Pelican’s new browser-based reading website takes flight with grace

With subtle interactive features and simple, bold design, Penguin’s resurrected non-fiction imprint places the focus on the reading experienceAfter reading Economics: The User’s Guide by Ha-Joon Chang, published by Pelican Books, I feel confident enough to explain the word “disintermediation”. This catchy term means cutting out the middlemen from a supply chain, and it’s crucial to an understanding of modern publishing. Amazon has been trying to cut out publishers for two decades, in the hope of achieving a more efficient ecosystem. Publishers, once they got wind of this, started thinking of clever ways they could turn the tables: that is, cutting out Amazon and going direct to consumers.A new front in this literary conflict has opened at pelicanbooks.com, although it looks less like a battlefield than a boutique in an online Marylebone High Street. Penguin’s original non-fiction imprint relaunched earlier this year, its predictably covetable paperbacks glowing with turquoise nostalgia for the days when people bettered themselves rather than slumping in front of Gogglebox. Pelican’s digital incarnation is stunning, its flat design bold yet understated, with a studied simplicity reflected in the intuitive user experience. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2014-11-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
News tagged with: #supply chain #modern publishing #started thinking

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Pew: E-Reading Surges, But Print Is Hanging On

E-books are rising in popularity, but according to the Pew Research Center, print remains the foundation of Americans’ reading habits. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-01-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #print remains #reading habits


Nesbo takes on Macbeth for Hogarth Shakespeare

Norwegian thriller writer Jo Nesbo is to retell Shakespeare’s "Macbeth" as part... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2014-01-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #hogarth shakespeare


Stafford’s 100th Celebrated with Readings, Releases

For the past 15 years or so, poets and poetry lovers around the world have earmarked January 17 as a day to pay tribute to the late poet and pacifist William Stafford (1914–1993) with public readings from his works. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-01-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #pay tribute #late poet


PFD takes majority share in Pollinger

Peters Fraser & Dunlop (PFD) has become a majority shareholder of authors’ agency... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2014-01-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #majority shareholder


Polar vortex takes us back to the coldest story in American literature

The unnamed protagonist in Jack London's 'To Build a Fire' gets into trouble while hiking in the frozen Yukon with his dog. Widely considered to be London’s best short story, 'To Build a Fire' captures the cold with painful accuracy. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2014-01-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #jack london #coldest story #american literature #unnamed protagonist #frozen yukon #widely considered #short story #painful accuracy


Polar vortex takes us back to the coldest story in American literature (+video)

The unnamed protagonist in Jack London's 'To Build a Fire' gets into trouble while hiking in the frozen Yukon with his dog. Widely considered to be London’s best short story, 'To Build a Fire' captures the cold with painful accuracy. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2014-01-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #jack london #coldest story #unnamed protagonist #frozen yukon #widely considered #short story #painful accuracy


How can we make sense of the world without reading stories? | Rachel Cooke

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... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2014-01-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Reading Harris novel stimulates brain, finds study

Reading a novel stimulates the brain for days, US researchers have found. The study,... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2013-12-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #finds study


YotaPhone update lets you read more ebooks and documents on its energy-saving E Ink display

Much as we admired the potential of the YotaPhone in our recent review, we just couldn't overlook its lack of support for popular e-reading platforms like Amazon Kindle and Google Books. That problem hasn't been solved just yet, but things are ... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2013-12-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #ink display #amazon kindle #google books


The "Netflix For Books" Business Model, And How It'll Change The Way You Read

Mark Coker of Smashwords, which recently inked a major content deal with Scribd, weighs in on how the all-you-can-read model changes the way we read, how authors make creative choices, and how everyone gets paid.Is a "Netflix for ebooks" nearing viability? Yesterday, Smashwords, the largest... Continue reading at Fast Company

[ Fast Company | 2013-12-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #self-published ebooks #business model #ll change #mark coker #largest distributor #e-reading service


French a laureate for good fun reading

If Jackie French gets her way the nation's children's books will be a lot stickier and messier.     Continue reading at The Sydney Morning Herald

[ The Sydney Morning Herald | 2013-12-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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E-Reads Reissues Harlan Ellison Backlist

The books will be reissued in both trade paperback and ebook formats, and will feature updated interiors and new cover treatments. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2013-12-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #trade paperback #ebook formats #cover treatments


Issues on the Ether: Take This Ebook and Stuff It

Is the penetration of ebooks in the US market 'flattening out?' And will bookstores thus have a merrier Christmas? Live Twitter debate December 18, 11 a.m. ET. at #EtherIssue. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-12-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: ##etherissue


Quertermous takes over from Rees at Exhibit A

Emlyn Rees is stepping down as commissioning editor of Exhibit A, the crime imprint of Angry... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2013-12-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #emlyn rees #crime imprint


There's lots to like at Upworthy, but not much to read

The fast-growing news-feature website leads the league in approvals. Is that because it publishes less rather than more?The driving belief for news websites is that more (that's more stories, features, videos, blogs) equals more hits and thus more money. But what if less can also equal more... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2013-12-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #trinity mirror #bottom line


What authors are reading in 2013

Australian authors and critics sift through the piles of books they read in 2013 to highlight the treasures they found.     Continue reading at The Sydney Morning Herald

[ The Sydney Morning Herald | 2013-12-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #australian authors #critics sift


10 grammar books to read before you die of boredom | Mind your language

A seasonal selection of new (and not so new) books about language that are anything but dullBooks about English fall into various categories, mostly offputting ones: the academic, rarely of much interest, and often incomprehensible, to the general reader; the lament for a (mythical) golden age... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2013-12-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #kings place


Mail Online passes 10m daily browsers

Daily Mail website continues spectacular growth, also attracting a record 168 million monthly unique browsers in November Mail Online continues to break traffic records, topping 10 million daily average unique browsers for the first time in November.The digital juggernaut is yet to see a... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2013-12-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #740month-on-month change


News Corp. Seeks Buyer for Brooklyn-Based Newspaper Group

News Corp. is looking for a buyer for its Brooklyn-based local newspaper operation. Capital has learned that the global publishing conglomerate, which also owns The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post, has issued a prospectus to potential b ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher

[ Editor & Publisher | 2013-12-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #seeks buyer #york post


Reading the New York Times Magazine isn't what it used to be | Michael Wolff

The magazine was once the most hotly anticipated Sunday read. Now it's been eclipsed by the showy T style publicationTwo magazines, both published by the New York Times, arrived in my house over the weekend, one thin, the other thick.The thin one, The New York Times Magazine, is largely about... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2013-12-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #ad revenues #media business