Karl Whitney, co-founder of newly formed The Mammoth, writes about the site and the logic behind it.

Instead of the internet reducing your attention span, we think it provides an opportunity to publish lengthier, more in-depth work – in short, what we are saying is: go long.

Our new web venture, The Mammoth, is an online journal of narrative non-fiction writing. I co-founded the journal with Joe Kennedy, a writer and editor who contributes to the Times Literary Supplement and The Quietus among many other publications. I’m a co-editor at the online literary journal 3:AM and have written for the Guardian, The Irish Times and the White Review.

We’ve just put out a call for proposals and submissions on The Mammoth website. What we’re looking for is writing by authors from any background: journalistic, creative writing, the arts, sciences, humanities – anything. All that matters to us is that you want to focus your attention on some aspect of reality and work it into a compelling written narrative.

There are a couple of ways of looking at it – one would be to call what we’re seeking ‘long-form journalism’. And there’s a certain truth in that description: a lot of the work in narrative non-fiction may not be immediately visible on the page – the intensity of the research process can be comparable to the legwork of the reporter or the academic researcher. However, I suppose where it differs from both those processes is that what one produces must be compelling in a way similar to a short story or novel. But there’s no single formula, and we’re very interested to see what proposals are sent to us. If you send a brief query email suggesting a topic you want to focus on, we’ll write back with a response and – if we like the idea – ask for a longer proposal.

A willingness to give writers an engagement with the editorial process is one of our main values. While we can see the benefits of light-touch editing in certain cases, we also think that the collaboration involved in working closely with an editor invariably results in a better quality of writing that both parties can be proud of.

Initially, we want to focus on publishing short blog-style pieces of 800-1000 words and longer pieces of 2000 words and over. Beyond that, we’re examining a model that involves publishing even longer pieces in a short ebook format in the manner of the Kindle Single. There are a couple of examples of this kind of approach already, mostly American: Byliner and the Atavist were major influences when we initially discussed The Mammoth. Both sites sell long-form articles through aggregator sites like Amazon and Kobobooks.

The intention is that a good portion of the revenue from these sales will go to the writer, while another portion will be reinvested in the site, allowing us to pay the contributors of the shorter pieces; we’re also looking at multiple other forms of funding to allow The Mammoth to expand.
The realities of contemporary Ireland both enthrall and repulse me; I’m particularly keen to see how other Irish writers of non-fiction deal with the present state of the country.
For more information, go to our website, Facebook page or Twitter feed.

The Bookseller reports that ‘Daunt refused to reveal the terms of the deal, but said the chain would “get a cut” when a customer bought an e-book off the Kindle device when using the Wi-Fi in Waterstones’ shops.’

A query to the company about the impact on branches in Ireland including the branches at Hodges Figgis in Dublin and the Waterstones branded stores in Drogheda, Dundalk and Cork is with the company.

James Daunt, Managing Director of Waterstones, said, ‘At Waterstones, we are committed to improving our bookshops quite radically to offer the best possible book buying experience. It is a truly exciting prospect to harness also the respective strengths of Waterstones and Amazon to provide a dramatically better digital reading experience for our customers.’

‘The best digital readers, the Kindle family, will be married to the singular pleasures of browsing a curated bookshop. With the combination of our talents we can offer the exceptional customer proposition to which we both aspire.’

Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com Founder and CEO, said, ‘Waterstones is the premier high street bookseller and is passionate about books and readers – a dedication that we share deeply. We could never hope for a better partner to bring together digital reading and the physical bookstore.’

The club will include the books in the membership packs they send out to their fans at the start of the Premiership 2012/2013 season.

According to the publisher, Andrew Mangan, the book will be an abridged version of the original edition, ‘containing 8 chapters of the book (from 26) and a new intro chapter by me. It’s a 160p paperback, as opposed to the high quality hardback I produced for sale.’

Mangan said that the deal was completed last month and that he approached the club because, ‘it seemed to fit in with the overall theme of their membership pack which is based on fandom etc. This is a book by fans, for fans.’

Portnoy previously published the book in amore extensive hardback edition last Christmas and sold out of the edition. The company also published Arlene Hunt’s most recent novel, The Chosen.

