Thanks to the internet, it has never been easier to steal other people's work. There's also a high risk you'll be found out. So why do it? Rhodri Marsden goes in search of a little originalityIt's not that hard to think of something totally original. If you don't worry about it being any good, it's easy. "Colorless green ideas sleep furiously," was Noam Chomsky's spirited attempt in his ground-breaking 1957 book on linguistics, Syntactic Structures. "Hold the newsreader's nose squarely, waiter, or friendly milk will countermand my trousers," was Stephen Fry's during an episode of A Bit Of Fry And Laurie. But when novelist John Gardner used the phrase "opening the throttle at the last moment" in his 1983 book Icebreaker, it's unlikely that he sat back and congratulated himself on being the first to have written it. Innovation wasn't what he was aiming for, after all; he was just trying to describe someone driving a scooter. But Google Books, that vast indexing project, informs us that Gardner's was the only book to contain this phrase until another, Vestige Of Evil by Len Vorster, appeared on Amazon in 2011. A section of the novel, one of two books self-published online under that name, featured other phrases that were no longer unique to Icebreaker, such as "the ice and snow were not as raw and killing as this" and "the slope angling gently downwards to flatten". The many coincidences were startling, though if it wasn't for the internet, nobody need ever have known.In... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2014-03-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
We once again have to point out that you cannot actually “steal” from a little free library. And you should definitely not get the cops involved if you think someone is “stealing” the explicitly free things you’ve put out. Little free libraries do NOT come with means tests. But is it possible... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-02-11 15:43:09 UTC ]
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Books in schools and libraries increasingly have targets on their spines. The more partisan the battle has become, the more it manifests as a power struggle, rather than an effort to best serve children. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2022-02-09 18:11:00 UTC ]
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Along with announcing the Galaxy S22 lineup, Samsung has refreshed its range of tablets — which some folks already had an inkling about after earlierleaks. For the first time, Samsung is introducing an Ultra tablet, which aligns with the Ultra branding the company slaps on its highest-end... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2022-02-09 15:00:19 UTC ]
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A strong holiday season helped increase sales by 15% for Christian booksellers from 2019 to 2021, according to ParableConnect’s 2022 State of Christian Retail Report, which surveyed over 220 Christian bookstores and analyzed $74 million in sales. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-02-09 05:00:00 UTC ]
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It's early to be making such predictions, but Brendan Slocumb's debut is as engaging as it is suspenseful. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2022-02-02 11:00:55 UTC ]
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Axel Scheffler has usurped Tony Ross in the list of 2021’s most lucrative illustrators through Nielsen BookScan’s TCM. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2022-01-29 03:07:14 UTC ]
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Fast-growing digital media company Sinuate Media is pivoting its business model with pre-packaged marketing platforms to help small companies compete with bigger fish. Sinuate CEO and founder Leah Messina told Business First that the knowledge needed to use digital marketing tools has increased... Continue reading at Silicon Valley Business Journal
[ Silicon Valley Business Journal | 2022-01-27 23:14:12 UTC ]
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Violeta by Isabel Allende (Bloomsbury) was dubbed “a great sweeping story like a river in spate” by critics this week, picking up mentions in the Guardian, Financial Times, New Statesman, Independent and the Telegraph, while Free Love by Tessa Hadley (Jonathan Cape) and Reality+ by David... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2022-01-24 19:58:05 UTC ]
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If you chart the shift in the BookScan era of the publishing into Children’s & Young Adult Non-Fiction (CYANF), you see it evolving from, broadly, a more schools-book focused sector to one in which the vast bulk of the revenue is derived from trade titles. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2022-01-22 07:28:02 UTC ]
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In "Small World," short chapters and sheer eventfulness keep the story chugging along. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2022-01-21 12:00:01 UTC ]
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Pearson has seen full-year group sales up 8% in 2021 with profits expected to boom by a third, the company revealed in a trading update. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2022-01-18 18:17:49 UTC ]
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Private equity-funded Recurrent Ventures now has 20 digital media brands under its purview — and is on the hunt for more acquisitions. But is its approach to injecting new life into these titles sustainable? The post Recurrent Ventures – the next big private equity-fueled media conglomerate?... Continue reading at Digiday
[ Digiday | 2022-01-18 05:01:00 UTC ]
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Sports are so entertaining and fun to follow. Check out 14 of the best sports manga to feel like a champion! Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2022-01-13 11:36:00 UTC ]
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The number of independent bookshops in the UK and Ireland has grown for the fifth consecutive year despite challenges brought by the pandemic, the Booksellers Association says. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2022-01-07 22:34:12 UTC ]
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Candlestick Press is planning to publish a record 22 titles this year and says sales in 2021 were up 23% on the previous 12 months. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2022-01-06 13:52:51 UTC ]
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A London publishing staffer has been arrested and charged by the FBI with allegedly stealing hundreds of book manuscripts over several years. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2022-01-06 10:11:47 UTC ]
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The industry’s consolidation trend continued in 2021 with several large buys, including London-based Clarivate’s purchase of ProQuest for $5.3 billion. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-12-31 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Belgian scholar and the joint founder and executive director of the Big Apple Agency, Luc Kwanten,died November 22, at his home in Shanghai, China. He was 78. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-11-29 05:00:00 UTC ]
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The United Kingdom's audiobook sales show an eye-catching 71-percent jump, January to June this year over the same period in 2019. The post The UK’s Publishers Association Charts a ‘Steep Rise’ in Audiobook Sales appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2021-11-28 17:52:33 UTC ]
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