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 ]
Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Thu, 04/08/2011 - 08:50 Clare Conville, director of Conville & Walsh, has set up a literary and music festival in East Anglia with rare book dealer and close friend Simon Finch. The Voewood Literary Festival, billed as "The Literary Garden... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Thu, 28/07/2011 - 08:37 BBC Radio 4 seems to have performed a partial u-turn on its decision to cut the number of short stories it airs from three to one per week, with a compromise of two weekly broadcasts. Listeners, authors and celebrities such as... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Wed, 27/07/2011 - 07:20 The Society of Authors' petition against the cuts to BBC Radio 4's short story programming has now amassed over 5,000 signatures. SoA general secretary Nicola Solomon and assistant general secretary Jo McCrum will present... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Wed, 20/07/2011 - 15:00 Thousands of out of print science-fiction titles will be available digitally, after Gollancz launched the world's largest science-fiction and fantasy library, the SF Gateway. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Katie Allen Publication Date: Tue, 19/07/2011 - 15:43 The Society of Authors has said it would be a "great shame" if the BBC goes ahead with its planned cuts to short story coverage on BBC Radio 4 and pleaded with the broadcaster to reconsider. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Fri, 15/07/2011 - 14:37 Publishers are preparing for the first big UK ebook summer with a mix of excitement and anxiety as they look forward to strong digital sales but wait to see the effect on print numbers. Nielsen BookScans Top 5,000 figures... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Bookseller Staff Publication Date: Wed, 13/07/2011 - 09:37 Kobo has begun selling ebooks in Germany, including offering 80,000 titles in the German language, and 2.4 million ebooks in total. The ebookseller is also promising that its devices will be sold in a major consumer... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The launch of a $140 dedicated eBooks reader puts Google's store more directly in opposition to the Nook and Amazon's Kindle. The iRiver Story goes on sale July 17 at Target. Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2011-07-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The first dedicated Google eBooks e-reader is finally headed to market. On July 17, the $139.99 iriver Story HD, will land on the shelves of Target stores nationwide, becoming the first e-reader to allow users to browse, buy and download Google eBooks directly over Wi-Fi. Continue reading at AllThingsD
[ AllThingsD | 2011-07-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Caroline Horn Publication Date: Fri, 08/07/2011 - 08:36 A blogging site that aims to boost authors' independent ebook sales has been created by writers Katherine Roberts and Susan Price in response to a significant contraction in many authors' earnings. Roberts said: "The whole of... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Tue, 05/07/2011 - 08:49 The Oldie magazine team is launching a new literary festival, based in London's Soho, with authors including Man Booker-winner Howard Jacobson and Michael Morpurgo set to appear. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Mon, 27/06/2011 - 08:53 Pottermore has responded to retailers' frustrations over being unable to sell the Harry Potter ebooks, saying the idea was to "ensure ease of availability across all reading devices". read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Philip Jones and Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Thu, 23/06/2011 - 11:53 J K Rowling has confirmed that she will release paid-for ebook versions of her incredibly successful Harry Potter books from her new website Pottermore "in partnership with J K Rowlings publishers... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Thu, 23/06/2011 - 07:26 Vintage Publishing has released the first ebooks from Nigella Lawson, with her Kitchen and Nigella Express books now available in digital format. Lawson's Nigella Quick Collection app has also been updated with 30... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Google has launched an affiliate program for its eBooks service, offering to pay commissions to Web publishers who promote titles on their sites and send buyers... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2011-06-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Wed, 15/06/2011 - 08:07 Random House Children's Books has released its first four-colour picture ebooks, marking the start of its ebook publishing programme for picture books. Digital editions will from now on be released alongside the physical... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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By restricting purchases unnecessarily, ebooks and e-readers are a bad deal, says free software guru Richard Stallman. Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2011-06-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Fri, 03/06/2011 - 14:47 Canongate is planning to give a limited number of free ebook copies of Grow Up, the debut novel by 19-year-old Ben Brooks, ahead of its paperback publication in July. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Fri, 27/05/2011 - 08:45 Bloomsbury's ebook sales topped £1.1m in the first three months of 2011, as the company reported its unaudited preliminary results for the fourteen months ended 28th February 2011. Revenue across the group was £103.4m for... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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By Tim Conneally, Betanews Nature Publishing Group and California State University (CSU) on Tuesday announced a three-year partnership that will eliminate paper textbooks from certain classes, and replace them with interactive ebooks instead. Continue reading at Betanews
[ Betanews | 2011-05-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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