E-Publishing: The Industry Is Taking Notice

Owen, Alysoun, ed., et al. Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook 2013. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2013.

While researching another resource, by fortuitous happenstance I stumbled across the Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook, an annual directory from the United Kingdom featuring publishers, literary agents, and a wealth of advice for aspiring entertainers. The Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook can be found online at https://www.writersandartists.co.uk/ but the listing of publishers and agents can only be accessed via a paid subscription or the print version. 

New to the 2013 edition is a section dedicated to electronic publishing, a bold step, as one Amazon.com reader puts it, for a publication typically dedicated to traditional publishing. In fact, it is a sign of the times that a 108-year-old publication cannot afford to ignore; their response: “If 2011 was the year the ebook [sic] arrived, and 2012 the year when the ebook became big business, the 2013 could be the year ebooks begin to overtake print.” And for the first time, the 2014 edition of Writers’s and Artists’ Yearbook is available in both print and e-book format. 

Electronic publishing and e-books has definitely redefined what our library’s collection looks like. But as Maggie Gee, author of The White Family and one of the commentators in Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook, posits, the public library – that is to say, all libraries – is the dwelling place of information, to which I add, whether it be in print or electronic form.