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, still struggling with a heavy debt burden despite an earlier capital restructuring, is once again looking to rework its debt. In an announcement this morning, the company said it had reached an agreement with the majority of its lenders that will eliminate $3.1 billion of debt and reduce its annual interest payments by about $250 million.

As part of the restructuring, HMH will file for prepackaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the United States Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York within 10 days. It hopes to be out of bankruptcy by the end of June.

In a letter to employees, CEO Linda Zecher said there are no plans for layoffs and that vendors and suppliers will be paid in full. “This process will have no impact on our day-to-day operations. We will continue normal business operations, now and throughout the process. We expect there will be no disruption to our relationships with our employees, customers, business partners, suppliers or vendors,” Zecher wrote.

via HMH Restructuring Debt, Will File Prepackaged Bankruptcy.

Microsoft has invested $300m in Barnes and Noble, forming “a new subsidiary” of the bookselling chain to include the store’s Nook, digital and college business.

The companies have announced the new “strategic partnership”, which aims to “accelerate the transition into e-reading”, today 30th April. The new part of the business, 17.6% owned by Microsoft, is being given the holding name of Newco.

via Significant expansion for Nook as Microsoft invests $300m | The Bookseller.

The tug of war over Joyce copyright continues. The National Library of Ireland has just released digital copies of a collection of papers bought from Alexis Léon in 2002 for €12.6 million, in response to an attempted copyright coup by Danis Rose. The NLI’s holdings are a stunning collection of Joyceana, consisting of an early Paris notebook from 1903 and notes for a translation of Dante’s Inferno, as well as 500 manuscript pages and 200 pages of annotated proofs of Ulysses and Finnegans Wake.

via Epexegetic Biographic Addenda « LRB blog.

Kobo Inc., a global leader in eReading, today announced plans to open new Kobo branded shops within 100 WHSmith High Street retail locations in 2012. This decision follows the successful trial of the ‘Kobo Centre’ in some of WHSmith’s larger stores. Across the United Kingdom, WHSmith stores will provide consumers with a signature Kobo experience that features the full range of Kobo eReading devices, including the award- winning Kobo Touch™ eReader and the family friendly Kobo Vox™ eReading tablet. Starting today, the Kobo Vox eReading tablet is available for £149.99. The Kobo Touch eReader is currently available for the special low price of £79.99 and the Kobo Wireless is £59.99 at leading WHSmith stores and online at www.whsmith.co.uk.

“We value our partnership with WHSmith and are excited to have dedicated, knowledgeable staff members who will educate WHSmith customers and introduce them to the benefits of Kobo.” said Mike Serbinis, CEO of Kobo. “We know that in partnership with WHSmith we will deliver an engaging in-store experience that will demonstrate our expertise, best-in-class design, easy user experience, and innovative product line.”

via booktrade.info – Book Trade Announcements – Kobo And WHSmith To Launch 100 New Kobo Experiential Shops.

RSVP: Ulster Historical Foundation, 49 Malone Road, Belfast, BT9 6RY | Tel: 028 9066 1988 | E-mail: enquiry@uhf.org.uk

* Royal Belfast Academical Institution, College Square East, Belfast, BT1 6DL

The shortlist comprises Kevin Barry, City of Bohane, Christine Dwyer Hickey, The Cold Eye of Heaven, Anne Enright, The Forgotten Waltz, Carlo Gébler, The Dead Eight and Belinda McKeon, Solace.

Speaking at the announcement, Frank Hayes, of Kerry Group, said, ‘The Kerry Group Irish Novel Award now entering its 17th year continues to be a much sought after accolade in the Irish literary calendar. I would like to congratulate our two adjudicators, John Boland and Rita Ann Higgins, for selecting this year’s shortlist which showcases the range and strength of Irish fiction writing.’

The Winner will be announced at the opening ceremony of Writers’ Week 2012 on the 30th May by The President of Ireland, Michael D Higgins.

Around 25 jobs are to go as Irish book giant Eason’s shuts two stores and an office in Northern Ireland.

The bookseller blamed declining sales for its decision to pull down the shutters in Carryduff, Co Down and Westwood Shopping Centre in west Belfast next month.

It also announced the closure in June of an administrative centre in Boucher Crescent in the city with the centre’s functions to be transferred to Dublin.

via Eason’s to close two shops and cut 25 jobs – Business News, Business – Belfasttelegraph.co.uk.