Short ebooks: don't let one bad experience ruin a literary phenomenon

Penelope Lively's recent short ebook for Penguin drew criticism for its brevity – but readers should not be put off the genre as a whole"Overpriced", "ridiculous", I feel cheated". Amazon reviewers haven't been wholly positive about a digital short Penelope Lively has written for Penguin Specials. On the evidence of the story itself, it's not Lively's fault. Abroad is about a pair of art students who travel to 1950s Spain in search of picturesque peasants and are disappointed when they don't live up to expectations. It's funny and evocative of a time when rural Europe was still exotic.It also peters out after just 4,000 words, so I sympathise with anyone who felt ripped off by its £1.99 price tag. These days you can buy two whole novels for that. The sad fact is, publishers don't make any money if an ebook costs less than £1.99. Amazon does, because singles are the literary equivalent of a gateway drug.This was brought home to me on finishing Susan Hill's latest effort, Printer's Devil Court (99p), a haunting tale about pre-second world war medical students who experiment with resurrection. More substantial than Lively's, it's a great, old-fashioned ghost story, whose chilling impact was somewhat undermined by turning the final page to find Amazon ordering me to rate, review, tweet, Facebook and buy more books by Susan Hill. Was the ebook I'd enjoyed little more than a trailer?Singles are a clever marketing tool. But it would be a shame if readers short-changed by one... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2013-11-17 00:00:00 UTC ]

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Penguin slinks back into ebook lending for New York City libraries, with a possible catch

You might say Penguin has had a rocky relationship with libraries. That looks to be on the tentative mend, as the publisher and 3M have together cut deals with the Brooklyn Public Library and New York Public Library to bring Penguin's ebook catalog back as part of a test program. Under the terms... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2012-06-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Penguin returns its ebooks to New York libraries

After yanking their ebook titles from libraries last year, Penguin is launching an ebook pilot program for libraries in New York. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2012-06-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Trewin made literary head at WME

Simon Trewin has been made head of the WME UK literary division, taking over the role vacated by... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-06-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Funding Restored for Canadian Literary Nonprofit

The Literary Press Group of Canada, which provides sales and marketing for 47 small publishers, was relieved to hear Thursday that a government funding cut that would have shut down its sales force has been overturned. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-06-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Kobo, Hive and Anobii pitch ebook options to indies

Independent bookshops are to have access to Kobo ebook devices, a Hive-sourced ebook tablet and... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-06-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Thomas Pynchon's novels are released in ebook format

The intensely private Thomas Pynchon has resisted the electronic format for his books – until now. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2012-06-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sainsbury's buys ebook retailer

Sainsbury's enters the digital books marketplace by buying HMV's stake in Anobii, an online retailer of ebooks, for just £1. Continue reading at BBC News

[ BBC News | 2012-06-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Japan firms to use ebook tax loophole

Japanese online booksellers are planning to circumvent sales tax collection by selling digital... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-06-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Ebook Maker Inkling Jumps to the Web

Ebook-maker Inkling, which had previously confined its books to the iPad, is moving to the Web - a move the company has been promising for some time. The move means Inkling's books should be available on most laptops, though the company says it will work best on Google's Chrome and Apple's... Continue reading at AllThingsD

[ AllThingsD | 2012-05-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Foyles partners with Literary Dinners

Foyles is to partner with Literary Dinners to present “a unique series of intimate, pop-up... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-05-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bloomsbury: ebooks at 9% of adult trade sales in 2010/11

E-books accounted for 9% of Bloomsbury's adult trade sales overall across the 12 months to... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-05-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Turns text files into 3D-animated ebooks

Plain, ordinary text files aren’t normally the most interesting ways to convey information, but if you’d like to change that then Toolwiz FlipBook may be able to help. Just point the program at a particular TXT file, and in a click it’ll be converted into an executable file. And launching this... Continue reading at Betanews

[ Betanews | 2012-05-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Kobo to sell Potter ebooks

Kobo is to join the ranks of physical and online booksellers licensed by Pottermore to sell Harry... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-05-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Faber releases ebook only screenplay

Faber is releasing its first ebook-only edition of a screenplay, for the forthcoming film "... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-05-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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AUDIO: Does booze ruin book clubs?

Ana Sampson, co-author of The Book Club Bible, tells The World At One's Martha Kearney about the do's and dont's of literary circles. Continue reading at BBC News

[ BBC News | 2012-05-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Apple loses motion to dismiss ebook antitrust suit

Apple was unable to have an antitrust lawsuit over the price of ebooks dismissed. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-05-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Original Content: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Digs, Meredith Video Studios DIY-centric programs like Ready, Set, Celebrate (instructions for throwing offbeat soirees like a “We Hate the Kardashians Party”), Craft and Burn (a sort-of-scripted series about a destructive crafting habit) and Extreme Craft Challenge (ever wondered how to... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2012-05-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Harry Potter ebook loaners coming to your Kindle, if you're Primed

Amazon will never run out of copies of Harry Potter ebooks from its Lending Library. Thanks to a new agreement with Pottermore, on June 19th the entire seven-book collection will be among the 140,000 plus you can grab, provided, of course, that you're an Amazon Prime member. If you've forked... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2012-05-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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