How Minecraft has bewitched 40 million of us

The worldwide domination of Markus Persson's building-blocks game is a triumph for the power of human imaginationA funny thing happened on the way to this column. Browsing idly through the Publishers Weekly site, I came on the list of the Nielsen bestselling books of 2014 (so far) in the US. The Top 20 list was dominated by "young adult" fiction, books such as Divergent by Veronica Roth and John Green's The Fault in Our Stars, plus the usual movie tie-ins. At No 9 ,there's a religious book, Jesus Calling: Enjoying Peace in His Presence by missionary Sarah Young. At No 11 is Heaven is for Real ("A little boy's astounding story of his trip to Heaven and back").Two slots further down there's a "junior novelisation" of the Disney film, Frozen. At No 15 is an "activity book", complete with 50 stickers, based on the same film. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2014-08-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
News tagged with: #young adult #veronica roth #john green #jesus calling #activity book

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Amazon Publishing Has First Million Copy Bestseller: What Next?

Amazon Publishing announces that the Hangman's Daughter series is their first million seller. Is it a cause for concern? Celebration? Or merely surprise that it took this long? Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-06-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Apple ebook deal 'cost millions'

A deal between Apple and publishers to set the price of ebooks cost customers "hundreds of millions of dollars", a government lawyer claims. Continue reading at BBC World

[ BBC World | 2013-06-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Minumsa Wins Korean Rights to Murakami’s Latest for Record-setting $1.5 Million

The Minumsa Publishing Group wins the rights to Haruki Murakami's latest novel, for what is said to be a record-breaking 150 million yen (about $1.49 million). Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-06-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #haruki murakami


Free The Press Campaign Trying To Raise $660 Million To Buy Tribune Co.

The folks at The Other 98% really, really don't want to see the Koch brothers to buy the Tribune Company. The non-profit organization has launched a fundraising campaign on Indiegogo to make a bid for the publishing company, which owns the Chic ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher

[ Editor & Publisher | 2013-05-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #koch brothers #tribune company #non-profit organization


Hearst Gets its Million Digital Subscribers

Last year, Hearst Magazines head David Carey said his company would have a million people subscribing to its tablet editions by the end of 2012.   That didn’t happen, and they ended December with something like 900,000 subscri ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher

[ Editor & Publisher | 2013-05-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #tablet editions


With 50 Million Users, Flipboard Opens Magazine Creation To The Masses To Take On Tumblr, Pinterest

Flipboard latest update democratizes content curation on the service, introduces search, and provides integration with Etsy. With 50 million users, Flipboard, the social news magazine available on the iPhone and iPad, has become a dominant player in content curation. Now, with competition in... Continue reading at Fast Company

[ Fast Company | 2013-03-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #dominant player #social feeds #fast company


The UK’s Literature Prize Becomes The Folio Prize, Valued at £40,000

The Folio Society will sponsor the newly named Folio Prize, a literature award of £40,000 to honor the best English-language fiction published in the UK. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-03-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #literature prize #folio prize #folio society #literature award


Google backs French digital publishing innovation initiative with €60 million incentive

Google's long had a contentious relationship with France. But it seems the Mountain View-based company has come up with a way to squash that problem: by throwing money at it. Taking to the company's official blog today, Chairman Eric Schmidt announced the creation of a €60 million Digital... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2013-02-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #contentious relationship #increase revenues #publishing houses #digital offerings #search giant #cultural center #bottom line


Pearson to Invest $89.5 Million in Barnes & Noble's Nook Media

Publishing and education company Pearson PLC agreed to invest $89.5 million for a 5 percent stake in Barnes & Noble Inc.'s digital-business unit, Nook Media LLC. Continue reading at AllThingsD

[ AllThingsD | 2012-12-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #barnes noble #nook media


Amazon’s Plan: “Sell Millions of Kindles in Brazil,” says Naggar

Through exclusive interviews with Amazon's David Naggar, author Paolo Coelho, and others, we get behind the scenes of Amazon's Kindle Store launch in Brazil this week. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2012-12-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #david naggar #sell millions #exclusive interviews


Glass sales hit one million

Writer Cathy Glass has reached one million in physical sales in the UK since her debut in 2007,... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-11-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #physical sales


Barnes & Noble reports Q2 2013 earnings: digital content sales up 38%, Nook unit rakes $160 million

Barnes & Noble's Nook unit didn't have its greatest quarter. The $160 million in revenue the new Microsoft-backed spin off raked in was slightly better than last year's $152 million, but still a significant drop from $220 million. In a sign of the growing ubiquity of e-readers however,... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2012-11-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #losing money #bottom line #time period #black friday #cyber monday


In China, 25 Million People Use Only Their Cell Phones to Read Books

Mobile reading may revive entire genres of literature, such as mid-length novels and poems, which have fallen out of favor. Continue reading at The Atlantic

[ The Atlantic | 2012-11-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #cell phones #read books #mobile reading


Behold, the Biblio-Mat: Collect All 112 Million Titles!

Canadian bookshop The Monkey's Paw has unveiled the Biblio-Mat, a random book dispenser built by Craig Small as an artful alternative to sidewalk discount bins. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2012-11-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Scholastic To Donate One Million Books for Superstorm Recovery

Scholastic is donating a million books and offering free online resources to those children and teachers affected by Superstorm Sandy. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2012-11-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #million books


Sales of three million for latest Apple devices

Apple has announced sales of three million units internationally for its latest tablet devices,... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-11-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sharethrough Grabs $5 Million in Funding for Native Ad Push

Sharethrough founder and CEO Dan Greenberg is one of the more vocal evangelists of the native advertising talk that has recently bubbled up. While native advertising isn’t an easy sell to media buyers who typically prefer traditional buying methods, the online video advertising startup has grown... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2012-10-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #$40 million #editorial content #usa today #york office


Newspaper Jobs Shrink 40% In 10 Years

While plenty of industries have shrunk over the last couple years, few have been hit as badly as newspaper publishing, which was already contracting before the economic downturn began. Since then, economic woes have simply reinforced the long-term tr ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher

[ Editor & Publisher | 2012-09-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #couple years #newspaper publishing #long-term tr


E-book price-fixing: three publishers agree to pay $69 million to consumers

Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins, and Simon & Schuster say they will pay consumers to settle claims they conspired to fix ebook prices. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2012-08-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #publishers agree #simon schuster #settle claims


States reach $69 million settlement with three publishers in ebook price fixing case

When the US Department of Justice sued Apple and five major book publishers over alleged ebook price rigging, it immediately became clear that a few of these companies would do just about anything to avoid trial. That same day, three of the publishers -- HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster and... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2012-08-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #simon schuster #bought ebooks #barnes noble #abc news #give customers