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 ]
David Guterson's reimagining of the Oedipus myth, Ed King, has won the Literary Review Bad... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The European Commission has announced it has opened formal antitrust proceedings to investigate... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The European Commission has announced it has opened formal antitrust proceedings to investigate... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Former Waterstone's m.d. Tim Coates is to launch Bilbary (www.bilbary.com), an international... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sales of print books fell 18.6% in the first nine months of 2011 in the major trade categories, according to figures reported to the Association of American Publishers. And although ebook sales jumped in the nine monthsahead 137.9% at the 15 reporting housesthe gain was not enough to offset... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-12-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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HarperCollins Children's Books has produced a new app for classic picturebook Paddington,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Falco creator Lindsey Davis has become the new chair of the Society of Authors, vowing to... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Penguin UK is now withholding the supply of its new ebook releases to its library suppliers in... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The top three fiction titles in Germany were all debuts in October, led by In Times of Fading Light, which recently won the 2011 German Book Prize and is set for publication in the U.S. by Graywolf Press in fall 2013. Umberto Ecos newest book, The Prague Cemetery, which debuted at #3, is newly... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-11-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Mon, 14/11/2011 - 08:22 Penguin is launching a digital series of exclusive short works called Penguin Shorts, releasing nine titles by authors including Helen Dunmore, Toby Young and Colm Toibin. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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THE ebook revolution has gathered pace with Sydney's independent bookstores introducing ebook kiosks from today and Dymocks announcing a partnership with Google to deliver ebooks online. Continue reading at The Sydney Morning Herald
[ The Sydney Morning Herald | 2011-11-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Mon, 07/11/2011 - 14:52 Digital publisher Andrews UK has released the first 3D video-supported ebook onto the market through Apples iBookstore. The company has included a six-and-a-half minute 3D film within the ebook A Dream of Christmas 3D, a... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Thu, 03/11/2011 - 09:55 Penguin's ebook sales have more than doubled in the first nine months of 2011, as parent Pearson reported an increase in total sales of 3% and operating profit of 13%. Total sales at Penguin for the nine months to 30th... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Tue, 01/11/2011 - 09:40 Sales and profit for 2011 have slumped at Edinburgh University Press at the same time the company has reported a 40% rise in year-on-year ebook sales. The Scottish academic publisher has reported an 11.6% fall in sales and... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Fri, 28/10/2011 - 10:36 Pan Macmillan has acquired a collection of short stories from bestselling crime and thriller writer Peter James, with publishing director Wayne Brookes buying UK and Commonwealth rights through agent Carole Blake at Blake... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-10-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Fri, 28/10/2011 - 08:30 Waterstone's is set to publish a print and ebook anthology to celebrate the shortlist for the 2012 Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award. The high street bookseller will publish the titles on 4th March next year, and... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-10-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A new social reading app called Subtext today launches on the iPad with a selection of books laden with annotations from authors and researchers. Continue reading at AllThingsD
[ AllThingsD | 2011-10-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Philip Jones Publication Date: Wed, 12/10/2011 - 13:41 English-language ebooks in non-traditional markets have become big business but publishers need to throw off the shackles of established business models to fully exploit the global marketplace. These were the messages greeting... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-10-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Philip Jones Publication Date: Tue, 11/10/2011 - 09:00 Literary agents speaking at Publishers Launch Frankfurt have challenged publishers to approach ebook royalty discussions in a more "knowledgeable" way or face a "reckoning" from the digital revolution. But there are signs of... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-10-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Philip Jones Publication Date: Mon, 10/10/2011 - 14:15 Agents need to be less conservative" if they are to protect their authors from accusations that their ebooks are over-priced, according to panellists at Publishers Launch Frankfurt this morning (Monday 10th October). read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-10-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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