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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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Thu, 18/08/2011 - 12:00 Jonathan Cape has acquired a memoir about the British painter Lucian Freud, who died last month, written by his friend, Evening Standard editor Geordie Greig. Publishing director Dan Franklin acquired UK and Commonwealth... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Booker Prize winning author Graham Swift believes digital publishing could threaten the livelihood of authors in the future because they are being paid too little. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2011-08-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon moved aggressively to fulfill its new ambition to publish books as well as sell them, announcing that it had signed Timothy Ferriss, the popular self-help guru. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2011-08-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Tue, 16/08/2011 - 15:46 Amazon's move into publishing is a "concern" and the business is close to being in a monopolistic position, according to the c.e.o. of HarperCollins. Victoria Barnsley was the latest book trade figure to appear on BBC Radio 4's... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Mon, 15/08/2011 - 10:26 Hachette UK is trying to close a pension deficit gap of about £36m, closing its two final salary pension schemes to new accruals next month but denying suggestions this move could lead to an exodus of staff. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Hunched over my keyboard, I'm haunted by anecdotes of faster writers. Christopher Hitchens composing a Slate column in 20 minutesafter a chemo session, after a "full" dinner party, late on a Sunday night. The infamously productive Trollope, who used customized paper! "He had a note pad that had... Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2011-08-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Wed, 10/08/2011 - 15:45 Amazon has launched a Kindle Cloud Reader app, just two weeks after it, along with other ebooksellers, was forced to remove links to its Kindle store from its native app by Apple. The company said the new tool could be used... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Steve Jobs was wrong. People love to read on the iPad. Lets hope newspaper publishers dont ruin it for everyone. Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2011-08-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Mon, 08/08/2011 - 15:39 Amazon.com has launched a social networking site for Kindle users to discuss and share notes on ebooks. The site, called kindle.amazon.com, allows users to set up profile pages, make notes on the ebooks they read and share... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Fri, 05/08/2011 - 11:01 Canongate has bought a childrens book written by the lead singer of American indie rock band The Decemberists. Senior editor Francis Bickmore bought UK and Commonwealth rights (excl Canada, Australia and New Zealand) to... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Fri, 05/08/2011 - 08:30 Pan Macmillan's Macmillan New Writing scheme will continue despite the head of the imprint leaving the company. Will Atkins, who worked at Pan Macmillan for five years and was its editorial director for fiction, has left... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Barbara Casassus Publication Date: Tue, 02/08/2011 - 12:25 The agreement for Google to scan out-of-print French language books for Hachette Livre has been signed, two months later than scheduled. The five-year agreement should have been finalised six months after the memorandum of... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Wed, 27/07/2011 - 07:47 Amazon.com is experiencing its "fastest growth" in more than a decade with accelerating Kindle sales, according to its founder Jeff Bezos, but at a cost to the bottom line. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Wed, 27/07/2011 - 08:17 The Irish Competition Authority has cleared the acquisition of The Book Depository by Amazon after a three week investigation into the deal. In a short statement, the authority said: "[We have] formed the view that the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Wed, 27/07/2011 - 07:40 The Irish Competition Authority has cleared the acquisition of The Book Depository by Amazon after a three-week investigation into the deal. In a short statement, the authority said: "[We have] formed the view that the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In the latest development in Apples contentious relationship with booksellers, the countrys two biggest ebook retailersAmazon and Barnes & Noblehave stopped selling their wares directly to customers through their Apple apps, reports the Wall Street Journal. Canadian bookseller Kobo did... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2011-07-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Bookseller Staff Publication Date: Tue, 26/07/2011 - 09:30 Amazon.com is reportedly in discussions with e-commerce companies in India in a bid to expand into one of the world's fastest-growing economies. The company could enter the market as early as first quarter 2012. It is in... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Philip Jones Publication Date: Tue, 26/07/2011 - 08:50 Stephen Leather's bestselling ebooks The Basement and Once Bitten are to be republished under Amazon.co.uk's Encore programme. He will join other indie writers such as Joe Konrath who have been picked by the initiative, which... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Bookseller Staff Publication Date: Tue, 26/07/2011 - 09:14 Amazon has followed digital manufacturer Kobo and retailer Branes & Noble in complying with Apple's app purchasing rules. The retailer removed the "shop button that sent consumers to its site to buy ebooks on Monday... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Thu, 21/07/2011 - 09:08 Amazon.co.uk has launched a service allowing customers to trade in old textbooks in exchange for gift card credit on their Amazon account. The UK e-retailer is allowing customers to send textbooks to Amazon free-of-charge, but... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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