It’s very tempting, when training for a marathon, to spend as much time reading about the theory of running, as actually running. If you’ve fallen in to this trap, and I certainly did for a while, you’re as well to make sure that you’re reading the right stuff. Here are my top 5 must reads about running…

This guy definitely ain’t Born to Run, but it’s all for Book Aid, a great cause.

It’s only a month to go. Gulp.

In 33 days I’ll be running the London Marathon: the culmination of a stop-start, alcohol free, 4 months of lurching from couch to 26 miles.

I’m doing this in support of Book Aid International, a fantastic charity, and one very familiar to us publishing-types. Book Aid works to increase access to books and support literacy, education and development in sub-Saharan Africa.

We’re excited to announce that BookMachine.me, the new people discovery site we’ve been working on for the past year, has made it to the semi-finals of the Startup Showcase at O’Reilly’s Tools of Change for Publishing Conference.

What does that mean? Well, if we get through this round, the site will be presented to leading lights of the US publishing industry in New York. We hope BookMachine.me will become a great visual tool that helps all you talented publishing-types out there to find each other online and collaborate on new projects, and this is a fantastic opportunity to spread the word.

If you’d like to help us get to the final, please head over to the TOC site and rate us, we’d really appreciate it. Voting closes tomorrow (Friday) so there’s not much time left!

Vote here

The site was backed with seed funding from the British Council, and you can check out the story behind BookMachine.me over on their site.

We’re also happy to see fellow UK startup Valobox reach the semis: they were featured at our Publishing Now event with City University back in 2011, and these guys are definitely worthy of a vote too.

BookMachine.me is currently in private beta, but if you’re signed up to our upcoming Brighton, NYC or Unplugged events, your invite will be on it’s way to you very soon. We’re looking forward to your feedback.

Here’s that voting link again, thanks folks!

Earlier this month the great and the good of the Indian publishing industry descended on Goa for Publishing Next, a conference designed to get people talking about the future. It was great to be there as part of a British Council YCE initiative along with Oliver Brooks of Complete Novel/Valobox and Michael Bhaskar of Profile. James Bridle and Elin Haf Gruffydd Jones completed the UK contingent for the event, masterminded by Leonard Fernandes and the team at Cinnamon Teal.

This was an event loaded with useful nuggets of knowledge about the publishing community in India and the book industry in general. Here are 5 takeaways.

Amazon have done well from the Kindle – a contraption that, for some, seems to look like a relic from 10 years ago, running books produced in a format from 20 years ago. For others though, it’s the peak of human achievement in the field of plastic, e-ink and clumsy button-based technology, justifiably colonising handbags (yes, mostly handbags) across the planet.

But what now for the Kindle? Here are 5 things Amazon might do next.

The week started with outrage at the Amazon Book Depository Engulfment, and as the UK government chews it over, there was fresh food for thought as it was  suggested Changes in the publishing industry may cause whiplash.

These changes could come via a shake-up in traditional sales models: Here’s How A Subscription Service For E-books Could Work, meanwhile Concord Free Press are operating under the motto: Free Their Books and Their Minds Will Follow.

As Novelist John Green uses social media to push unfinished book to #1 on Amazon and Barnes & Noble, new methods of online marketing are having an increasing influence on readers.

With that in mind, here’s How To Use Your Blog as Your Viral Online Publishing Hub.

It’s been a happenin’ week to choose for this first BookWrap post: the trade is debating whether J.K Rowling’s New PotterMore Site Will change Digital Publishing. As a Self-Published Author Sells a Million E-Books on Amazon for the first time, authors are asking What Are The Publishers Doing for Us?

Yes, lots of questions, many of which were addressed at Tuesday’s Publishers Launch conference in London, where consensus was reached that the role of the book editor needs to change.

Still, as Kerouac Heads To the ipad and one publisher figures out  How To Run A News Site And Newspaper Using WordPress And Google Docs, dramatically cutting production costs, it’s good to see that publishing innovation abounds.

Got a story for next week’s BookWrap? Let us know.

Here’s the idea – it’s about 9.30 on a Friday night at a busy venue somewhere in London. Inside and outside the atmosphere is bustling, the drinks and conversation are flowing, shenanigans are ensuing, there’s a bar (or three) doing a brisk trade.

Ok, so we’ve done this bit before.

But this time around, lining the room are a multitude of market stalls – actually, the venue looks more like Greenwich market than a London pub. The stalls are manned by traders from independent publishing houses selling their latest books, expanding over a drink on why revelers should buy their latest title.