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 ]
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Audio in extremis

Once upon a time, round about the start of the year, there was a settled order in the audiobook recording world.  A relatively small number of voice artists had at-home recording setups – often a booth, built in a spare room or the garden shed, which gave the experienced narrator greater... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-05-10 19:59:08 UTC ]
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Spotify, Wizarding World bring Harry Potter to digital audio

Daniel Radcliffe, David Beckham and Dakota Fanning are among a handful of celebrities who will be reading various chapters of “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone/Sorcerer’s Stone” exclusively on Spotify. Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2020-05-05 18:54:51 UTC ]
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Amazon Charts: Rooney scores a blinder

Sally Rooney's Normal People (Faber) has soared six places up the Amazon Charts' Most-Sold: Fiction chart to score the number one. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-05-05 17:09:49 UTC ]
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Amazon's VAT windfall

From 1 May, bringing forward a plan originally scheduled for the end of the year, the Government has removed VAT from e-books. It was a change lobbied for by many writers, as well as the big publishers. They rallied under the stirring slogan ‘No Tax on Learning’. This is a good thing, surely,... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-05-04 08:40:06 UTC ]
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Harry and Meghan biography Finding Freedom listed on Amazon

The title of a new biography of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, reportedly written with the couple's co-operation, has been revealed as Finding Freedom. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-05-03 16:33:59 UTC ]
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In Q1, Sales Rose 26% at Amazon as It Works to Improve Shipping Times

Sales increased to $75.5 billion in the second quarter at Amazon, even as it acknowledged that the surge in demand forced it to prioritize essential items such as household staples and "dampened demand" for non-essential products. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-05-01 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon to cut price of its ebooks to reflect removal of VAT

Chancellor drops 20% levy on online news subscriptions and books as industry strugglesAmazon has confirmed it will cut the price of its Kindle ebooks from Friday, after the government announced it would bring forward plans to stop charging VAT on online publications because of the pandemic.The... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2020-04-30 18:11:42 UTC ]
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Poet and comedian Derrick C. Brown finds the bright spots in quarantine life

For National Poetry Month, Brown launched “Goodnight America,” a weekly series of live performances on Zoom that combine poetry, comedy and lullabies. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-04-30 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Coronavirus Worklife: Amazon Publishing ‘At Home’ in Germany, the UK, and the States

'Our desk spaces are evolving their own personalities,' as the publishing house built by a tech and retail giant adapts to home-officing. The post Coronavirus Worklife: Amazon Publishing ‘At Home’ in Germany, the UK, and the States appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2020-04-30 01:41:14 UTC ]
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Mills & Boon launching subscription service We Love Romance

HarperCollins is launching an e-book subscription service called We Love Romance, providing unlimited access to thousands of Mills & Boon titles. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-04-30 01:34:32 UTC ]
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Audible Charts: Secret Service sneaks into the top

Tom Bradby's Secret Service (Penguin Audio), narrated by Juliet Aubrey, has zipped into the Audible weekly number one spot for the week ending 26th April. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-04-29 21:05:22 UTC ]
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Bloomsbury promotes Knight and recruits Wilks to sales teams

Bloomsbury Publishing has promoted Sarah Knight to UK adult sales director and recruited Sally Wilks from HarperCollins Children's Books to be its UK children’s sales director. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-04-28 15:45:01 UTC ]
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Amazon Charts: The Flatshare rooms at the top

Beth O'Leary's The Flatshare (Quercus) has continued to top the Amazon Charts' Most-Sold: Fiction chart, notching up a third week in the number one spot. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-04-28 13:51:51 UTC ]
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Thomas the Tank Engine gets royal treatment for 75th birthday

In this new picture book Thomas and the Royal Engine, published later this week by Egmont, Thomas and the Fat Controller are on a special journey to London to meet the Queen.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-04-28 02:59:46 UTC ]
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BA criticises Amazon for 'ill-judged' hardship fund donation

The Booksellers Association (BA) has branded Amazon's £250,000 donation to a booksellers hardship fund an “ill-judged attempt to mitigate a decades-long campaign to undermine the bookselling sector”. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-04-24 16:27:46 UTC ]
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Amazon revealed as mystery £250,000 donor to UK bookshops

Fundraiser for retailers facing hardship during the coronavirus pandemic reveals that benefactor is internet giant widely blamed for trade’s declineAmazon, the internet retail giant vilified for years as public enemy No 1 to booksellers, has been revealed as the surprise mystery benefactor that... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2020-04-23 11:37:33 UTC ]
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Amazon revealed as £250k donor to bookseller coronavirus fund

Amazon has been revealed as the mystery donor which pledged £250,000 to a fundraising drive to help booksellers impacted by the coronavirus crisis. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-04-23 04:37:57 UTC ]
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E-book and audio sales proving 'welcome ray of sunshine' for publishers

Publishers are seeing a surge in e-book and audio sales of up to 25% as readers escape the lockdown with feel-good fiction. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-04-23 02:30:27 UTC ]
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ACE gives libraries £151k for e-books and audio

Arts Council England (ACE) has announced a £151,000 investment into library services to buy e-books and digital audio products. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-04-22 23:20:53 UTC ]
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Amazon Charts: The Flatshare occupies the top floor as Kay surges on

Beth O'Leary's The Flatshare (Quercus) has once again topped the Amazon Charts' Most-Sold: Fiction ranking, as Adam Kay's This is Going to Hurt (Picador), two years on from publication, claimed the Most-Sold: Non-Fiction number one. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-04-21 16:14:26 UTC ]
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