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

Other news stories related to: "How Minecraft has bewitched 40 million of us"


Wiley Posts $15 Million in Restructuring Charges

As it continues its transition from a traditional publisher to a provider of knowledge and knowledge-enabled services, John Wiley said it recorded a $15 million restructuring charge in the second quarter of fiscal 2014. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2013-12-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #john wiley #traditional publisher


BuzzFeed Said to Expect 2014 Sales of Up to $120 Million

BuzzFeed, the online publisher of news, lists and quizzes that are designed to be shared on social media, is forecasting revenue of as much as $120 million in 2014, said two people with knowledge of its financials.The sales level will depend on how many advertising deals are booked next year,... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2013-12-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #growing faster #$40 million #top ranks #web traffic #$60 million #online publisher


Two million stolen passwords online

A database of more than two million stolen passwords for Facebook, Yahoo and others has been published online, a security firm has found. Continue reading at BBC World

[ BBC World | 2013-12-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #published online


Sales Dip, Losses Rise at Books-A-Million

Sales for the third quarter ended November 2 at Books-A-Million fell 3.5%, to $100.4 million, and its net loss deepened to $7.1 million, from $2.8 million in the third period of 2012. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2013-11-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #losses rise #sales dip


Virgin buys inside story of Minecraft

Virgin Books has bought a book that goes behind the scenes of the digital gaming phenomenon... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2013-11-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #virgin books


Bewitching first novel by ex-accountant casts £1m spell on world of books

Publishers in 36 countries snap up book about modern witches in Britain by Sally Green, who only began writing three years agoAfter JK Rowling's wizards and Stephenie Meyer's vampires, publishers and producers have now been spellbound by a first novel about witches written by a former... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2013-11-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #half bad #ben horslen #simple answer


Alex Ferguson print run hits one million

Hodder has now printed more than 1m copies of Sir Alex Ferguson's memoir, My Autobiography... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2013-11-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #1m copies


Mining the ‘Minecraft’ Phenomenon

At first we looked at Minecraft as the basis for an interesting case study about how the Internet has changed things for entrepreneurs,” said Linus Larsson, coauthor of Minecraft: The Unlikely Tale of Markus “Notch” Persson and the Game that Changed Everything (which is coming from Seven Stories... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2013-11-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #phone call #stories press


Chegg Looks to Raise $172.5 Million

Chegg, which offers textbooks for rent and other online services to college students, is looking to raise $172.5 million in its Initial Public Offering. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2013-11-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #college students #online services


HMH to Raise $292 Million in IPO

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt announced this morning that it is moving forward with an Initial Public Offering through which it could raise up to $292 million. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2013-11-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #moving forward


Flipboard Hits 90 Million Users, Nearly Doubles Since April

Just two weeks after announcing a $50 million dollar round of funding, mobile news reader Flipboard revealed growth numbers that may explain investors' eagerness to get behind it.The company now claims 90 million users, a jump from the 85 million Flipboard CEO Mike McCue confirmed early last... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2013-10-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #vanity fair #traditional publishers #months ago #company announced


James Patterson will donate $1 million to indie bookstores

Patterson says a bookstore will need to be 'viable' and have a kids' section to qualify for a donation. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2013-09-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #indie bookstores #james patterson


Martini Media Gets $14 Million in New Round of Financing

Martini Media is in the money. The digital advertising network focused on affluent Web users announced on Tuesday that it has raised $14 million in new funding. The investment will "accelerate" Martini Media's "aggressive growth strategy," per the company. Martini Media CEO Skip Brand told... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2013-08-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #direct response #daily meal #data scientist #martini media


Edouard Cointreau Donates 40,000 Cookbooks to Unique Library

Edouard Cointreau, founder of the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards, has donated his vast library to Paris-Rungis, which has been designated a City of Gastronomy. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-07-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #vast library #edouard cointreau #unique library


Xbox One's ability to play in-development code has Minecraft-esque implications for gamers

The Xbox One's retail units will also run in-progress game code and function as debug units for budding devs, but Xbox VP Marc Whitten says not all of that functionality will be available when the console launches this November. More details will be available during Gamescom 2013 this August,... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2013-07-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #early access #ll announce #important part


BookBub Ebook Deals Site Closes in on 1.5 Million Subscribers

With the simple concept of alerting readers to a curated list of discounted ebooks, Bookbub has attracted nearly 1.5 million users in just a year. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-07-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #discounted ebooks


Why does a Russian CEO need a $3.69 million tablet?

Today’s tech titans are blessed with wondrous perks: company cars, private jets, even a free house for Amazon’s Jeff Bezos.  But Russian oil titan Gazprom--one of the largest companies in the world--and its chief executive Alexey Miller, together have reached a new level: setting aside 119.7... Continue reading at PC World

[ PC World | 2013-07-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Japan’s Ebook Market Valued at $740 million for 2012

Preliminary results from a new survey say that Japan's ebook market is valued at 72.9 billion yen ($740 million), a 15.9% jump over 2011. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-06-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #ebook market #preliminary results


Virago celebrates turning 40

Virago is celebrating its 40th birthday by releasing a free ebook, This is Virago, with... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2013-06-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #free ebook #40th birthday


Barnes and Noble posts $119 million loss in Q4 2013, will partner with third party on future Nook tablets

Barnes and Noble has not had an easy go of it. The brick-and-mortar stalwart has seen its revenues and profits steeply decline as we've entered the age of the ebook. In fact, profits haven't just shrunk; they've disappeared. During the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2013, the company suffered a... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2013-06-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #foreseeable future #nook line #hunger games #fifty shades #blockbuster titles #bad news