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
Frank Cottrell Boyce’s The Unforgotten Coat, published by Walker, has won the 2012 Guardian... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-10-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#fiction prize
BookNet Canada’s first survey of where Canadians buy books and what types of books they buy found that about 16% of purchases in the first half of 2012 were of ebooks, while paperback remained the most popular format, with a 57% share. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-10-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#booknet canada
#popular format
Fifty Shades of Grey has sold more than 28 million physical copies around the world, though... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-10-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#fifty shades
Amazon's market share of book sales significantly increases once a customer buys a Kindle... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-10-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#market share
The government is also pressuring Chinese publishers to stop translating and publishing Japanese content as tension increases between the two countries. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2012-09-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#chinese authorities
Morris Publishing Group is establishing a partnership with the local digital marketing team of magazine and newspaper publishing firm Hearst. Morris announced today that it reached an agreement with LocalEdge, a Hearst Media Services company, to re ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2012-09-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Comixology, a digital comics distributor and marketplace, marks its fifth anniversary this year as it emerges as the clear leader in the digital comics space. The company’s Guided View technology, a much imitated function on its Comics by Comixology app, which allows readers to read digital... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-09-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#e-comics market
#mobile devices
#kindle fire
#including marvel
#market share
Popular children's book character Waldo will soon be spotted in a lot more places around the world as his 25th anniversary kicks into gear.Where's Waldo? He won't be difficult to find once the 25th anniversary kicks off for the bespectacled, and beloved, children's book character. England will... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-09-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#popular children
#book character
#follow suit
The top US regional book markets have seen print sales drop year on year at a far greater rate... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-09-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#sales plunge
#biggest markets
The Android OS may dominate the smartphone market, but figures released by Google tell a different story on the tablet front. Stats from Google Play, Google's one-stop shop for apps, movies, books and music, show that, while normal-sized devices - ie phones - account for 86 per cent of... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2012-09-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#one-stop shop
#problem lies
#tablet market
#months ago
#sponsored content
Despite shrinking sales, declining shelf space, and the rise in popularity of relatively inexpensive ebook editions, mass market paperback is still a category that can be used to break out an author—especially in tandem with other publishing formats. A number of publishers contacted by PW said... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-09-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#shrinking sales
#publishing formats
#savvy marketing
Small publisher Stinging Fly Press will compete against the major houses for the £10,000... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-08-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#major houses
Anticipation is mounting that Amazon will make an announcement about a second model Kindle Fire... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-08-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#kindle fire
Community groups in West Yorkshire are banding together in an attempt to take over libraries... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-08-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#community groups
#west yorkshire
For a limited time, you can score a free copy of "Get Up to Speed with Online Marketing," by Jon Reed. Read it on your PC, your Kindle, or any device that can run a Kindle app. Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2012-08-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#kindle app
#limited time
#free copy
#online marketing
The success of 'Harry Potter, 'Twilight' and other has created a halo effect for the entire genre. And kids aren't the only ones doing it.For years, the book industry has been mired in debates about the plight of independent booksellers, the rise of Amazon and the fate of print as it struggles... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-08-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#harry potter
#picture books
#halo effect
#book industry
#independent booksellers
The newspaper business’s reliance on the industrial machine of printing and distributing is often understated. It’s a delicate ecosystem that can have a real effect on publisher margins – as the fluctuation in newsprint ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2012-08-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#increased competition
#marketing spend
#bad news
#print media
You've bought rope for that special someone, picked up a few sex toys and read those Fifty Shades of Grey books a time or three. You know who you are. Well, no need to skulk about at naughty shops or the hardware store as Fifty Shades of Consumption makes it further into the mainstream. Stuart... Continue reading at Crains New York
[ Crains New York | 2012-08-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#free events
#brooklyn location
Kobo's parent Rakuten claims to have sold 100,000 devices following a launch of the Kobo e-... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-08-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
The 'Find Waldo Local' campaign, held nationwide for the month of July, had customers hunting for Waldo in independent bookstores and businesses. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2012-08-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#independent bookstores