Can a one-size-fits-all, low-price, consumer-dominated sales model support a diverse, innovative, challenging literary output?It is either an existential threat to intellectual freedom or a rustbelt media industry meeting its comeuppance at the hands of disruptive technology. The battle between the multibillion-dollar publisher Hachette (and now the Scandinavian publisher Bonnier) and the even more multibillion-dollar Amazon is usually discussed in high-minded tones, particularly by publishers and their authors. But at heart, it is merely another collision between producers and consumers that has a particular significance only if you ascribe a value to books as cultural artefacts. It is perfectly possible, instead of Hachette and Amazon, and the 900 writers who took out a two-page ad in the New York Times to protest, to substitute supermarkets, dairy farmers and the price of milk.Although books account for only 7% of the sales of the Everything store, Amazon sells a lot of them. In particular it has 60% of the ebook market. It believes a flat-rate sales price for new books and bestsellers delivers higher sales and bigger profits. Hachette disagrees. Amazon is forcing the issue by disadvantaging Hachette books (no buy button, no discounts and so on). Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2014-08-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The tech giant that pioneered online bookselling is going old school. Amazon unveiled its first bricks-and-mortar bookstore, Amazon Books, in Seattle’s upscale University Village shopping mall. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-11-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon is opening a bookshop in Seattle, promising books will be the same price as those on its website. Continue reading at BBC World
[ BBC World | 2015-11-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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This year’s fifth anniversary FutureBook Conference brings together more than 50 speakers from across the media world for a day of reckoning, realisation and revivification. It will, to borrow from a famous beer advert, refresh the parts other digital and publishing events do not reach. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-10-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Mobile is said to be the future of digital publishing. So, what’s the best way consumers can get the news while on their mobile devices? That’s the question Jordan Cooper spent a year asking. The answer he found: Wildcard. Wildca ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2015-10-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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This year, get in the spirit of Halloween with three outstanding books set to publish this month that center on witchcraft. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-10-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Execs from Cornelsen Schulverlage, Scholastic India, Capstone's myON, and Microsoft Education share thoughts about various edtech business models. The post 4 Views of Evolving Edtech Business Models appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2015-10-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Skyhorse Publishing has named Mark Gompertz group editorial director, effective November 9. Gompertz, who was most recently at Hearst Magazines, had a long tenure at Simon & Schuster. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-10-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon saw a 23% rise in sales in the third quarter (ending September 30th) to $25.4bn ($20.6bn in third quarter 2014). Net income stood at $79m in the third quarter, compared to a loss of $437m in the same period in 2014. The results follow a profitable second quarter of the year. Amazon is... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-10-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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At the opening press conference at this year’s Frankfurt Book Fair (which ended October 18), Heinrich Riethmüller, the chairman of the German Publishers and Booksellers Association, told reporters about the German book industry’s battle to prevent Amazon from “monopolizing” the book business. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-10-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Comic The Phoenix is collaborating with big-name children’s authors Philip Pullman and Chris Riddell for its 200th edition, which will be published on 30th October. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-10-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Adult readership is down 4% from 2013, with 72% of American adults having read a book in the past year according to a new Pew survey. Young adults, meanwhile, were revealed as the nation's most avid readers. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-10-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Heather Fain, who has held the dual positions of senior v-p, director of marketing strategy for HBG and deputy publisher of Little, Brown, will now be focusing solely on her marketing role. To replace her at LB, HBG has brought Craig Young back to the company. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-10-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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It's a hard call to make, with disincentives for the first to make it, but there's a growing acknowledgement that digital publishers and advertisers have failed to deliver on the promise that digital advertising held. The ability to id ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2015-10-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon did better than analysts had been expecting in the third quarter, posting net income of $79 million while total sales jumped 23% to $25.4 billion. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-10-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Oneworld has partnered with the charity Give a Book to encourage UK publishers to donate books to prison reading groups. Inspired by The Prison Book Club by Oneworld author Ann Walmsley, which recounts the author's experience of running a book club in a men's prison, the initiative aims to... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-10-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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As Amazon invests $10 million its translation project, Susan Bernofsky ask if Amazon is turning translation into a 'glorified form of self-publishing.' The post Amazon Commits $10 Million to Translations, Prompting Questions appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2015-10-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Anthology of uncollected writings should secure a reappraisal of notorious occultist, says publisherAleister Crowley, the occultist once dubbed the “wickedest man in the world”, is due for a reassessment as a short-story writer, according to a new anthology of his uncollected writing which... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2015-10-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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David Lagercrantz has been contracted to write two more novels in the late Stieg Larsson's Millennium series. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-10-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Hachette’s famous ebook pricing dispute with Amazon may be over but its shadow stretched over yesterday’s CEO panel at the 2015 Frankfurt Book Fair. The post Hachette CEO Nourry and “The Way to Death” appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2015-10-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The new v-p, editorial director will oversee the entire acquisition process and editorial team for the imprint. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-10-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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