Man Booker prize judge Colin Thubron has complained this week that star endorsements bully readers into admiring books, but it’s long been standard practiceSetting cats among pigeons has long been an unofficial part of the contract for judges of the Booker prize. Remember Chris Mullin’s insistence on “zip–along” novels, or, way back in 1992, AN Wilson’s condemnation of the prize itself as “essentially trivial”? This year’s flurry of fur and feathers was provoked by a tirade from Colin Thubron on celebrity endorsements. Some blurbs, said the veteran travel writer, “almost blackmail” readers into feeling that “you’re either intellectually or morally incompetent if you don’t love this book or you’ve failed if you haven’t understood it”. Some people, he felt, “seem to earn their living … saying: ‘This is the most profound book of our generation.’”Starting our Iris Murdoch bookclub with this '69 @PenguinUKBooks edition - you don't find blurbs like this any more! pic.twitter.com/P2XUvgtKAM Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2017-09-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Wed, 06/07/2011 - 08:01 Waterstones childrens range buyer Claudia Mody is to join The Book People as a buyer for Red House it's children's consumer-facing book club. Mody will start on 1st August at The Book People. Seni Glaister, chief executive... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon.com has acquired The Book Depository International, a seven-year old online bookseller based in the UK, which also republishes titles that are no longer in print or poorly available. Continue reading at AllThingsD
[ AllThingsD | 2011-07-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Tue, 05/07/2011 - 11:26 The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has announced it is to investigate Amazons acquisition of The Book Depository. The official body has issued an invitation to comment notice asking for written representations about any... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Mon, 04/07/2011 - 16:00 The Book Depository has said it will continue to operate independently of Amazon, as the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) said it was "too early" to say if today's takeover of the online bookseller would trigger an investigation.... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Bookseller Staff Publication Date: Mon, 04/07/2011 - 12:29 Amazon.com has reached an agreement to acquire The Book Depository, the fast-growing online retailer founded by Andrew Crawford in 2004. Greg Greeley, Amazon's vice president of European Retail, said: "Customers in more... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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IGN Entertainment, the News Corporation-owned publisher of games website IGN and AskMen, has appointed Chris Shepperson to the newly created role of head of entertainment. Continue reading at Media Week
[ Media Week | 2011-07-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Caroline Horn Publication Date: Fri, 01/07/2011 - 09:00 Walker Books has launched an award for new illustration to help mark the 20th anniversary of the death of the company's founder, Sebastian Walker. The Sebastian Walker Award will be run in collaboration with the MA course in... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Men more likely to own tablets, women more likely to own e-readers according to GfK MRI. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2011-06-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Robert Newman is now creative director with Readers Digest; he served as a consulting creative director with RD since December. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2011-06-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Thu, 30/06/2011 - 15:58 An online view-on-demand books service dubbed the Spotify of books has launched today. 24symbols, created by a Spanish team co-founded by Justo Hidalgo, is offering access to 1,000 book titles for a subscription fee. The... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Republican candidate has sold his memoir to the conservative imprint of Simon @ Schuster. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2011-06-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Thu, 30/06/2011 - 09:28 E-books are set to "blow apart" cover design, with designers looking to create "identity packages" that can work for both print and digital editions, The Bookseller Cover Design Conference 2011 was told. Marketing strategist... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Arts editor Will Gompertz's second report into the impact of technology on the publishing industry Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2011-06-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Bookseller Staff Publication Date: Tue, 28/06/2011 - 09:15 E-reader ownership in the US has doubled over the past six months, the first time ownership of e-readers has reached double digits among US adults. According to a report carried out by the Pew Internet Project, the share of... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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By Joe Wilcox, Betanews Nearly a quarter of US adults with household income of $75,000 have ebook readers. By ethnicity, Hispanic Americans lead other races. Continue reading at Betanews
[ Betanews | 2011-06-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sara Lloyd, Pan Macmillan: "The basic process of writing will stay quite stable, but the authors who will do particularly well are ones who think about how to build a digital audience." Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2011-06-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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How do you promote a book effectively at a time when ebooks may stay in print indefinitely, but not have a physical presence in a store? Internet book marketer FSB Associates has just launched Amplify, a marketing strategy that brings together a list of related titles and creates a Web community... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-06-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Mon, 27/06/2011 - 08:34 A green charity offering books for free aims to open an outlet in every town in the UK, and has called on publishers to donate titles. The Booksellers Association has come out in support of the programme run by Healthy Planet,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The publisher Algonquin is offering digital books at a discount or free to customers who buy certain trade paperback or hardback books. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2011-06-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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After years of refusing to release her boy-wizard books in electronic format, Harry Potter mastermind J.K. Rowling is finally taking the digital plunge, launching an online store that will sell Harry Potter ebooks directly to consumers and a social-networking site designed to keep the Potter... Continue reading at AllThingsD
[ AllThingsD | 2011-06-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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