Amazon Recruits Comedians, Engineers for Expanding Audio Service

Amazon.com Inc. is ramping up its investment in podcasts and other radio-style shows to expand the types of programming it offers via Audible, the audio book company it acquired in 2008.Audible has recruited well-known comedians, along with radio and podcast producers for the initiative, and job postings suggest a significant global push. Maria Bamford and Jonathan Katz are taping episodes of "Bedtime Stories," a show in which comedians rewrite fairy tales, according to their manager Bruce Smith.Entertainment plays a crucial role in Amazon's effort to push beyond its core business of selling books, laundry detergent and televisions online. The Seattle-based company's original films and TV shows have won critical acclaim and helped increase the appeal of its $99-a-year Prime service, which includes delivery discounts along with video and music streaming. Audible has more than 250,000 audio programs including books and plays, with downloads available for iPhones, Androids and other smartphone systems. Continue reading at AdAge.com Continue reading at 'Advertising Age'

[ Advertising Age | 2016-01-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
News tagged with: #selling books #laundry detergent #tv shows #music streaming

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Is the “Amazon War” Ultimately Pointless?

In Bloomberg View Leonid Bershidsky suggests the 'war' between Amazon and publishers is ultimately pointless, since the future of reading lies elsewhere. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-08-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Purdue Opens Amazon-Branded E-Store

As the start of the fall semester nears, the college bookstore market is heating up with the launch of a second Amazon co-branded online school store at Indiana's Purdue University. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-08-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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BuzzFeed Expands Thanks to $50M Investment

Changes are coming for millennial-targeted publisher BuzzFeed. The company announced on Monday that it received $50 million in series E funding from venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and planned to restructure the company with the funds.  "Today we think the time is perfect to grow our... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2014-08-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon misrepresents Orwell and takes on Disney, as the pricing war intensifies (+video)

In a statement about its dispute with publisher Hachette, Amazon cited '1984' author George Orwell – while failing to understand the author's words, critics charged. Meanwhile, Amazon appears to be entering into a dispute with Disney. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2014-08-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Square Register debuts appointment scheduling service

Payment-processing service Square said Monday that it debuted Square Appointments to its register service. Square Appointments allows merchants' customers to make and book appointments online, saving staff time. Such online scheduling services from rivals have been popular with hair salons,... Continue reading at Silicon Valley Business Journal

[ Silicon Valley Business Journal | 2014-08-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon misrepresents Orwell and takes on Disney, as the pricing war intensifies

In a statement about its dispute with publisher Hachette, Amazon cited '1984' author George Orwell – while failing to understand the author's words, critics charged. Meanwhile, Amazon appears to be entering into a dispute with Disney. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2014-08-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon vs Hachette: readers and authors take sides in publishing dispute

The tussle between Amazon and the publishing conglomerate has been raging since spring. Heres an update on the fightA corporate boxing match broke from the ring and swelled into all-out rumpus last weekend, as readers and authors took sides in Amazon and Hachettes fight over the publishing... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2014-08-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon Returns Fire: The Battle With Hachette and Authors United Continues

Amazon has responded to an open letter by Authors United, signed by 900-plus authors in support of Hachette, with their own open letter, Readers United. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-08-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Hachette's Pietsch responds to Amazon

The dispute between Amazon and Hachette Book Group (HBG) has escalated further after the online... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2014-08-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Surveying Digital Comics after Amazon-Comixology

Speaking with a wide variety of publishers at the San Diego Comic-Con revealed different reactions to DRM-free comics, in-app purchasing, storytelling and more as the industry adapts to Amazon's acquisition of Comixology. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-08-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon ebook pricing battle intensifies after 'Authors United' ad

Compares Hachette dispute to past paperback fears, but partially quoting George Orwell is a risky moveAmazon has hit back following an open letter from more than 900 authors criticising its licensing dispute with publisher Hachette, which was published as an ad in the New York Times.However, the... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2014-08-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon Blocks Captain America, Muppets in Price War With Disney

Amazon.com is taking on Walt Disney Co. and its superheroes in its quest to gain more control over pricing online.Amazon blocked pre-orders of Disney's summer hit movie "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" and other titles in disk form, repeating a tactic used in recent disputes with book... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2014-08-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Some Disney movies unavailable on Amazon in apparent contract dispute

Maleficent and Captain America among films affected Online retailer already in dispute with Hachette Book GroupAmazon.com has halted pre-orders of some Disney movies, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday, in what appears to be another contract dispute after the online giant began a... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2014-08-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon Urging Authors, Others to Email HBG's Pietsch

The Amazon Book Team urges KDP authors and others to email HBG CEO Michael Pietsch to tell him what they think of the publisher’s attempt to what Amazon says is its effort to keep ebook prices artificially high. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-08-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon and Disney are fighting, so you can't pre-order 'Guardians of the Galaxy' on Blu-ray

Neither side has confirmed it, but it looks like Amazon's latest pricing battle (after Warner Bros. and its ongoing battle with book publisher Hachette) is with Disney. That's why you can't pre-order a copy of Guardians of the Galaxy on DVD or... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2014-08-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon wants you to ask Hachette's CEO for lower ebook prices

Amazon's fight with Hachette over ebook pricing just got extra-personal. Hot on the heels of writers attacking Jeff Bezos' "retaliation," the Amazon Books Team has posted a Readers United site that calls on you to email Hachette CEO Michael Pietsch... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2014-08-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Authors take out full-page NYT ad to criticize Amazon

There's no sign that Amazon and Hachette are close to burying their ebook hatchet, which has prompted the authors caught in the middle to speak up. One of those affected, Douglas Preston, penned an open letter to Jeff Bezos, requesting that he... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2014-08-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Audio Book Club Asks, Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant?

To listen to the Audio Book Club discussion of Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant?, click the arrow on the player below. Continue reading at Slate

[ Slate | 2014-08-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Eoin Purcell to head Amazon Publishing UK

Eoin Purcell, formerly editorial director of New Island Books in Dublin, has been appointed to... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2014-08-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bestselling authors take out full-page New York Times ad against Amazon

Stephen King and Donna Tartt among those petitioning Amazon to 'stop harming the livelihood of the authors'Readers of the New York Times will have to steel themselves this weekend, as the unseemly brawl between Hachette and Amazon erupts on to the tranquil pages of the Grey Lady. Perhaps the... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2014-08-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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