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 ]
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The Russian ebook market more than doubled in 2012, to 250 million rubles (USD $8 million), but remains just 1% of market. Some 95% of ebooks downloaded are pirate editions. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-07-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Preliminary results from a new survey say that Japan's ebook market is valued at 72.9 billion yen ($740 million), a 15.9% jump over 2011. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-06-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Campaigns for titles ranging from Fifty Shades of Grey to the BFI Film Classics series have been... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-06-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Laura Hassan is to leave her role as editorial director of Vintage Classics to join Guardian... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-06-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Despite its "Defend Your Net" campaign last year, Google was unable to fully put the brakes on changes to German copyright law that may mean it has to pay up for news excerpts it indexes. As a result, the company announced that unlike the other 60 countries where Google News operates by relying... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2013-06-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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E-Libros, one Colombia's few digital publishers, is using the tarjeta e-libro, or ebook cards, to reach readers accustomed to only buying print books. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-06-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Apple didn't try to fix or raise the prices of electronic books when it entered into the market in 2010, according to Apple Senior Vice President Eddy Cue. Rather, he says, the company was only working to ensure a profit for itself."We're not willing to lose money in any business," Cue told the... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2013-06-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Penguin Children’s is planning to build on audiobook sales growth, as it launches a new... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-06-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A marginal overall decline, rising ebook sales and online booksellers with double-digit... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-06-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The head of Apple's iBookstore says Apple has captured 20 percent of the U.S. ebook market. Continue reading at AllThingsD
[ AllThingsD | 2013-06-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Apple director Keith Moerer said in court on Tuesday that the company holds about 20 percent of the US ebook market, double the size commonly assumed. The revelation came after the Department of Justice tried to bolster its price fixing case against the company by asserting that "Apple forgot to... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2013-06-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Some independent booksellers say they've received calls from someone claiming to be an Amazon staff member, asking if they'd be interested in selling Kindle e-readers. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2013-06-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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For all the activity around “marketing services,” publishers in general still have a lot to learn when setting up a sales operation around this kind of service strategy. The lessons typically center on three core buckets: Culture, market approach and data. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2013-06-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The National Book Critics Circle recently surveyed reviewers about whether ethics guidelines are necessary for the industry. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2013-05-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Scholastic's Julie Amitie and Gavin Brown offer nine steps to successful multi-platform storytelling and promotion, using The 39 Clues and Infinity Ring series as examples. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-05-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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How can publishers optimize their social media outreach? HuffPo's Andrew Losowsky chats with Ed Nawotka on Twitter about how book marketers can maximize social media networks and influencers. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-05-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Jeffrey Yamaguchi, Director of Digital Marketing at Abrams Books, talks about what today's book marketers need in their toolbox to execute successful advertising campaigns. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-05-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Like most comics publishers, Archie Comics, home to America’s favorite fictional redheaded teenager, has historically focused its distribution on newsstand sales and the comics specialty market. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2013-05-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Peter Gordon of Hong Kong's Chameleon Press and Jo Lusby of Penguin China talk discuss the developing English-language market for books in China. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-05-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Jeanenne Ray, Senior Marketing Manager at Wiley, will speak at the Reaching Readers conference about how publishers can build strong readers communities. Here is a sneak preview of her talk. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-05-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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