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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Publication Date: Tue, 05/07/2011 - 08:30 Free Word has appointed Rose Fenton as director of the organisation, with her first day to be 12th September. The Free Word Centre in London is a house of literature, literacy and free expression, hosting debates, readings and conferences. Ten... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-05 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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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: 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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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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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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If you're heading to the beach this summer and you plan to read an ebook, you won't want to take your iPad. Luckily, the latest versions of the Nook and the Kindle offer glare-free screens and other reader-friendly functions. Continue reading at AllThingsD
[ AllThingsD | 2011-06-29 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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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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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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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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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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Zinio announced today its partnership with Recorded Books, making thousands of digital magazines accessible in public libraries throughout the US, Canada, Australia and UK. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2011-06-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Philip Jones Publication Date: Wed, 22/06/2011 - 16:00 Territorial rights are "obsolete", and contribute to the erosion of publishers' margins, but publishing remains an "intimate" business that would not be improved if local nuances are not respected, delegates at Publishers... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Wed, 22/06/2011 - 12:07 HarperCollins has made a series of senior level promotions, with current commercial managing director Simon Johnson becoming managing director, HarperCollins, and Tom Fussell moving into the role of group commercial... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Tue, 21/06/2011 - 11:08 Alan Bennett, Jilly Cooper and Joanna Trollope are among the authors donating books with personal inscriptions to an auction to raise funds for the National Literacy Trust (NLT). Sixteen authors have donated titles, many from... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Tue, 21/06/2011 - 11:30 Mark Goodwin was the surprise winner of the first ever East Midland Book Award, presented last night at the Lowdham Book Festival. His poetry book Shod (Nine Arches) beat 45 other entries to receive an engraved trophy and a... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Philip Jones Publication Date: Tue, 21/06/2011 - 11:46 Editors need to have a "vision" of how the content can be used beyond the traditional book, otherwise they risk losing control of the book to the "digital department", Publishers Launch London heard today. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Tue, 21/06/2011 - 08:46 Waterstone's has joined forces with Grazia magazine to launch a book club featuring 10 titles. One Grazia Book Club title will feature in the magazine every week from the next issue, allowing readers to claim 50% off the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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