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 ]
Sam Riviere’s novel is hard to stop reading — because it’s written as a single paragraph almost 300 pages long. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2021-05-17 10:52:09 UTC ]
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With the publishing landscape proving more challenging than ever for new writers in Scotland, Caroline Carpenter looks at the schemes and systems designed to support them. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-05-14 23:24:30 UTC ]
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Independent publishers are "crucial and critical" for literary fiction writers, Costa-winning author Monique Roffey has said, enabling them to take risks no mainstream publisher would allow. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-05-11 11:27:01 UTC ]
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American authors dominate the 2021 longlist for the Sunday Times Audible Short Story Award, the world’s richest short story prize with £30,000 for the winner. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-05-01 18:26:14 UTC ]
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In January and February, ebooks were up 20.4 percent and downloadable audio was up 23.7 percent over 2020. The post AAP StatShot February Report: US Audiobooks and Ebooks Maintain Strength appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2021-04-28 15:55:41 UTC ]
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In a new book, Simon McCarthy-Jones looks, for instance, at why some people voted for Trump Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2021-04-28 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Tom Tivnan takes a deep dive into Glasgow’s publishing scene, which is thriving in a cultural boom time. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-04-24 16:33:29 UTC ]
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Short Books will publisher Nobel laureate Dr Denis Mukwege's The Power of Women in autumn 2021. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-04-23 21:58:09 UTC ]
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As we scour the past issues of the Book Review on its 125th anniversary, we have come across a lot of commissioned poetry — including this interesting specimen. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-04-23 15:47:00 UTC ]
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In its fourth year, the issue-driven Aspen Words Prize goes to fiction based in the Native American struggle for tribal self-determination. The post Louise Erdrich Wins the $35,000 Aspen Words Literary Prize appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2021-04-22 02:23:20 UTC ]
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The organizers of at least five British awards received emails asking them to transfer prize money to a PayPal account. One of them paid out. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-04-16 17:53:34 UTC ]
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In decades past, the Book Review occasionally asked young authors about their biggest influences. For our 125th anniversary, we put the question to a new generation. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-04-15 18:35:31 UTC ]
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Travel publisher Blue Guides is launching a new imprint called Blue Danube, releasing central European literature in translation. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-04-13 16:21:16 UTC ]
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The Irish Cultural Centre in London is launching a series of literary interviews, Northern Irish Voices, this weekend which will form part of its spring 2021 cultural programme. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-04-09 11:48:14 UTC ]
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He examined such topics as the cultural ferment of the 1960s, the artistic legacy of the Depression and the evolution of the American novel, offering a model of the ideal role of the critic in modern society. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2021-03-29 13:04:21 UTC ]
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The author of 'Lonesome Dove,' 'The Last Picture Show,' and 'Terms of Endearment,' among many others, was a longtime favorite in Hollywood who wrote with skepticism on the myths of the American West and ran one of the biggest bookstores in the U.S. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-03-29 04:00:00 UTC ]
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A new book market report on Finland's book market shows the impact of the pandemic and looks at the bestselling Finnish books of 2020. The post Finland’s 2020 Audiobook Sales Doubled, Ebooks Up 84 Percent appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2021-03-25 16:14:36 UTC ]
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Poetry Birmingham Literary Journal has restructured after securing its first grant from Arts Council England. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-03-22 08:57:11 UTC ]
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Whether it’s vampires or werewolves or mysterious patterns in wallpaper, writers of Gothic short stories have used all sorts of horrors and frights to chill our blood, ever since the horror short story developed in the early nineteenth century. Below, we pick ten of the very best Gothic horror... Continue reading at Interesting Literature
[ Interesting Literature | 2021-03-18 15:00:00 UTC ]
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The pandemic has left me feeling wistful for a past filled with delightful bookish encounters. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2021-03-16 09:47:33 UTC ]
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