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 ]
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Malaysian officials order book shops to stop selling a sex education book by British author Peter Mayle. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2012-02-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publishers are continuing to experiment with ebook pricing, as sales and marketing teams balance... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-02-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Thomas Mallon's novel deftly paints a picture of 1970s America and adds an imaginative back story to the characters.Watergate Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-02-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Tracie McMillan takes us to agricultural fields, Wal-Mart and Applebee's, where she works short stints and tries to eat healthfully on meager pay.The American Way of Eating Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-02-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times reporter, who died Thursday while reporting in Syria, was to have embarked soon on a 20-city tour to promote his new book. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2012-02-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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When Fraser Ross opened his first trendy Kitson clothing and accessories store in West Hollywood in 2001, it was a magnet for celebrities and the paparazzi that stalked them, a most unlikely retail candidate to capture the attention of New York publishers. But one decade and an additional 12... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-02-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Collins has bought a book about forgiveness co-authored by South African churchman Desmond Tutu... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-02-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The author's short stories paint vivid pictures of growing up Filipino American.In a smoke-stained San Francisco hotel room, Felix Starro is making fake blood. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-02-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A recent PubTrak survey from R.R. Bowker indicated that teens remain reluctant when it comes to ebooks. Accustomed to social media, they find that electronic stories have “too many restrictions,” according to the report. But many industry players—agents, booksellers, publishers, and authors—are... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-02-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bloomsbury has acquired world rights in a biography of the late artist Lucian Freud, penned by... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-02-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Harvill Secker has signed a two-book deal with Belfast crime writer Stuart Neville. Publishing... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-02-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Students are split on the necessity of physical textbooks in a digital world, but a majority of... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-02-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bedford Square Books, the ebook and print-on-demand venture set up by the Ed Victor Literary... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-02-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Foursquare and Yelp upload names, e-mail addresses and phone numbers, sometimes without explicit permission. Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2012-02-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Printed book sales slipped 3% week on week last week, and were down 16% year on year as the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-02-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Octopus is to release a free ebook to tie in to Valentine's Day, The Joy of Sex: A Little... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-02-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The murder of Oakland journalist Chauncey Bailey and a family's violent rise to prominence is given gripping life.On a morning in August 2007, a slender masked man ran up to Chauncey Bailey on an Oakland sidewalk and fired two shotgun blasts at the journalist. The first slug tore through Bailey... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-02-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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How much money is a book really worth? Is it the $25 to $30 publishers typically ask for the hardcover edition? Is it the discounted price plus shipping that an online retailer charges? What if there’s only a Kindle edition you can buy, for 99 cents? Is that same book worth nothing on days when... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-02-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The tagline “It’s not TV. It’s HBO” is something many will remember from the late 1990s, back when the cable network was in the vanguard for airing critically acclaimed series like The Sopranos and Sex and the City. Today there’s hardly a cable network in the game that isn’t trying to capture... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-02-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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This year's shortlist for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize includes new talent... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-02-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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