A group of writers are quids in following an experiment to sell a bundle of DRM-free ebooks. Sales of The Humble Bundle, which included works from authors Cory Doctorow, Neil Gaiman and the much-loved xkcd comic strip, have been anything but humble, with over 84,000 bundles sold, earning the authors $1.1 million in sales. What made the experiment so extraordinary was the fact that buyers could choose what they paid for the bundle, and how much of their price went to charity. WIth the average price coming in at $14.18: anyone who paid more than that got extra content included. One user even paid $1,238 for his 13 books which, if bought separately, would cost $157. One of the writers has been left gobsmacked. Lauren Beukes, author of Zoo City, initially saw the concept as a crazy experiment. "I didn't realise there would be over 75,000 of them spending more than a million dollars in two weeks on books!" she said. "This is New York Times bestseller-level sales." The online publishing industry will have been given a real fillip by this - especially authors who choose to publish their own work by themselves. Larger publishing houses and retailers such as Amazon, both of which swear by the draconian DRM, will be looking to see how future bundles, already in the Humble Bundle pipeline, fare. Continue reading at 'Fast Company'
[ Fast Company | 2012-10-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
News tagged with:
#included works
#neil gaiman
#bought separately
#lauren beukes
#zoo city
Digital book sales have gone up 54% in the past year to £243m but total book sales have fallen by 2%. Continue reading at BBC World
[ BBC World | 2012-05-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Consumer ebook sales increased by 366% to £92m in 2011, with sales across all digital... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-05-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Coming up first: A Metro-style Nook e-reader app for Windows 8 that will be available to U.S. and international users. Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2012-04-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#international users
Byliner.com, a digital publishing company, withdrew the ebook “After Friday Night Lights” by Buzz Bissinger from Amazon because of a pricing dispute involving a promotional giveaway. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2012-04-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#media equation
#buzz bissinger
Ben Hur and Casablanca are among the film scripts to be released as ebooks for the first time by Warner Bros. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2012-04-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#film scripts
#warner bros
In 'My Life as a Sportswriter,' the Sports Illustrated writer reminisces on his time chronicling the offbeat and the mainstream in sports.A bio on NPR's website of its commentator Frank Deford notes that the magazine GQ christened him, quite simply, "the world's greatest sportswriter." (Is he?)... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-04-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#companion website
#book review
Steve Kloves, the screenwriter who brought all seven Harry Potter books to the big screen, is in talks to direct a live action remake of The Jungle Book. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2012-04-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#potter scribe
#big screen
#jungle book
Weidenfeld & Nicolson has acquired one of the hotly-tipped books of London Book Fair, Golden... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-04-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#weidenfeld nicolson
Digital Rights Management software was originally meant to restrict pirating of ebooks, but many complain because of the restrictions it places on users. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2012-04-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Haymarket Books, the book publishing arm of Chicago’s progressive Center for Economic Research and Social Change, has enjoyed a 43% spike in sales this year, driven by a hot title and the Occupy movement. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-04-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#haymarket books
#social change
#hot title
Emily Smith, executive director of Lookout Books, has been in and out of the office more in the past few months than she has been in years, thanks to the success of her imprint’s very first release, a collection of new and previously published work from a 75-year-old master of the short story,... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-04-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#lookout books
#short story
#edith pearlman
#sleeper hit
Science fiction publisher Tor UK decides to drop anti-piracy restrictions from its electronic books. Continue reading at BBC World
[ BBC World | 2012-04-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#ebook library
#electronic books
The publishing industry has a problem. The old guard haven't innovated. And neither their business models nor their products embrace the digital books revolution. Take the ongoing and complicated spat between Apple and the Justice Department over the agency pricing model and alleged collusion... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2012-04-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#rich media
#tablet screens
#kit eaton
#fast company
JoJo Moyes’ Me Before You has come top of an online voting poll for the Richard and Judy... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-04-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#jojo moyes
The value of the UK's book exports rose a little over 3% to £1,741.5m in 2011,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-04-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
US science fiction list Tor has become one of the first mainstream imprints to put its books out... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-04-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Man Booker-longlisted novel A Cupboard Full of Coats by Yvette Edwards, published by small... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-04-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#yvette edwards
On World Book Night thousands of volunteers in the US and Europe will hand out books, hoping to pass along their own love of reading. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2012-04-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Foyles has strengthened its marketing team and made a series of changes to its bookshop staffing... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-04-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#marketing team
World Book Night founder Jamie Byng spoke about the "need" for stories as the 2012... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-04-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |