Last week, Ruth Rendell claimed that reading novels is a dying art. Sadly, she might have a pointNo one can say precisely why John Williams's novel Stoner has become a bestseller almost 50 years after its first publication. After all, plenty of books, "forgotten" or otherwise, are recommended by word of mouth and yet most will not go on to sell more than a few hundred copies. And it's hard to know in what ways, if any, its story – a young man falls in love with literature and thus a new world is revealed to him – might have touched people. Many of those who rushed to buy it will not yet have got around to opening it and some will never read it. Stoner will languish on their shelves, its spine unbroken, just like Jung Chang's Wild Swans, the non-fiction hit of 1992.But still, it has given us something to think about, this dusting down of so plangent and substantial a novel. On Radio 4 last week, Ruth Rendell, the novelist and Labour peer, suggested that Stoner is a book for our times, her argument being that we live in an age when reading is for most an alien pastime, just as it is to William Stoner until he has an epiphany. (Asked to elucidate a poem by a professor, he is unable to say anything except: "It means... it means..." and yet, in this moment, everything changes; the verse, whether he understands it or not, has touched him on some powerfully deep level.) "We are told that it isn't happening," said Rendell. "But it is. Reading is no longer something that everybody... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2014-01-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
Last month Facebook analyzed a user meme looking at '10 books that have stayed with you.' Now the company's data scientists have done another analysis looking at responses from foreign-language users and have found some different results. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2014-10-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Move over pumpkin pie. There are so many ways to be creative with fall’s favorite ingredient. Averie Sunshine, author of 'Cooking with Pumpkin: Recipes That Go Beyond the Pie' (Countryman Press, Oct.), offers five tasty alternative ideas. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-10-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Proprietary content management systems have been a hot topic in digital publishing over the past year. Companies like Vox, Say Media, Forbes and others have made huge commitments to building out their platforms to not only serve internal needs but also provide licensed solutions for outside... Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2014-10-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Working in multiple language and genres, twelve publishers from Morocco exhibited together at the 2014 Frankfurt Book Fair. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-10-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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When you start a small business, it's hard to know what success--or failure--looks like.In 2011, I started a book business with my best friend called Emily Books. We were qualified to start a business in some ways, not so much in others. We had some expertise in our field: We'd both worked at... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2014-10-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Author Emily Perkins about imaginary worlds, acting and the ebooks v print debate. Continue reading at Stuff
[ Stuff | 2014-10-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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What are publishers doing in Namibia, Jordan, Senegal and Indonesia? We interview four publishers at the Frankfurt Book Fair to find out. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-10-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Mojang COO Vu Bui: Licensing is a small portion of our business and we want to keep it that wayWhat is Minecraft? Its a game, obviously: one that its developer Mojang has sold nearly 54m copies of across computers, consoles and mobile devices so far.Its a series of books published by Egmont that... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-10-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Facebook's mobile ad network is officially open for business.Five months after the social network formally launched its Audience Network with a small set of app publishers and advertisers, Facebook is opening up the mobile ad network to any media buyer and seller. The company is also adding a... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2014-10-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A look inside Gabriele Galimberti's 'In Her Kitchen,' portraits of grandmothers from all over the world, who posed with their favorite dishes. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-10-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Dominique Ansel reveals how to make a Cronut at home in 'Dominique Ansel: The Secret Recipes.' It's one of three books from New York-based bakeries coming this month. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-10-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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There’s a scene early in the recent film Noah in which Noah plants a seed from the garden of Eden. It sprouts and spreads into a lush and glorious forest as quickly as critics scrambled to find biblical precedent. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-10-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Novelist Lauraine Snelling has authored 80 books since she began her writing career in 1982, has more than two million books in print, and has just published the first in her fifth historical series set among Norwegian immigrants to North Dakota, where her mother was born and raised: “Strong... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-10-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A half-dozen of the 27 newcomers on the Forbes annual list of the 400 richest U.S. citizens disclosed this week are from the San Francisco Bay Area, including four in technology, one in biotechnology and one in venture capital. Topping the newcomer list in net worth was Jan Koum, co-founder and... Continue reading at Silicon Valley Business Journal
[ Silicon Valley Business Journal | 2014-10-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Lionel Shriver has won the BBC National Short Story Award 2014 for her story “Kilifi Creek... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-09-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Simon & Schuster has partnered with Scandinavian ebook subscription service Mofibo to make its backlist titles available to readers in Denmark and Sweden. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-09-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Some in book publishing may dismiss the region that lies between and fans out from Lake Superior and Lake Michigan’s southern shores as “flyover country.” Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-09-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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John Murray has pre-empted a collection of short stories and debut novel from Irish writer... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-09-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Author and critic Nicolette Jones says shes never seen a picture-book app doing something a book cant do betterLots of developers and publishers are exploring the potential of interactive picture book-apps for children, but can they ever hope to deliver a reading experience comparable to books?... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-09-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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E-book download site On Read has been shut down by the City of London's Police Intellectual... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-09-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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