Just as Engadget was hitting publish on its first posts, I was putting a freshly minted English degree to use working at an indie bookshop in Los Angeles. In seemingly unrelated news, Amazon had just reported its first profitable year after switching from selling books to selling “everything” four years before. (It still sold a lot of books.) Our bookstore did a good job keeping shelves stocked with a balance of the more worthy popular hits and smaller, better fare. But we couldn’t have every book a customer might want, so we offered to order any in-print title. If a distributor had it, it’d take about a week to get in, longer if we had to go through the publisher. That seemed fine for most customers. But sometimes “about a week” was too long. A few people came right out and said, “Nah, I’ll order it on Amazon.” In 2005, Amazon launched Prime, the membership program that, for $79 a year, gave customers unlimited two-day shipping on most orders. At launch, CEO Jeff Bezos called it “‘all-you-can-eat’ express shipping.” No one knew at the time how hungry the world was for Amazon’s brand of convenience. And now, nearly two decades later, we’ve seen the shifts that accommodate that buffet — in labor, retail and the entire customer experience. Prime wasn’t an overnight success. It’s estimated that six years after launch, just four million households paid for the service. But 10 years later, in 2021, Bezos claimed it had accrued 200 million members worldwide. Outside of that... Continue reading at 'Engadget'
[ Engadget | 2024-03-08 14:15:57 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Fri, 03/06/2011 - 14:25 Unbound, a publishing platform that allows readers to choose what is published, was devised as a response to the difficulties of the existing publishing model, with the programme aiming to get 35 to 40 projects off the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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People is the most profitable U.S. magazine and had an excellent, +5.6% ad-page advertising 2010, so it was appropriate that the magazine did very well at min's seventh "Sales Executive of the Year" awards breakfast Thursday morning (June 2) at New York's Grand Hyatt. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2011-06-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Barnes & Noble CEO William Lynch announced the new Nook, aimed at "those turned off by buttons." Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2011-05-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Gayle Feldman Publication Date: Thu, 26/05/2011 - 08:52 Thriller writer Barry Eisler, who turned his back on a two-book deal for half a million dollars from St Martins Press, has decided to accept six figures from Amazon and become one of its first frontlist authors. The Eisler... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Earlier in the week, Amazon announced that it was hiring Laurence Kirshbaum, the former CEO of Time Warner Book Group, to head a new publishing imprint. This seems like an odd time for Amazon to be making its mark on the pubishing industry: book sales are down, major book chains like Borders are... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2011-05-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Wed, 25/05/2011 - 14:13 Independent bookshop owners paid themselves an average wage of £22,200 in 2010, according to a new survey. Figures revealed that the average sales of those bookshops which took part in last years Bookseller Fitness Programme... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publication Date: Wed, 25/05/2011 - 14:24 Amazon is to open a new customer service centre in Edinburgh this August, with one of its roles to handle technical support for the Kindle. The move will create more than 900 permanent and temporary jobs over the next five years. The centre will be... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Gayle Feldman Publication Date: Tue, 24/05/2011 - 09:41 Responses to Amazon.com's hire of Laurence Kirshbaum as publisher have varied from worried to fear of a "dampening" effect on competition among delegates at the BEA conference. Word that started to spread Sunday night was... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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While the Rapture isnt scheduled to occur until Saturday, according to members of certain religious fringe groups, it looks like doomsday has come early for publishers of print books. Amazon announced Thursday that sales of ebooks on the site have finally surpassed combined sales of hardcovers... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2011-05-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon.com said that it sold 105 ebooks for every 100 printed books, a milestone that its chief executive, Jeff Bezos, said had occurred sooner than expected. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2011-05-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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As a former Amazon Associate, I can tell you that a great many sales of Kindle Books are for the 99¢ complete Dickens, etc. Movie critic and Web publisher Roger Ebert, providing some context for Amazons stat about Kindle ebooks outselling print books. Continue reading at AllThingsD
[ AllThingsD | 2011-05-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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It happened. Amazon says ebook sales have surpassed physical book sales on Amazon.com. Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2011-05-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Philip Jones Publication Date: Thu, 19/05/2011 - 09:59 Amazon has told US publishers that it will begin accepting digital files in the ePub format in the near future and will also allow users of its Kindle device to read ePub files. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Tue, 17/05/2011 - 09:00 Quercus has been crowned 2011's best publisher at The Bookseller Industry Awards, as Sainsbury's scooped the Bookseller of the Year award. Quercus was presented with the Bonnier Publisher of the Year Award at the black-tie... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Tue, 10/05/2011 - 14:19 Blackwell has today (10th May) axed 19 head office jobs from its library supply team. The staff, who are all based at the Blackwell headquarters in Oxfordshire, were told today they will be made redundant as of 1st July. read... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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National Geographic won Magazine of the Year as well as Single Topic issue at the 2011 National Magazine Awards. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2011-05-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Philip Jones Publication Date: Tue, 10/05/2011 - 11:06 E-book sales could exceed 8% of trade publishers' sales in 2011, and could reach 15% next year, Random House UK's deputy chairman Ian Hudson told delegates at the World e-Reading Congress this morning (10th May). Hudson also... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Caroline Horn Publication Date: Mon, 09/05/2011 - 09:28 Publishers sales of childrens books fell by almost 7% during 2010, from 190m in 2009 to 177m in 2010, marking a third successive fall for the childrens market since 2007 when publishers sales stood at 212m units. The... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Fri, 06/05/2011 - 11:28 Quercus has enjoyed "strong double-digit growth" across both its trade and contract divisions in the first four months of 2011, chief executive Mark Smith announced today (6th May) at the publisher's annual general meeting in... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon.com Inc. is expanding its fast-growing publishing business with a new line of romance books, its latest quest for original content to distinguish its print and digital bookselling services. Continue reading at AllThingsD
[ AllThingsD | 2011-05-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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