending Little Red Riding Hood on a journey alone through the woods – only to find out that granny has been eaten by a wolf!)

A fifth of parents said the tales weren’t politically correct (Cinders does too much cleaning up, I guess, while Jack climbs up a beanstalk and steals from the giant), and 17 percent worried about them giving their children nightmares (Snow White’s wicked witch is said to be too scary). Sixty five percent of parents said that they preferred to read their children more “light-hearted” stories at bedtime.

”Children love being read a variety of stories and it’s a great shame that so many of today’s PC mums and dads are rejecting fairy tales which have stood the test of time, entertaining children for hundreds or thousands of years,” said Nigel Crawford from the website.

Oh dear.

With thanks to arellis49 on Flickr for the horror tales photo

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