Amazon goes head to head with Wattpad in battle for fanfic writers

The retail colossus is aiming to recruit fan fiction writers with their own ambitions to sell, but Wattpad is winning users who want to shareIt’s a cheerful orange giant stuffed with fan fiction and smileys which can garner a billion reads for an erotic One Direction story – scoring 25-year-old Texan Anna Todd a six-figure publishing deal in the process. But Wattpad also has a serious side as a thriving culture of original writing, with a small but steady flow of authors finding mainstream success with Big Six publishers such as Random House and Harper Collins. Half a dozen of these authors are getting together in the real world mid-December, at Wattpad’s first UK convention. The site has attracted more than 40 million users around the globe. No surprise, then, that Amazon has decided it wants a piece of the action.The internet shopping site has just launched its own social reading and writing platform, Kindle WriteOn, a move characterised by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian as “trying to eat [Wattpad’s] lunch”. WriteOn is currently in invite-only beta mode, but all you need for access is the online equivalent of a Masonic handshake – a code passed to you from someone on the inside.   Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2014-12-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
News tagged with: #harper collins #social reading #writing platform

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Gibbons reissues call for head-to-head debate with Vaizey

Author and library campaigner Alan Gibbons has issued an open letter to culture minister Ed Vaizey, renewing his call for the politician to engage in a full public debate on the future of the public library service as the “situation is critical”. Gibbons first issued a challenge to Vaizey... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-08-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #head-to-head debate #open letter


Writer's writer William Zinsser dies

Author and writing coach William Zinsser, who penned the best-selling book On Writing Well, dies in New York, aged 92. Continue reading at BBC News

[ BBC News | 2015-05-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #best-selling book


Amazon rebrands Cloud Player with launch of Amazon Music 3 for mobile and desktop

Amazon has refreshed its entire collection of cloud music apps with the releases of Amazon Music for Windows 3.0, Amazon Music for Mac 3.0, Amazon Music  for iPad and iPhone 3.0 and Amazon Music for Android 3.0. All four platforms share similar updates, and accompany Amazon’s foray into music... Continue reading at Betanews

[ Betanews | 2014-06-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #music streaming


10-inch hybrid head-to-head: Asus Transformer T100 vs. Lenovo Miix 10

Tablets are well on their way to outselling notebooks. But while the Windows 8 user interface makes it possible to navigate the operating system with just a fingertip, that doesn’t mean all of your old programs become magically finger-friendly. For some things, you just need a keyboard. A new... Continue reading at PC World

[ PC World | 2013-11-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #operating system #robert cardinlenovo


Mystery Writers of America Celebrates 2024 Edgar Award Winners

The winners—including James Lee Burke, who won the award for Best Novel, and Linda Castillo, who took home two awards—were announced at the 78th annual Edgar Awards Banquet, held on May 1 at the Manhattan Marriott Marquis in New York City. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-05-02 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Full Steam Ahead for Amazon in Strong First Quarter

Driven by its cloud computing unit, sales and earnings at Amazon posted big first-quarter gains this year. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-05-01 04:00:00 UTC ]
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ABA Seeks to Add Bookstores to FTC Lawsuit Against Amazon

The American Booksellers Association has filed a motion with the Federal Trade Commission seeking to fix a hole in the FTC’s antitrust complaint against Amazon that many in the industry agree needs correcting: that it did not specifically include what Amazon’s practices have done to book... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-04-29 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #independent bookstores #american booksellers association


These are the “most influential” writers of the year.

This week, TIME magazine published its annual list of the 100 Most Influential People of the year. Usually, when this list comes out, I complain (to the universe, I guess) that there aren’t enough novelists (“enough” meaning “more than one”) on it. Last year, though, there were four, which was a... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2024-04-18 17:45:48 UTC ]
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PW Bookstore of the Year 2024 Finalist: Writer’s Block Bookstore

In the past decade, Writer’s Block, which sells new books for both adults and children, has become a literary hub of the Greater Orlando metro area. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-04-18 04:00:00 UTC ]
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2024 Whiting Awards Recognize Emerging Writers

Aaliyah Bilal, Elisa Gonzalez, Javier Zamora, and Ada Zhang are among the 10 winners of this year's Whiting Awards for emerging writers of poetry, fiction, nonfiction and drama. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-04-10 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Earth, Head, and Heart: Six Deeply Researched Eco-Memoirs

In my ayahuasca eco-memoir Mothership, I enjoy playing hopscotch along an often-overlooked spectrum, with autobiographical memoir at one end and “objective” narrative nonfiction at the other. How personal and self-revealing do I want to be in my environmental reporting? How much do I want to... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2024-03-27 08:54:39 UTC ]
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The Kindle Paperwhite Signature is $30 off for Prime members during the Amazon Big Spring Sale

Amazon's Big Spring Sale has brought a $30 discount to the company's upgraded e-reader, the Kindle Paperwhite Signature. It's down to $160 instead of the $190 list price for Prime members. That's not an all-time low (we saw it drop to $125 for Prime Day last July) but still a decent discount on... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2024-03-20 16:30:29 UTC ]
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London: Tom Crewe Wins the Sunday Times’ Young Writer Award

Jury comments about the Sunday Times Young Writer-winning debut, 'The New Life,' call Tom Crewe's book, a 'tenderly sensual account of masculine sexuality.' The post London: Tom Crewe Wins the Sunday Times’ Young Writer Award appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2024-03-20 12:50:02 UTC ]
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The best early Amazon Big Spring Sale deals you can shop today

There's another jumbo-sized Amazon sale on the way. The Big Spring Sale, as it's called, will run from March 20 to March 25 and include a variety of discounts on "seasonally relevant items." This doesn't look to be another Prime Day situation, however; Amazon says most of the offers will be... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2024-03-15 16:15:34 UTC ]
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Writers and Artists Across the Country

Two authors discuss their experience doing school visits through the nationwide literacy nonprofit. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-03-15 04:00:00 UTC ]
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At London Book Fair: Writers’ Prize Names Its Winners

At London Book Fair, the top honor from the Writers' Prize, formerly the Rathbones, goes to Liz Berry for 'The Home Child.' The post At London Book Fair: Writers’ Prize Names Its Winners appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2024-03-14 05:01:24 UTC ]
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Titles to Be Restored After Bookwire, Amazon Strike New Deal

In a March 13 statement, Bookwire officials said that, while they were unable to share terms of the new agreement, "relisting of the e-book titles" on Amazon, following their delisting earlier this week during tense negotiations, "is expected shortly." Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-03-14 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #e-book