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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Amazon's Fire tablets and Kindles are on sale for Prime members

Amazon's next big hardware event is just days away, and it appears the tech giant is using that as an opportunity to provide hefty discounts for Fire tablet and Kindle models for Prime subscribers. Most notably, Prime members get $40 off the Kindle P... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2019-09-16 14:27:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #kindle models #fire tablets #prime members #tech giant #fire tablet #prime subscribers #kindle


Amazon’s Testaments error calls use of embargoes into question, trade figures claim

Shockwaves rippled across the book industry last Wednesday after Amazon sent customers a copy of The Testaments almost a week early, which it later apologised for and attributed to "technical error". Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-09-12 13:11:07 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #week early #technical error #book industry


AALBC Cuts Buy Links to Amazon

After years as an Amazon affiliate, the African American Literature Book Club, an online portal dedicated to black books, literacy and a wide variety of book-related services, is severing most of its commercial ties to the online retailer. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-09-12 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #black books #wide variety #online retailer #american literature


Callow to voice Headline audio orginal of Wilde works

Simon Callow will voice a Headline audio original of Oscar Wilde's poem The Ballad of Reading Gaol and De Profundis ahead of the 125th anniversary of Wilde's sentencing for "gross indecency" next year. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-09-11 23:14:14 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #oscar wilde #125th anniversary


Amazon Charts: The Testaments jumps the gun

Margaret Atwood's The Testaments (Vintage) tops the Amazon Charts: Most-Sold Fiction chart, a week ahead of its publication, with the Booker-shortlisted title the most pre-ordered book in the chart. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-09-11 04:09:14 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #amazon charts #margaret atwood #week ahead #pre-ordered book


Why It Matters That Amazon Shipped Margaret Atwood’s “The Testaments” a Week Early

Back in May, I signed an embargo agreement on behalf of my bookstore stating that I would “ensure that [The Testaments by Margaret Atwood] is stored in a monitored and locked, secured area and not placed on the selling floor prior to the on-sale date.” The idea behind such agreements is that... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2019-09-06 11:00:49 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #week early #margaret atwood #electric literature #bookstore


Amazon apologises for 'technical error' following early US release of The Testaments

Amazon has apologised for the “technical error” which saw Margaret Atwood’s highly anticipated The Testaments distributed to some pre-order customers almost a week ahead of the publication date, breaking a worldwide embargo. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-09-05 14:05:02 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #technical error #margaret atwood #week ahead


ABA Condemns Amazon for Breaking 'Testaments' Embargo

The American Booksellers Association responded to Amazon's violation of 'The Testaments' embargo by promising to step up their efforts to persuade the Department of Justice to investigate Amazon's business practices. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-09-05 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #investigate amazon #business practices #american booksellers association


Amazon US delivers pre-order copies of The Testaments a week early

https://www.thebookseller.com/news/atwood-star-global-cinema-event-six-string-uk-tour-970551Margaret Atwood’s The Testaments has been sent out to some readers a week before publication due to “retailer error”. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-09-04 14:55:27 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #week early


Indie Booksellers Incensed as Amazon Breaks 'Testaments' Embargo

A highly anticipated new book. A broken embargo. A cluster of angry booksellers. Penguin Random House has reacted to the fact that Amazon seems to have shipped copies of Margaret Atwood's 'The Testaments' in spite of the fact that it's on-sale-date is nearly a week away. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-09-04 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #highly anticipated #margaret atwood #penguin random house


Amazon pays £14m corporation tax as revenue increases

Amazon's UK logistics and warehouse arm tripled its corporation tax payment to £14m for 2018, the company has revealed. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-09-03 21:29:05 UTC ]
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Amazon Charts: Pinch of Nom follow-up disrupts the non-fiction chart

Months ahead of release, Kay Featherstone and Kate Allinson's Pinch of Nom: Everyday Light (Bluebird), the follow-up to record-breaking blockbuster Pinch of Nom, has vaulted straight into the Amazon Charts Most-Sold: Non-Fiction number one. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-09-03 19:59:46 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #amazon charts #non-fiction chart #months ahead #kay featherstone #kate allinson #everyday lightbluebird #non-fiction number


The 50 Best One-Star Amazon Reviews of Goodnight Moon

Margaret Wise Brown’s classic children’s book Goodnight Moon was published on this day in 1947. It’s widely beloved, well-reviewed, and much parodied, and also hated intensely by a serious few. You know where this is going—I compile at least one of these one-star reviews pieces a month, but I... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2019-09-03 08:50:11 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #goodnight moon #classic children #children’s book


FutureBook launches audio writing competition

FutureBook has launched an audio originals writing competition, which will see the winning work published as an audiobook and the successful author hosted at the FutureBook Conference. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-09-03 00:18:49 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #futurebook conference #audiobook


FutureBook's Audio Originals—Terms and Conditions

The full terms and conditions for FutureBook's Audio Originals writing competition. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-09-02 01:30:35 UTC ]
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Announcing FutureBook's audio originals writing competition

This time last year, we asked writers to imagine the future of the book, as part of FutureBook's first ever writing competition—this year we are turning the dial louder. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-09-01 22:06:37 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #asked writers


Amazon Charts: How to Be Right hits the top

James O'Brien's How to Be Right (Virgin) has claimed the Amazon Charts Most Sold: Non-Fiction number one, ending the five-week run of Adam Kay's This is Going to Hurt (Picador). Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-08-28 08:18:55 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #amazon charts #non-fiction number #adam kay


Essex library campaigners prepare for action as 1,600 back petition to stop volunteer service

Library campaigners in Essex are gearing up for a county wide day of action next month, as more than 1,600 people sign a petition against plans for volunteers to run some facilities.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-08-28 05:47:04 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #library campaigners


Expanded Christian Product Expo Attracts 800 Attendees

Christian Product Expo, presented by the Munce Marketing Group and the Christian Retailer Association (CRA), brought nearly 800 bookstore owners and publishing representatives together in Murfreesboro, Tenn., from Aug. 25-27. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-08-28 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #publishing representatives #bookstore


Bibliotheca Calls Out Amazon for Meddling in the Library E-book Market

In a message sent to library customers, Tom Mercer, senior v-p of digital products for Bibliotheca (formerly 3M), called out Amazon for its role in the increasingly contentious library e-book market. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-08-27 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #library customers #digital products #e-book