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 ]
News tagged with:
#two-page ad
#ebook market
#buy button
Publication Date: Wed, 06/07/2011 - 15:47 Hachette Livre has acquired a stake in Moscow-based trade publishing group Azbooka-Atticus. The publishing giant now owns a 25% interest (plus one share) in the publisher, which is owned 94.6% by Alexander Mamuts A&NN Group, which recently acquired... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#publishing giant
Amazon.com has acquired The Book Depository International, a seven-year old online bookseller based in the UK, which also republishes titles that are no longer in print or poorly available. Continue reading at AllThingsD
[ AllThingsD | 2011-07-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Amazon is making a move to become even more international. The online bookseller has just acquired the Book Depository International, a U.K. bookseller that distinguishes itself as being home to "the largest range of titles in the world." The terms of the deal have not yet been released, but the... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2011-07-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#book depository
#free shipping
#publishing arm
#operate independently
Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Mon, 04/07/2011 - 16:00 The Book Depository has said it will continue to operate independently of Amazon, as the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) said it was "too early" to say if today's takeover of the online bookseller would trigger an investigation.... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#book depository
#operate independently
#online bookseller
#continuing growth
Written By: Bookseller Staff Publication Date: Mon, 04/07/2011 - 12:29 Amazon.com has reached an agreement to acquire The Book Depository, the fast-growing online retailer founded by Andrew Crawford in 2004. Greg Greeley, Amazon's vice president of European Retail, said: "Customers in more... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#book depository
#vice president
#free shipping
Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Thu, 30/06/2011 - 15:01 Bloomsbury has acquired three YA books by Irish author, Sarah Crossan. Senior commissioning editor Ele Fountain acquired the trio of titles through Julia Churchill at Greenhouse, with the first title, Breathe, to be... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#ya titles
#ya books
#irish author
#sarah crossan
#younger generation
Though many magazines are now in the tablet game, Bonniers Sound + Vision is using this opportunity to strengthen content in a way not possible on the printed page. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2011-06-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#digital edition
#tablet game
#printed page
Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Fri, 24/06/2011 - 11:46 Former Prime Minister Tony Blair has demonstrated an affinity with political outsiders, fantasy worlds and religious prophets as he revealed his choice of favourite books for a new magazine. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#fantasy worlds
#favourite books
Young-adult books are being sold to an audience that can't vote, yet they're being written by people commonly referred to on the Internet as "the olds." We should know. We're two of them. Both of us have made our living writing. One of us in journalism (Grady) and the other in literary fiction... Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2011-06-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#young-adult books
As awesome as Kindle Direct Publishing is, it will be crushed by spam if Amazon doesn't take some action to control the amount of junk titles being dumped on it. Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2011-06-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#amazon doesn
Times Higher Education and publisher Hachette Filipacchi were among the big winners at the 2011 PPA Awards last night, hosted by Scottish comedian Kevin Bridges and with a special appearance by 'Happy Days' actor Henry Winkler. Continue reading at Media Week
[ Media Week | 2011-06-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#big winners
#special appearance
Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Wed, 08/06/2011 - 14:53 The Edinburgh International Book Festival is to be sponsored by Guardian News & Media, in a newly-penned two-year deal. The sponsorship deal will include coverage in the Guardian, the Observer and its books website of... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#sponsorship deal
#books website
#review books
#29th august
#fay weldon
Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Tue, 07/06/2011 - 11:40 Amazon.co.uk has announced that Orange Prize shortlisted author Emma Donoghues Room (Picador) is leading sales on the website ahead of rival contenders for the award. The Orange Prize for Fiction is revealed tomorrow (8th... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#website ahead
#orange prize
#nearest rival
#aminatta fornas
#love bloomsbury
Hearst Corp. announced today that it has completed the U.S. portion and the majority of its $919 million acquisition of Lagerdere SCA's nearly 100 magazines outside the French market. The deal, which had been undergoing regulatory approval in 15 different countries, was expected to close in the... Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2011-05-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#hearst completes
#including hachette
#hearst corp
#announced today
#french market
Written By: Gayle Feldman Publication Date: Thu, 26/05/2011 - 08:52 Thriller writer Barry Eisler, who turned his back on a two-book deal for half a million dollars from St Martins Press, has decided to accept six figures from Amazon and become one of its first frontlist authors. The Eisler... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#million dollars
#buy bn
Barnes & Noble CEO William Lynch announced the new Nook, aimed at "those turned off by buttons." Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2011-05-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#amazon responds
Publication Date: Wed, 25/05/2011 - 14:24 Amazon is to open a new customer service centre in Edinburgh this August, with one of its roles to handle technical support for the Kindle. The move will create more than 900 permanent and temporary jobs over the next five years. The centre will be... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Earlier in the week, Amazon announced that it was hiring Laurence Kirshbaum, the former CEO of Time Warner Book Group, to head a new publishing imprint. This seems like an odd time for Amazon to be making its mark on the pubishing industry: book sales are down, major book chains like Borders are... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2011-05-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#publishing imprint
#publishing executive
#bookexpo america
#digital side
Written By: Gayle Feldman Publication Date: Tue, 24/05/2011 - 09:41 Responses to Amazon.com's hire of Laurence Kirshbaum as publisher have varied from worried to fear of a "dampening" effect on competition among delegates at the BEA conference. Word that started to spread Sunday night was... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#laurence kirshbaum
#publishing operation
While the Rapture isnt scheduled to occur until Saturday, according to members of certain religious fringe groups, it looks like doomsday has come early for publishers of print books. Amazon announced Thursday that sales of ebooks on the site have finally surpassed combined sales of hardcovers... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2011-05-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#mike shatzkin
#mortar stores
#forrester research
#e-book reading
#big deal
#forrester analyst