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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BuzzFeed's 'Real Women' Video Strikes Controversial Chord

How women are portrayed in photography has been a hot-button issue in publishing during the last several months. One could argue the spirited dialogue goes back a year to Dove's "Real Beauty Sketches" effort, which went viral. At any rate, whether you find BuzzFeed Video's "Photoshopping Real... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2014-02-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Dutton Marks 150 Years of Publishing

About two years ago, a friend of Brian Tart, publisher of Dutton, gave him a copy of Seventy-Five Years, or the Joys and Sorrows of Publishing and Selling Books at Duttons from 1852–1927. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-01-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Prolific TV creator Shonda Rhimes will write 'part memoir, part inspiration' book (+video)

Shonda Rhimes is the creator of the TV shows 'Grey's Anatomy,' 'Private Practice,' and 'Scandal.' Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2013-11-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Prolific TV creator Shonda Rhimes will write 'part memoir, part inspiration' book

Shonda Rhimes is the creator of the TV shows 'Grey's Anatomy,' 'Private Practice,' and 'Scandal.' Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2013-11-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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How YouTube's New Arrangements With MCNs Work

In the last week or so, YouTube has been reaching out to the various networks that operate businesses on the platform, implementing new procedures for how these companies handle copyright violations and contracts. Several new details have now emerged on those discussions. Going forward,... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2013-10-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Scribd, HarperCollins Launch $8.99 Subscription Book Service

For a small monthly fee, consumers are used to getting unlimited access to all types of content: movies, TV shows, music, news, video games. Could that same model soon become popular in the world of publishing? Given the success of Netflix in video and Spotify in music, it's inevitable that... Continue reading at Fast Company

[ Fast Company | 2013-10-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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There Will Always Be a Place for Great Bookstores

The business of publishing and selling books will continue its radical change. But some things are eternal.     Continue reading at The Atlantic

[ The Atlantic | 2013-07-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon's Kindle Worlds will allow writers to sell fan fiction

The digital publishing platform will let fans write, publish, and sell the stories they've written based on popular books, TV shows, and more. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2013-05-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Google Play Now Selling Books and Movies in Russia

A week after Apple opened the Russian iTunes Store, users can now download books and movies from the Russian Google Play Store. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2012-12-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Oyster: A Spotify For Books

Oyster, a fledgling mobile service for Spotify-style on-demand books, has raised $3 million in funding led by Peter Thiel's Founders Fund. Oyster, which is still a work in progress, will let users of its mobile app access, discover, and read an ever-growing range of titles and genres, all on... Continue reading at Fast Company

[ Fast Company | 2012-10-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Cookbooks Light It Up at QVC

Since 1988, QVC, the trailblazing, hugely popular home-shopping television network with a companion Web site, has been selling books in the cooking, motivational, children’s, and design categories, marketing celebrity authors in much the same way it sells the other 1,400 items offered each week... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-07-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Google Launches Nexus 7 Tablet Starting at $200

Google took a cue from Amazon's Kindle Fire announcing the Nexus 7 tablet optimized for content from Google Play including books, games, TV shows, movies, apps, and magazines. Continue reading at PC World

[ PC World | 2012-06-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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'Fifty Shades of Grey' by E.L. James is selling books (and more)

'Fifty Shades of Grey' by E.L. James and sequels are an ebook and paperback phenomenon that is also causing a sales spike in sex shops. How did it all happen?The staff of the Pleasure Chest, a high-end West Hollywood sex shop, were first tipped to the "Fifty Shades of Grey" phenomenon by their... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-04-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Seven Ways to Improve the iTunes Store

The iTunes Store is the most popular retail outlet in the United States for buying music, and has become a digital bazaar, selling everything from TV shows and movies to ebooks and audiobooks. Continue reading at PC World

[ PC World | 2012-03-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Jan Berenstain dies at 88; co-creator of the Berenstain Bears empire

Jan Berenstain and her husband, Stan, published their first Berenstain Bears book in 1962. Three hundred titles about the family of bears that deal with everyday problems appeared, as well as videos and TV shows.Jan Berenstain, who with her husband, Stan, made up one of the most successful... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-02-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Downer warns publishers: 'set the agenda'

Written By: Philip Jones Publication Date: Tue, 11/10/2011 - 15:33 Publishers must take ownership of selling books or face quickly becoming irrelevant, former Borders UK chief Philip Downer told delegates at Tools of Change Frankfurt today (11th October). Downer said he was concerned that... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-10-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Collaboration will be major theme at BIC

Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Thu, 24/03/2011 - 15:52 Setting books within the wider cultural scene and building collaborations are set to be key themes at this year's Book Industry Conference, as organisers revealed the event programme. BIC 2011, which takes place between... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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