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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Amazon's UK website sales rose by 14% to £5.3bn last year, but the company also paid less in corporation tax and received more handouts in government grants. According to accounts filed in the US, net sales for the UK website were £5.3bn ($8.3bn) to the year ending December 2014, up from... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-06-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Kim Kardashian West is to be the subject of the next of Sean Smith's celebrity biographies, contracted to Harper NonFiction last year in a deal with agent Gordon Wise. Kim will be published in hardback on 24th September (£14.99) and is described as "the ultimate insight into the reality behind... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-06-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Temporary Bride by Jennifer Klinec (Virago) has been voted reading groups’ favourite read by a debut author following a poll to celebrate National Reading Group Day. The Reading Agency and The Booksellers Association revealed on Saturday (20th June), National Reading Group Day, that Klinec... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-06-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Hi there, I'm on vacation this week, enjoying the countryside and making my way through a book a day. (Current read: a vintage paperback of the feel-good "Mrs. Miniver," bought at a wonderful used bookstore on the Maine coast.) I'll be back next week with the Great Reads newsletter. In the... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2015-06-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publishers’ contracts with Amazon could become void if the European Commission (EC) finds that the online retailer has acted illegally in terms of its ebook distribution practices and its relationship with publishers. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-06-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Penguin Random House has signed new long-term sales agreements for print and ebook sales with Amazon in both the US and UK, on undisclosed terms. The agreement was confirmed by Amazon. A PRH spokesperson said: "We do not discuss our relationships with our retail partners. But, as you can see,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-06-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A preview of some great fiction and non-fiction books published this summer. The post Bugging Out: The Must-Read Insect Books of the Summer appeared first on WIRED. Continue reading at Wired
[ Wired | 2015-06-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon's domination of digital comics distribution continues with Marvel's new deal to sell single issues through Kindle.Last April, Amazon took steps to own the comic book industry's digital transition by purchasing comiXology, the leading platform for buying and reading digital comics. Today... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2015-06-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon has today launched a new version of the Kindle Paperwhite, which will be available from the end of June. The latest generation of the device includes a new “typesetting engine for more beautiful pages”, an exclusive Kindle font called Bookerly, and “the highest resolution Paperwhite... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-06-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Media mogul Richard Desmond’s typically self-effacing new autobiography shows how he took virtual unknowns David and Victoria and made it all OK!A rival emerges to the claim that Al Gore invented the internet. It turns out that Richard Desmond invented the Beckhams. Please adjust your records... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2015-06-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Business and personal development publisher Nicholas Brealey Publishing has been bought by Hachette UK, with the business becoming an imprint within John Murray Publishing. The deal will see founder Nick Brealey continue to manage the lists, reporting into John Murray Press m.d. Nick Davies,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-06-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon has signed new long-term sales agreements with Penguin Random House in both the U.S and U.K. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-06-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon is changing the way it pays self-published authors whose books are enlisted in the Kindle Unlimited and Kindle Owners Lending library to a pay-per-page-read model. From 1st July, it will pay Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) author royalties depending on how many pages of a book a customer... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-06-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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E-book subscription service Oyster has developed Lumin, a new feature available via its app that automatically adjusts the light emitted from mobile screens to ease eyestrain and prevent sleep disruption. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-06-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Hachette UK has acquired Nicholas Brealey Publishing in a deal that includes the company’s U.S. imprints Davies L. Black and Intercultural Press. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-06-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon is updating its royalty terms for authors enrolled in Kindle Unlimited and Kindle Owners Lending Library and will pay authors based on the number of pages read in each book borrowed. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-06-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon.co.uk’s office staff move to London is now complete, the company has said. More than 2,000 employees, most of them previously based in Slough, have now moved to one of the online retailer’s three London locations – Glasshouse Yard near the Barbican in EC1, Leadenhall Court in EC3, and... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-06-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Guardian Faber has signed a book on the history of bird names by nature writer Stephen Moss. Mrs Moreau's Warbler: How Birds Got Their Names will be published in autumn 2017, following a deal for world English rights between Laura Hassan at Guardian Faber and Broo Doherty at DHH Literary... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-06-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Philip Pullman has warned that the European Commission should consider falling author income as part of its investigation into Amazon's ebook business. The author warned The Bookseller that the investigation, announced yesterday (11th June), was failing to take the role of the author into... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-06-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The UK Booksellers Association has taken a lead role in pressing for a regulatory investigation into Amazon, The Bookseller can reveal. The association submitted a dossier to the Competition and Markets Authority last November about Amazon’s “domination” of the UK market, which it believes paved... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-06-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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