The web giant’s move into bricks-and-mortar bookselling has upset many in the books community – but there is much to praise in this innovationYou could describe it as a troubling development in publishing: someone comes along with no real knowledge of the book business, a brash salesman who sells books cheaply, undercuts established rivals, drives them out of business. Then he moves into publishing as well, and allows people to publish themselves without recourse to the gatekeeping taste-makers.But I’m not talking about Jeff Bezos and Amazon. I’m talking about James Lackington, who turned the book business upside down – at the end of the 18th century. His London bookshop accepted cash only, so he could slash prices, and he used his accumulated wealth to buy whole libraries and pounce on publishers’ remaindered stock to sell dirt cheap. One of the books his company subsequently published in exchange for a payment from the author’s husband was Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2016-02-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
In The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore, history professor Evan Friss explores how bookstores have shaped reading, publishing, politics, and community, beginning in the 18th century. I talked with Friss about the value of indie bookstores, the bygone dominance of Barnes & Noble,... Continue reading at The Millions
[ The Millions | 2024-10-22 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Publisher frustration is mounting at AI search startup Perplexity, which is backed by Jeff Bezos and other tech titans, for circumventing attempts to block its crawlers from accessing and serving up media content, potentially cutting publishers out of billions in ad... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2024-06-21 17:04:46 UTC ]
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Ah yes. Literature. The vehicle through which we may explore faraway lives we would have otherwise never imagined. From my little, rugged armchair, I can witness forbidden love in the 18th century. Peek into a bustling kitchen in New York City. Discover the dramatic betrayal that fractured the... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2024-02-14 12:00:00 UTC ]
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A Call of Duty game sells. That’s what it does. And it usually tops the sales charts, almost every year since 2009. However, last year was a bit different: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III landed in second place. To convey the gravitational pull of CoD, when Microsoft was fighting to buy... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2024-01-19 12:15:26 UTC ]
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Dave Limp, Amazon’s Senior Vice President of Devices and Services, has announced his pending retirement from the company. Limp has been with the company for nearly 14 years and, as his title suggests, oversaw Amazon’s transition into dedicated hardware devices like Kindle e-readers,... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2023-08-15 18:23:15 UTC ]
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It’s a tale as old as time: a Brazilian writer sets her Kindle aside for a few weeks to work on her own novel, and when she goes back to get a little reading done, finds that the device has been infested with a horde of tiny white ants. “My virtual library had become a […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-08-04 13:07:23 UTC ]
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Science fiction has a deep, rich past—one that sees its roots stretch back to ancient times. Fans and scholars often point to Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus as its most recognizable origin point, followed by the works of authors like Jules Verne, H. G. Wells,... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-06-29 08:57:17 UTC ]
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He crafted tales of everyday life for early readers. His “Mr. Pine’s Purple House,” first published in 1965, later inspired a new publishing company — and Jeff Bezos. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2022-02-24 23:32:36 UTC ]
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News for Frankenstein fans, or just fans of the monster: according to Mansion Global, a two-bedroom Bloomsbury apartment at the address of Mary Shelley’s former home is on the market for $1.36 million. If you saved $1.17 million from not buying the first edition of Frankenstein that went up for... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-12-01 18:01:36 UTC ]
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Mary Shelley was goth before it was cool. She wrote Frankenstein—sometimes described as the world’s first science fiction novel—as part of a horror story writing game. She lost her virginity to Percy Shelley on top of her mother’s grave. (To be fair, it was one of her main leisure spots, but... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-09-17 16:41:12 UTC ]
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Samantha Silva’s novel brings to life Mary Wollstonecraft: feminist, novelist and mother of Mary Shelley Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2021-07-17 13:00:00 UTC ]
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Leaving our earthly bodies and living forever as a machine isn't just a thing of modern science fiction. These transhumanist ideas date back to the 18th century. Continue reading at The Conversation
[ The Conversation | 2021-05-17 05:22:55 UTC ]
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After 27 years, Jeff Bezos, the entrepreneur who turned an online bookstore into one of the most powerful companies in the world, announced his plans to step down as Amazon CEO. In an email to employees on Tuesday, Bezos said the transition will come in Q3, at which point he will become... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2021-02-02 21:43:59 UTC ]
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Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon, will hand over the CEO duties to Andy Jassy, head of Amazon Web Services, this summer. The company reported that sales in the year jumped 38% over 2019, to $386.1 million, and earnings skyrocketed 84%. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-02-02 05:00:00 UTC ]
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An anthology of writings provides a glimpse into the mind of the Amazon founder. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2020-11-20 13:00:00 UTC ]
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A new creative endeavor from Hatch Escapes and director Arvind Ethan David turns the life story of Mary Shelley into a hybrid tabletop gaming experience rooted in serious storytelling. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-10-21 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Nadim Shamma-Sourgen’s words, evoking a ‘whole world full of hugs’, were spotted by the writer Kate Clanchy and will be published next summerKeats’s first book of poetry was published when he was 21; Mary Shelley was 18 when she started writing Frankenstein. But both of their youthful... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2020-07-22 11:17:39 UTC ]
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Given monster stories by Mary Shelley, Stephen King and other masters of the macabre, Brooks is trying to fill some awfully big shoes here. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2020-06-09 15:19:49 UTC ]
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When the news first broke that the MIT Media Lab had a close relationship with deceased billionaire and convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, some saw it as a momentary lapse in judgment, and there was widespread support for Media Lab director Joi Ito. But then New Yorker writer Ronan Farrow... Continue reading at Columbia Journalism Review
[ Columbia Journalism Review | 2019-10-03 10:50:57 UTC ]
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In just a quarter-century of existence, Amazon has grown from an online bookseller to a company valued at $1 trillion and sells pretty much anything that can be imagined. With such a hefty inventory, Amazon has had to grow beyond Jeff Bezos' garage in Bellevue to a huge headquarters in... Continue reading at Silicon Valley Business Journal
[ Silicon Valley Business Journal | 2019-06-25 11:18:10 UTC ]
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