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 ]
Learning a Language — this list of questions facing anyone taking a new language for a test run just burns with truth. (Also: encouraging to see how many of these questions are answered by the Cookbook format) OpenVAS — Open Vulnerability Assessment Scanner, aka “what a cheap external security... Continue reading at O'Reilly Radar
[ O'Reilly Radar | 2020-04-28 11:42:15 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#cookbook
#short links
The shortlist for this year's Commonwealth Short Story Prize has been announced, and features 20 entries from countries across the Commonwealth. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-04-21 15:26:21 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Among the many degradations magazines have endured during the digital revolution, few are as heartbreaking as the erosion of the magazine design experience. Digital platforms are designed by engineers for engineers. The web browser shows little respect for any standardized flow and sequencing,... Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2020-04-21 13:10:24 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#screen sizes
#nat geo
#creative process
Cinco Puntos Press launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise $250,000, as did Small Press Distribution, which is seeking $100,000. Lambda Literary, the LGBTQ-focused group, is asking for $175,000 to survive. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-04-21 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#small press
#lambda literary
#gofundme campaign
A new collection contains stories that cover a surprising amount of emotional territory but can still be read in a sitting. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2020-04-20 07:41:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#surprising amount
#short fiction
For the duration of the coronavirus crisis, Granta Books is running special offers on weekly, themed selections of our ebooks. The post 99p Ebooks for Lockdown Reading appeared first on Granta. Continue reading at Granta
[ Granta | 2020-04-20 00:31:17 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#ebooks
#coronavirus crisis
#lockdown reading
#granta books
A reviewer reflects on reading “The Moment of Tenderness,” a collection of short stories, and then returning to the 1963 novel she loved growing up. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2020-04-17 23:14:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#short stories
#loved growing
#reviewer reflects
A reviewer reflects on reading “The Moment of Tenderness,” a collection of short stories, and then returning to the 1963 novel she loved growing up. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2020-04-17 23:14:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#short stories
#loved growing
#reviewer reflects
A reviewer reflects on reading “The Moment of Tenderness,” a collection of short stories, and then returning to the 1963 novel she loved growing up. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2020-04-17 23:14:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#short stories
#loved growing
#reviewer reflects
Digital publisher develops commercial break that avoids pandemic stories, as industry struggles with skittish advertisers. Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2020-04-17 17:36:26 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#digital publisher
#bad news
The Aspen Institute has just announced the winner of their 2020 Literary Prize: Christy Lefteri, for her novel, The Beekeeper of Aleppo, which tells the story of Syrian refugees in Great Britain. The Aspen Words Literary Prize was established to celebrate a work of fiction that spotlights a... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-04-16 22:00:41 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#literary prize
#great britain
#syrian refugees
#christy lefteri
#aspen institute
These days, everything feels a little bit bleaker than usual. But one thing that genuinely made me smile as I was panic scrolling last week? The clever designs of Read Books, Serve Looks, otherwise known as Thom Stead (Instagram bio: “quarantined gay serving book inspired looks”), who recreates... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-04-16 16:30:31 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#favorite book
#read books
Literary criticism (or even ‘literary theory’) goes back as far as ancient Greece, and Aristotle’s Poetics. But the rise of English Literature as a university subject, at the beginning of the twentieth century, led to literary criticism focusing on English literature – everything from... Continue reading at Interesting Literature
[ Interesting Literature | 2020-04-15 14:00:07 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#english literature
#interesting literature
#contemporary literature
#twentieth century
#ancient greece
#literary theory
#literary criticism
#read appeared
Many libraries publish art and literary magazines featuring authors and artists from their local community and from all over the world. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2020-04-13 10:31:23 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#libraries
#local community
The Sheikh Zayed Book Awards, among the most esteemed and lucrative literary prizes in the Arab world, recognized winners across seven categories today. This year marks the 14th edition of the awards, each of which comes with a cash prize of $204,000. These awards acknowledge literary and... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-04-08 15:14:35 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#zayed book
The Times Literary Supplement is offering free advertising to independent bookshops in the light of the Covid-19 pandemic. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-04-08 04:53:42 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#covid-19 pandemic
The Spanish and Latin American markets are expected to have 14,000 Spanish-language audiobooks available this year, and, with ebooks, continued to see growth in 2019. The post Bookwire Cites Growth in Spanish-Language Audiobooks, Ebooks appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2020-04-06 13:00:46 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#ebooks
#spanish-language audiobooks
#ebooks appeared
The Madeleine Milburn Literary Agency is launching a six-month mentorship programme for aspiring authors. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-04-05 22:15:47 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#literary agency
#aspiring authors
Great Lakes Independent Booksellers Association executive director Larry Law opens up in a letter to members about his experience with the new coronavirus as a public service. Law is recovering in quarantine. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-04-02 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#booksellers association
#public service
There is already a decent amount of free books for kids available online, and now there has been a recent expansion of available resources. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2020-04-01 10:38:43 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#ebooks
#free books
#decent amount