When is a book not a book? When it is performed by a starry cast of hundreds. Except it has always been more complicated than thatNews this week of a 17% hike in the UK’s audiobook sales might seem like a niche business story, but it raises an existential question. What exactly is an audiobook today? Is it a book? Is it a play? Or is it becoming something else entirely? What is clear is that a jostle for market dominance is driving it into new dimensions. The streaming platform Spotify followed its move into podcasting two years ago with the launch of an audiobooks business. Though it has yet to start making its own recordings, last autumn it made a deal for 200,000 audiobooks to be available to its premium users.Not to be outdone, Amazon-owned Audible – accustomed to being the market leader – upped its game, hiring the Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes to record multi-voice versions of the Dickens novels Oliver Twist and David Copperfield, and announcing last month that it had reached an agreement for a recording of JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series, voiced by more than 100 actors and featuring a “groundbreaking new soundscape”. The new Potter audiobooks, it said, would not usurp but “sit alongside and complement” conventional recordings by Stephen Fry and Jim Dale, which Audible also hosts. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2024-05-10 17:25:03 UTC ]
News tagged with:
#17% hike
#audiobook sales
#existential question
#audiobook today
#market dominance
#start making
#premium users
#market leader
#david copperfield
#jk rowling
#sit alongside
#stephen fry
#jim dale
#harry potter
#audiobook
Boffins have a new way to check on whether we really get through impressive big books, but even half-finished reads help with plunging authorial incomesLike a mean teacher tripping up a keen-to-impress pupil, boffins have come up with a way of calling us on books we don't get through. Named... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-07-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#thomas piketty
#hillary clinton
The use of social media and consumer insight do not "replace our gut instinct", The... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-07-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#bookseller marketing
#publicity conference
#consumer insight
Oceano, one of the largest Spanish-language publishers, has finally launched a line of ebook titles out of its Mexico subsidiary aimed at Latin America. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-07-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#finally launched
#ebook titles
#latin america
Speakers from YouTube and Buzzfeed will join representatives from the trade at today’s... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-07-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#bookseller marketing
#publicity conference
#live blog
Business author says bad manners can tank your careerBusiness author Richie Frieman has studied fine arts at the University of Maryland, launched a music-focused Internet magazine, written children's books, invented a device that keeps shirt collars crisp and created a pop culture-inspired... Continue reading at Baltimore Sun
[ Baltimore Sun | 2014-07-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
In the past 20 years, the number of prizes geared towards children’s books has trebled,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-07-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Studies show that two people with the same name tend to like each other. But that’s not why I like James Altucher. I like him because he is provocative and insightful. Altucher is an entrepreneur, chess master, author, comic book lover, and once-wannabe rapper. He’s also very accessible.... Continue reading at Silicon Valley Business Journal
[ Silicon Valley Business Journal | 2014-07-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#digital marketing
#studies show
Facebook is buying video ad platform LiveRail and giving it control of a network that powers advertising for high-profile publishers—online and on mobile. LiveRail delivers video ads to websites and apps for Major League Baseball, ABC, A+E Networks and Dailymotion. "LiveRail also helps... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2014-07-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#growing concerns
#video inventory
#intended audience
#audience data
#video publishers
#premium publishers
PW talks to the executive director of PubWest about expansion and the group's new summer program, the Pub501 summer sessions. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-07-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#kent watson
Will the bright, imaginative, tech savvy, book reading (or content devouring) twentysomething choose Gollancz or Google, Faber or Facebook, Orion or O2? Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-06-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#book reading
Gruppo Editoriale Mauri Spagnol is a privately held publishing group and the third largest publisher in Italy. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-06-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#largest publisher
Gregory David Roberts’ cult hit Shantaram (Abacus) is available in audiobook for the first... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-06-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
PW talked to the editor of Lily King's buzzed-about new novel, which bowed on June 3 and received a starred review from PW and may be adapted into a feature film. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-06-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#pw talked
#starred review
#feature film
Mobile marketing startup SessionM, trying to prove its efforts can help spur sales, announced a partnership with Datalogix to measure the success of digital campaigns. SessionM says the partnership is the best way to show marketers that mobile is effective, which many question. Datalogix... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2014-06-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#app publishers
#weather channel
#big player
#consumer data
Matthias Matting introduces Authorbuddies.com, a new web site that connects authors from across the world to assist each other with marketing efforts. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-06-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#web site
#marketing efforts
Caroline Casey, Coffee House Press managing director, talks to PW about Eimear McBride's debut novel, "A Girl Is a Half-Formed Thing," which recently won this year's Baileys Women's Fiction Prize. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-06-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#coffee house
#eimear mcbride
#half-formed thing
#recently won
#baileys women
#fiction prize
CANNES, France—From magazines to TV, radio to newspapers, every medium has come to embrace native advertising. If Yahoo can leave its past behind, then surely advertisers can too. That was, more or less, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer's advice to brands and advertisers attending the Cannes Lions... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2014-06-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#wide range
#general mills
#hunger games
Are you an aspiring writer or editor? Wondering how the self-publishing industry works? Our panel will be here on 18 June between 1pm and 2.30pm to offer advice and answer your questionsSelf-publishing is becoming an increasingly popular way for authors to get their work into print. While the... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-06-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#aspiring writer
#offer advice
#increasingly popular
#viable alternative
#gain revenue
#rising popularity
#ebook titles
In "The New Greenmarket Cookbook," Gabrielle Langholtz combines the history of New York City's Greenmarket with profiles of its farmers and recipes from chefs and food writers inspired by its offerings. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-06-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#market growth
Despite the encroachment of digital downloads, sales of physical audiobooks remain resilient, with Nielsen BookScan reporting that units were up 6% through the first five months of 2014 compared to the same period last year. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-06-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#digital downloads