The phrase "virtual book club" may not conjure romantic visions of low-lit rooms and vintage wines, but you don't necessarily need those things to throw fancy words around. Amazon-owned Goodreads hosts user-created online clubs, but a Google patent application that's surfaced today imagines a different way of bringing bookworms together. It describes a system that automatically prompts the buyer of a new title, presumably acquired through Google Books, to join a club. To make this virtual version a little more like the real thing, it'll suggest specific groups based on your age, location, interests, preferred club size, reading speed and literary tastes. Furthermore, you'll only be coupled with those who've bought the work recently, so your new-found chums aren't on page 400 before you've even started. It'll all be managed through a social network, of course (we hear Google has one of those), and members will be able to fill specific roles within the club hierarchy. They'll also be able to schedule "activities," which we assume is patentese for Hangouts and the like to foster discussion. The patent filing also talks of financial rewards to tempt participation, which sounds like the perfect strategy for building millions of inactive G+ pages. Filed under: Internet, Google Comments Source: USPTO Continue reading at 'Engadget'
[ Engadget | 2013-09-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Wed, 24/08/2011 - 14:46 Private Eye is marking its 50th anniversary by publishing a book looking back at the history of the satirical institution. Private Eye: The First 50 Years is written by Adam Macqueen, a journalist on the magazine since 1997. It... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Tue, 23/08/2011 - 14:43 Collins has bought a memoir of an Irish traveller bare-knuckle boxing champion. Craig Adams, assistant editor for Collins, bought world rights in all languages to Knuckle by James Quinn McDonagh, in an unagented deal. The book... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bonniers MotorBoating magazine, a part of the Marine Group Network that includes Yachting and SaltWater Sportsman, is folding its print issue. The July/August 2011 installment will be its last. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2011-08-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Mon, 22/08/2011 - 11:39 An autobiography by Only Fools and Horses star John Boycie Challis will be the first book published by new company Wigmore Books, set up by writer Peter Burden. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Mon, 22/08/2011 - 15:18 One in six children do not read a single book per month, according to a new survey by the National Literacy Trust. The research suggested the United Kingdom is polarised between those who do not read and the one in 10 children... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Fri, 19/08/2011 - 12:03 World Book Day has appointed Kirsten Grant as director, with Cathy Schofield stepping down from her position as co-ordinator which she has held since October 2000. Grant, who was previously Puffin marketing and campaigns... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Benedicte Page and Philip Stone Publication Date: Thu, 18/08/2011 - 15:38 The book trades TCM sales showed another big year on year drop last week, but the regional breakdown of the Nielsen BookScan figures suggests the nationwide riots were unlikely to be the major factor,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Thu, 18/08/2011 - 11:42 Union Books editorial director Rosalind Porter has bought a book about poet A E Housman by Peter Parker, author of The Last Veteran. Porter bought UK and Commonwealth rights (excluding Canada) from David Miller at Rogers,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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I've been lucky enough to have my book published in a few countries now, and despite the universal subject matterthe periodic tableeach country has had a different take on it. Some publishers merely tweaked the book: The British, for instance, re-imagined the cover. More drastically, the... Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2011-08-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Philip Stone Publication Date: Tue, 16/08/2011 - 16:03 Spending on printed books slumped £1.1m last week, as the UK riots caused retailers to shut stores early and the public to avoid the high street. Although bookshops remained largely unscathed during the rioting, spending... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Philip Jones Publication Date: Tue, 16/08/2011 - 09:15 UK ebook buyers are expecting heavier discounting on digital titles than their counterparts across the Atlantic, a new survey has found. The survey, undertaken in April by consultants Simon-Kucher and Partners among 250 book... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Tue, 16/08/2011 - 14:41 Kathryn Stockett has become the first debut author to join the Kindle Million Club after selling over a million copies of her novel The Help (Penguin). Janet Evanovich, Headline Review author of the Stephanie Plum novels, has... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Mon, 15/08/2011 - 15:49 Waterstones m.d. James Daunt has accused publishers of being lax in not paying enough attention to the physical quality of books while warning bricks and mortar bookshops will not survive unless they are good enough. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Mon, 15/08/2011 - 10:07 The Society of Authors has advised members to seek its help before dealing with Beautiful Books, after the publisher was unable to pay money owned to an author since March. Beautiful Books m.d. Simon Petherick said it will... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Mon, 15/08/2011 - 15:45 Sainsburys has signed an exclusive deal with independent publisher Constable & Robinson to sell Joan Collins new book. Publishing director at C&R Andreas Campomar said the company hoped to reach a wider audience for... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged a California man with insider trading in the run-up to the 2009 Disney-Marvel deal. The SEC says Toby G. Scammell took advantage of his girlfriend, an "extern" working at Disney's corporate strategy department, to learn about the company's $4... Continue reading at AllThingsD
[ AllThingsD | 2011-08-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Fri, 12/08/2011 - 10:54 Pan Macmillan has acquired two novels by Diane Allen, general manager of Magna Large Print books. Publishing director Wayne Brookes acquired UK and Commonwealth rights to For the Sake of Her Children and one other novel... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A class-action lawsuit accuses Apple of working with publishers to raise the cost of ebooks. Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2011-08-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Thu, 11/08/2011 - 09:08 The British Library has launched its E-book Treasures series for the iPad, with ancient manuscripts now available for download on the Apple iBookstore. The first manuscripts to be available are Leonardo da Vinci's Codex... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Thu, 11/08/2011 - 09:00 Poet Laureate Carol-Ann Duffy is selecting the third volume of The Twelves Poems of Christmas, which is out this autumn. Duffy will also write the introduction to the titles, which is priced £4.95 and published in October... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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