This Week In Publishing

I’ll keep it short and light-hearted, since it’s almost Christmas and all.

First, Nick Bilton, from the New York Times, has declared that this year was not in fact the year of the tablet. It was actually the year of the iPad, and next year there will be more competitors. It will be interesting to see, since so many people want the iPad for Christmas.

2010 Was Not ‘The Year of the Tablet’

Next, Crown, an imprint of Random House, announced that early next year they will be publishing a book by the former spokesman of WikiLeaks, Daniel Domscheit-Berg. Daniel’s book will be a sort of tell-all, leading up to what made him and other employees leave the company. And earlier this month, Daniel announced that he and other former WikiLeaks employees will be launching their own WikiLeaks-type site soon, called OpenLeaks.org.

Crown to Crash Tell-All by WikiLeaks Insider

Oprah Winfrey wrapped up her year in books by reconciling with Jonathan Franzen and reading Charles Dickens for the first time. She also recently shot four shows in Australia (which is where I am right now), and there are still signs up around the city for her. On my way from the airport to the hotel today, I saw a couple hilarious ones that stuck out. For example, one had two pictures: a Barbie doll and a barbecue with shrimp on it. The ad was for a cruise ship that told Oprah they would help her figure out the difference. Another ad for the same cruise ship had a blown-up image of Tom Cruise jumping on Oprah’s couch, and saying they were the better cruise choice.

Year in books: Old, new mixed up in material, technology

Lastly, and this one’s just for fun, if you Google reading in the “images” section, you’ll find a picture of a dog with glasses, reading a large book. Why?

Strangest Google Images Result for the Word ‘Reading’