In the age of Corbyn, is the time right for another Road to Wigan Pier?

It’s no surprise that the Left Book Club is being relaunched now, with the imprimatur of the Labour leader and Ken Livingstone. It began in the anxious 1930s, a decade that has all too many parallels with the current oneAiming to “set the agenda for a new age of political debate”, the Left Book Club was re-launched this week at a meeting at the Conway Hall in London. The Left Book Club last published a book in 1948. Jeremy Corbyn had yet to be born. Nevertheless the Labour leader has generously endorsed the revival as “a terrific and timely idea” that will give “intellectual ballast to the wave of political change sweeping Britain and beyond, encouraging informed and compassionate debate”. He added that he had a large collection of Left Book Club titles, some bought new by his parents and others that he acquired second hand. I speculate that the memory of these books in their plain red or orange covers – their flash upon his inward eye – must have provided Corbyn with a rare pleasurable moment in the past few weeks: the thought of them on his shelves having same kind of heart-filling effect that the daffodils had on Wordsworth.My own collection isn’t so large. In fact, it runs to just one book, Orwell’s The Road to Wigan Pier, and I didn’t inherit it. I bought it 20 or 30 years ago because I liked the idea of having such a fine book in its cheap and original form – seeing the words and photographs as its first readers must have seen them. Published in 1937, the year after... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2015-11-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Ex-New York Times Writer Develops An App To Get Busy People Reading More

In Dickens's day, serialized novels were all the rage. Rooster aims to revive that trend, making it easier than ever to find good books (and the time to read them).In the age of abbrevs., sitting down to read a novel can feel like gearing up for a marathon, no matter how much you love books. The... Continue reading at Fast Company

[ Fast Company | 2014-03-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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How to Buy a Top Spot on the New York Times Bestseller List

Carolyn Kellogg reports in the Los Angeles Times about how ResultSource Inc. was able, through clever machinations, to generate a #1 New York Times bestseller. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-03-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Pastor reportedly buys his way onto New York Times bestseller list

Mark Driscoll reportedly paid the firm ResultSource Inc. hundreds of thousands of dollars to secure a place on the NYT bestseller list for his book. It's only the latest story of companies who will work to ensure a book makes it onto a bestseller list. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2014-03-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Time Inc. Taps Defy Media CRO to Lead Fortune's Business Side

Time Inc. has raided the digital world to land a new publisher for Fortune magazine, naming Eric Danetz to the post on Friday. Mr. Danetz had been chief revenue officer at Defy Media, the web video and branded entertainment company created when Break Media and Alloy Digital merged last fall.The... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2014-03-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Will Newsweek and Time rekindle a rivalry?

Newsweek has a big scoop in print -- print! -- this week. The revived weekly has generated a significant amount of online buzz with its claims to have unmasked the creator of Bitcoin. Yesterday, as it happens, Time magazine unveiled its own splashy new Website. You'd be forgiven for asking... Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2014-03-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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L.A. Times Festival of Books Partners With Amazon

When the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books unveiled its list of participating authors on Tuesday, the event caused a stir among local booksellers who immediately noticed the list featured buy links to Amazon. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-03-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Podcast: Apple Looking To Buy Time In E-Book Case

In a federal courtroom in Manhattan, attorneys for Apple in its ebook price-fixing case are offering up lessons in creative legal maneuvering. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-02-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Premiership rugby: Sun and Times subscribers get online and mobile clips

News UK extends digital sport offering beyond Premier League and Champions League football, with BT retaining TV rightsSun and Times publisher News UK has snapped up the online and mobile clip rights to Aviva Premiership rugby, bolstering its online sports content following its aquisition of... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2014-02-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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How Busy People Make Time To Read--And You Can Too

Haven't finished a book since college? Between work, family, and social lives, trying to find time to read can be more effort than relaxing hobby. Here's how to make more time for your favorite page-turners.Reading is one of the most pleasurable activities out there. On a scale of human... Continue reading at Fast Company

[ Fast Company | 2014-02-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Two Digital Executives Leaving Time Inc.

Fran Hauser and John Cantarella, two top digital executives at Time Inc., are leaving the company ahead of its spinoff, each said this week.Ms. Hauser has spent 10 years with the publisher, rising to digital president of Time Inc.'s Style and Entertainment Group, which included People,... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2014-02-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Is this a golden age for Australian debut novelists?

The doom and gloom of the past few years appears to be over, with more publishing houses throwing open their doors to new writersBrigid Delaney Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2014-02-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Time to rethink the publishing internship?

Gawker's new Recruits program will gauge prospective writers not on the writing itself, but rather what kind of traffic that writing generates. That's a uniquely digital spin on the idea of the internship, which is the traditional way that publications find and mold new hires. But instead of... Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2014-02-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Five Graphic Novels Nominated for L.A. Times Book Prize

Nominees for the 34th annual L.A. Times Book Prizes have been announced and include five finalists for the graphic novel prize. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-02-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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2013 L.A. Times Book Prize Finalists Announced

Fifty titles in 10 categories are in contention for the awards, which will be revealed in April. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-02-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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First-Time Exhibitors Target Toy and Specialty Retailers at Toy Fair 2014

This year's New York International Toy Fair was characterized by steady traffic on the show floor, key customers roaming the aisles of the Javits Center, orders being written, and meetings being accomplished. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-02-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Erotic book loans at all time high

New data suggests that the borrowing of erotic fiction from UK public libraries has leapt by 500%, in what is being called the 'Fifty Shades' effect. Continue reading at BBC News

[ BBC News | 2014-02-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Will the Comcast-Time Warner Cable Merger Hurt Publishers?

Critics of the merger worry Comcast will have unmatched bargaining power in dealing with media companies, essentially turning Comcast into a gatekeeper able to toll digital media companies for faster access to its network. The post Will the Comcast-Time Warner Cable Merger Hurt Publishers?... Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2014-02-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Google's New Real-Time Audience Measurement Is a Brand Play

Google announced a new partnership with comScore today that it said will improve its ability to tell brand marketers about their digital campaigns. Google touted a new measurement tool—available to DoubleClick advertisers and publishers—that will deliver real-time data about who is seeing ads... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2014-02-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Open Road Acquires E-Reads

Open Road Integrated Media has signed an agreement to acquire E-Reads, the digital publisher founded by Richard Curtis in 1999. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-02-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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IAB To Advertisers: Time to Step Up Your Mobile Game

The Interactive Advertising Bureau primarily exists to help grow the pie of digital advertising dollars. So, as it kicks off its annual leadership meeting this week, it's focusing on where that growth is expected to occur: mobile.Today, the IAB -- along with a group of publishers including AOL,... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2014-02-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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