What really happens to manuscripts sent to publishers? (ABC Online)

In recent years the cobweb-draped tower of manuscripts tottering in the cleaning cupboard of a publishing house has been replaced with an electronic file on somebody’s hard drive.

The slush pile, however, is not on the way out. Increasingly, it’s an avenue for emerging writers who don’t yet know how to navigate the publishing industry.

Fixing the Broken Experience of Genre Fiction Retail Online (DBW)

The existing retail system, which is essentially a clickable catalogue dump of all books ever created, is flawed, and the romance, fantasy and crime readers buying in droves are doing so in spite of this broken experience.

To innovate in the digital book world, it makes so much more sense for both publishers and tech startups to start with a uniquely defined audience in mind—both in terms of designing the solution (or app or platform or business model), as well as for getting the word out to market and reaching the target user base.

Egmont strikes publishing deal with Marvel (The Bookseller)

The agreement is for four books, starting with Iron Man: The Gauntlet, written by former Irish children’s laureate Eoin Colfer, later this month. The book, due for release on 27th October (p/b, £6.99), tells the story of what happens when Tony Stark (a.k.a. Iron Man) finds an anomaly off the coast of Ireland on his way to a conference.

Bangladeshi publisher Tutul wins Pen writer of courage award (Dhaka Tribune)

After surviving an extremist attack in his own country and being forced into exile in Norway, Bangladeshi publisher and writer Ahmedur Rashid Chowdhury, who is also known as Tutul, was named winner of the International Writer of Courage award by Margaret Atwood, on October 13.