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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After a year of interviews and discussions, DeAgostini began a product test last year, and the company was encouraged enough by the results to launch a major presence in the U.S. beginning with a debut at BookExpo America (booth 2840) and building to a rollout of a full line next year. The... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-05-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Booksellers including Foyles, Newham Books, Pages of Hackney and The Book Box will be among those... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-05-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sainsbury's has reported a 6.8% rise in total sales in its preliminary results for the year... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-05-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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It would be a big surprise if one of the major publishers were to follow Stylist magazine and launch a mainstream free women's title, according to Lisa Smosarski, editor of Stylist, who believes such a move would be a "big step". Continue reading at Media Week
[ Media Week | 2012-05-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Authors Guild says Google doesn't have permission to reproduce portions of books for their digital library. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2012-05-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A campaign for The Power of Three by H L Dennis, the first book in the Secret Breakers series... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-05-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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To those of you who will be attending the BEA in June, know that you will be standing on hallowed ground. Not because of the rich mineral content of the soil, or because of the area’s dollar value per square foot. No, you are trodding the path of ghostly royalty for one simple reason: right... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-04-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Cosmopolitan for Latinas will arrive on newsstands May 1, Hearst Magazines announced Wednesday, and it promises to show why the publisher has launched another print title at a time when many magazines are struggling to grow. The debut issue of the women's lifestyle spinoff will carry 52 pages of... Continue reading at Crains New York
[ Crains New York | 2012-04-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In 2006, when PW released the first report on the content services industry in India, the topics centered on XML, PDF, and e-deliverables, and conversations revolved around print- vs. content-centric work flow. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-04-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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HarperCollins has made two new hires to its marketing team in a bid to build stronger direct-to-... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-04-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Digital migration has taken off in the UK and US, but not in other countries to any significant... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-04-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Hot Keys Books has partnered with the Guardian to launch a new young person’s writing prize... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-04-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon is paying authors $1 for every audiobook they sell if they sign up to its Audible Author... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-04-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Colin Hughes has been appointed as m.d. of the HarperCollins Education Division, with HC... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-04-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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One in five American adults read an electronic book in the last year, as gift-giving sped the shift away from the printed page, a Pew Research Center survey showed on Wednesday. Continue reading at Baltimore Sun
[ Baltimore Sun | 2012-04-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A London book market founded by independent booksellers is to launch in Hackney, selling new and... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-04-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Two thirds of UK online publishers are planning to increase the number of digital roles "on the back of product growth expectations", the Association of Online Publishers reported today, compared to 55 per cent which saw growth in 2011. Acco ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2012-03-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Oxford University Press has appointed a new commissioning editor with a view to expanding its... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-03-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Barrington Stoke is the latest publisher to enter the early reader market. Its new series,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-03-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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An advisory body to the French prime minister has predicted that ebooks are about to shake up... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-03-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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