Nearly 200 people gathered at our drinks event at The London Book Fair on Monday – publishers, editors, designers, digital specialists – the bar in the digital zone was full of exciting conversations about the latest happenings at the fair.

This morning everyone who attended will receive an invite to BookMachine.me, the site which helps people working in publishing to find each other by allowing members to list themselves by their key skills.

We’ve been hard at work making sure that the site has been updated for this new release. You can now:

• Get BookMachine points (lots of plans for this) …. Check yours out!
• Find the best people first (complete profiles rank higher in search)
• Manage your account (easily change your details)

Missed our event? Still want to try the beta site? You can now request an invite and join everyone else, by signing up on the site.

BookMachine host regular events in London, New York, Oxford, Barcelona, Toronto and Brighton and is THE place for the people who make publishing happen.

In a stirring example of the reporters becoming the reported, or something, BookMachine’s very own Glorious Fearless Leader Laura Austin has found herself on the shortlist for this year’s Kim Scott Walwyn prize. Glorious Fearless Leader Laura Austin – seen here in this file photo lovingly framed by her BookMachine colleagues/loyal subjects -  is nominated for her work on the BookMachine events that have taken place across the country over the past two years and are now spreading out internationally too, like so many troops marching in perfect synchronisation across the motherland at her command.

Tom Chalmers is Managing Director at IPR License.

Are all authors fully aware of all the rights they hold to their work? Are too many missing out on potential revenue streams by ignoring overseas markets? How many understand their ownership of worldwide book rights?

The sometimes apparently mysterious art of book rights can often be misunderstood or simply ignored. Writers write and then the book sells in vast quantities all over the world. That’s how it works, doesn’t it?

After the success of the first BookMachine Brighton event in February, we’re back – this time with sun, sea and prizes. Whilst we can’t guarantee the sun, you will have the opportunity to network with Brightonians, and Londoners who fancy a holiday, in the beach-side bar, Oh So Social.

Everyone who comes to the event will be entered into a prize draw to win one of a series of great prizes…

• 1^St Prize: A Kindle Fire
• 2^nd Prize: A selection of books from Brighton’s own Myriad Editions
• 3^rd Prize: A selection of ‘What Is?’ books from Brighton’s own Rotovision Books
• 4^th Prize: A selection of books from our Brighton-based sponsors, Indepenpress Publishing

February’s event ran in conjunction with Brighton’s Write-Club and was hosted by the wonderful Alice Reeves. Alice is back for more and after the success of the last event, I couldn’t not get involved.

We’re kicking off the evening with free drinks for the early-birds, so join us at 7pm on May 2^nd for what promises to be another great evening, rain or shine. Sign up now to avoid disappointment!

With thanks to our sponsors, Indepenpress Publishing Ltd: Quality traditional & self publishing in the heart of Brighton.

The shortlist has been revealed for the 2013 International Impac Dublin Literary Award, the annual prize based (as the name suggests) in Dublin but awarded to international authors and voted for by libraries in cities around the world. One of the most financially rewarding prizes on the awards circuit, the winning author will take home €100,000 if their novel is written in English, or €75,000 for international work, with the remaining €25,000 going to the work’s translator. The award is open to novels two years after their initial printing in English, meaning that all of this year’s entries first saw publication in 2011.

BookMachine Unplugged is back in London on 23^rd May. 4 speakers sharing their publishing experiences and an awesome crowd of publishing professionals – it’s an evening not to be missed! You can check out the photos from the last Unplugged event here.

As we prepare the finishing touches to the line-up and the event website, we wanted to give you the opportunity to get your name on the list early, whilst being in for a chance of winning a pair of free tickets.

It’s quick and easy to enter – just tell us the most interesting word you can think of.

We’ll pick the winner next Tuesday 16^th April, as we announce the speakers and the host and unveil the new site. We’ll also aim to use the winning word more in conversation!

Are you ready to win?

Thanks in advance to our event sponsors The Society for Editors and Proofreaders (SfEP), Bookswarm, Createselect and Spineless Classics

In fascinating news that may have been lost among word of death of a more recent vintage, the body of Nobel Prize-winning Chilean poet Pablo Neruda has been exhumed in a bid to discover whether he died of prostate cancer – as is stated on his death certificate – or if he was, in fact, murdered in September 1973 by an agent of the dictator Augusto Pinochet. There now follows a pause, the better that you may aver that you are familiar with the works of Pablo Neruda.

The shortlist for one of the most coveted awards in science fiction was announced last week – the Arthur C. Clarke award for 2013 has an incredible line up of SF names, or, if you read The Guardian, is a great testament to male domination of the science fiction genre. Alison Flood’s opening sentence ‘reinforcing science fiction’s image as a boys club’ (sorry Angela Carter, Mira Grant, Connie Wilis, Margaret Atwood – seems your memberships are perhaps not as authentic as we all believed), leaves us little doubt that the following coverage will be everything other than informative.

Worried about Amazon buying up GoodReads? Have no fear: Random House, Inc have launched BookScout a new social book discovery app on Facebook. The app allows readers to create and organize their own digital bookshelves and explore friends’ bookshelves to learn what others are reading. BookScout encourages organic word-of-mouth recommendations as people can share what they’re currently reading with their Facebook friends, tag books they’d like to read, and keep track of books they’ve read. The app also provides personalized book recommendations from all publishers, and includes links to major retailers so people can easily purchase print books and eBooks they’re interested in.

Sophie asked Amanda Close, SVP Digital Marketplace Development, some more questions to find out why the app has been made, what the plans are for future and how the analytics are forming future growth strategies…