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
Digital royalty rates on ebook only lists are beginning to rise, as publishers look to grow... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-02-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Just as the TV industry has developed to directly monetise content through interactive services, product placement and sponsored programmes, online publishers need to explore innovations that use more than just the space around the content, says Vibrant Media's Fiona Salmon. Continue reading at Media Week
[ Media Week | 2013-02-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#online publishers
#tv industry
#vibrant media
Through a pair of tweets yesterday Mark McClusky and Evan Hansen announced a transition at the top editor spot at Condé Nast's Wired.com. Hansen is departing and McClusky, formerly the editorial development director, will be taking over the position, a role that Hansen had filled since 2005. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2013-02-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
When it comes to book marketing, social media is a honeytrap, never quite delivering on its promises, but a few simple best practices can vastly improve your results. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-01-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#book marketing
Extrapolating from recent sales figures from ebook distributor DLD, we estimate ebook sales to reach some 3.57 million units—or 2.6% of the overall market—by the end of 2013. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-01-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Advance Publications, parent company of Condé Nast, has stepped up its efforts on two fronts with the acquisition of digital marketing agency, POP. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2013-01-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#advance publications
NewsCred, a tech-intensive news aggregator, is an up-and-coming player in the media industry thanks to licensing agreements with elite publishers like the Economist and Bloomberg. The company relies on these partnership deals and its own algorithms t ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2013-01-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#media industry
#partnership deals
Kobo has appointed former Apple sales director Jean-Marc Dupuis to oversee its European expansion... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-01-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#european expansion
Three CEOs at this year's Digital Book World conference spoke about how they are reaching out directly to consumers and what they can do better. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-01-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#publishing ceos
#direct-to-consumer sales
E-book sales at the top trade publishers doubled in 2012, meaning that the UK ebook market grew... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-01-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#e-book sales
Kobo increased its global e-ink device sales by 150% in December, making it the "biggest... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-01-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Pan Macmillan has restructured its sales, marketing and publicity teams, creating a single... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-01-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#publicity teams
#pan macmillan
UK retail sales grew by 1.5% in the run-up to Christmas and online retail saw a boost of 17.8%,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-01-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#online retail
The Andrew Lownie Literary Agency has appointed David Haviland to build a fiction list, with the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-01-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#andrew lownie
#fiction list
The consumer ebook market was worth more than £90m in the first 10 months of 2012... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-12-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#e-books grow
#low prices
Newspapers’ books coverage is even less profitable than newspapers overall, and many book review sections are shrinking or disappearing completely. In an attempt to subsidize such coverage, the Guardian has partnered with the Amazon-owned d ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2012-12-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#amazon-owned audible
#books coverage
#book content
The Guardian has partnered with Amazon-owned Audible to provide a free audio edition of its... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-12-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#amazon-owned audible
Korea, Indonesia and Turkey are well positioned to take advantage of the growing interesting in developing book markets from Western publishers in coming years. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2012-12-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#western publishers
#coming years
Orion has promoted Jane Sturrock to the role of editorial director, non-fiction. She will... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-12-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
The London Book Fair will feature Korea—a top ten, yet underserved market—as the Market Focus country of the 2014 Fair. The program will showcase business opportunities in Korea. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2012-12-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#market focus
#top ten