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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Amazon to Open Ebookstore in Russia, Taking on LitRes, Ozon

Amazon is hiring for positions in Russia, suggesting its Kindle ebookstore will open there soon and where they will take on several established, but not yet dominant, competitors. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-04-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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HarperFiction signs modern take on gothic novel

HarperFiction has signed a novel from author Miranda Beverly-Whittemore following an auction.... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2013-04-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Survey: Squeeze on children's reading for pleasure

Parents struggle to create time to read at home and view reading largely as a skill rather than... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2013-04-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Trade figures launch Read Petite digital venture

A new venture to offer digital short stories and long-form journalism to readers through a... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2013-04-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Chat app takes on ebook retailers, Amazon with manga comics service

Line, the popular messaging platform based in Japan, is challenging ebook vendors like Amazon and Rakuten with a new service to download and view manga, or Japanese comic books. The company has launched "Line Manga," a mobile app for Android and iOS phones. Line's initial offering consists of... Continue reading at PC World

[ PC World | 2013-04-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Barnes & Noble relabels PubIt! as Nook Press, adds web-based publishing tool

Barnes & Noble's PubIt! self-publishing conduit has been active for well over two years, but you'd be forgiven for overlooking it with that somewhat forgettable (if very emphatic) name. The company might just know what you're thinking, as it's giving the service a considerably more memorable... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2013-04-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Pearson takes ownership of IndiaCan

Pearson has bought complete control of the vocational training company IndiaCan. Originally set... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2013-04-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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TES poll reveals teachers’ favourite reads

A list of teachers’ favourite books compiled by the Times Educational Supplement (TES) has... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2013-04-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Slicebooks Aims to Take Re-mixable Ebooks Mainstream

Slicebooks offers tools for producing re-mixable ebooks. But the implications of this go far beyond generating more sales, explains co-founder Jill Tomich. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-04-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Reading agency launch library exploration game

Libraries across the country are taking part in a high-tech treasure based on Simon Mayo’s... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2013-04-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Arthur Frommer takes brand back from Google, will keep guidebooks going

The tale of Google and Frommer's famed travel guides has taken another twist this evening. Associated Press writer Beth Harpaz reports Arthur Frommer confirmed over the phone that he has retaken control of the brand from Google, and plans to continue publishing them in ebook and print formats,... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2013-04-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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StorEbook reads children's books, even does the funny voices

We've come a long way since an IBM 704 first croaked its way through Daisy Bell. Now we've got Siri copping an attitude when we ask a stupid question and Google Now feeding information in an incredibly realistic sounding voice. AT&T has its own initiative, dubbed Natural Voices. At this... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2013-04-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Argentine Isol Takes Home World’s Largest Children’s Lit Prize

The Argentine illustrator known as “Isol” has won the world’s largest award for children’s literature, the SEK 5m (roughly $766,000) Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-04-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Greatest Novelist You Haven’t Read

It is one of the eccentricities of American publishing that James Salter has not been widely embraced as a great writer. His books are as good as those of post-war novelists like John Updike, Philip Roth, Richard Ford, and critics have often said so, and yet he is nowhere near as beloved or... Continue reading at Slate

[ Slate | 2013-03-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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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 ]
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Pay as you read site hoping to raise $50,000

A start-up is hoping to create a new digital publishing platform for independent authors that... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2013-03-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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'Send to Kindle', and read it later

Last night something strange caught my attention, nearly enough to post a late-day story. Then this morning I got a little email nudge from Amazon PR, and thought: "Yeah. Why not?" The timing and broader ecosystem implications are interesting for service "Send to Kindle". Just as Google whacks... Continue reading at Betanews

[ Betanews | 2013-03-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Rebus meets Grace in crime collaboration

Two of crime's biggest names will work together for the first time next year when Peter James... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2013-03-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Malaysia’s Tan Twan Eng Takes $30,000 Man Asian Literary Prize

Malaysia's Tan Twan Eng won Asia’s most prestigious literary prize with The Garden of Evening Mists. The prize, in its 6th year, is changing the perception of Asian literature say authors, publishers. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-03-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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How Many Copies Does It Take To Be an Amazon Bestseller?

Amazon, the biggest bookseller in America, is also famously one of the most tight-lipped. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2013-03-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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