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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Talk about transformation. In a span of 20 years, the Russian book market has made a 180-degree shift, from state-owned publishing and distribution to privately held (except for a few exceptions) and increasingly client driven. Every component of its book market was created overnight, after... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-04-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Caroline Horn Publication Date: Thu, 31/03/2011 - 15:38 Ladybird is updating its image with a new campaign designed to highlight its preschool credentials to families and to grow the market for its digital products. Editorial director Heather Crossley said: In the past Ladybird... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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As most publishers are scrambling to compact content (call it the Twitter effect), one company is bringing lengthy journalistic stories to digital devices. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2011-03-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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RIM and Samsung have announced release dates for their versions of the tablet computer, with the RIM Blackberry Playbook on sale on April 19th and the new Wi-Fi version of the Samsung Galaxy tablet line launching June 8th. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2011-03-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Simplifying (and clarifying) the purchasing processregardless of newsstand--and finding new ways to effectively market among the crush of new apps being launched is critical for publishers to succeed, according to speakers at MPAs Digital E-Reading conference today. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2011-03-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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IDG has launched the Enterprise CIO Forum (ECF) in US-English, German, Japanese and Chinese editions, with HP as sponsor. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2011-03-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Summit Business Media announced today the expansion of staff for the Advanced Markets AdvisorFX, an online source for practice-building and client-management tools serving financial advisors and insurance professionals. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2011-03-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Philip Stone and Felicity Wood Publication Date: Fri, 04/03/2011 - 09:43 The majority of the books to be handed out tomorrow (5th March) as part of World Book Night have already received a sales boost in 2011. The figures will be a welcome fillip for the organisers, with founder... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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John P. Loughlin, EVP and GM of Hearst Magazines, kicked off DMA's Circulation Marketing Day at the Time Inc. Conference Center in New York City as keynote speaker. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2011-03-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Caroline Horn Publication Date: Thu, 03/03/2011 - 07:22 Former childrens laureate Michael Morpurgo and Tracy Beaker author Jacqueline Wilson have spoken out in support of the Guardians new book website for children, which launches today [3rd March] on World Book Day. The site,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Bookseller Staff Publication Date: Fri, 25/02/2011 - 08:20 Google has introduced ebooks to the web version of its Android Market of apps. By buying an app on the webstore, a user can then push it onto any Android-enabled device. PC Mag reports the book capacity was added yesterday... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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By Tim Conneally, Betanews The Android Market has never had any specific ban on carrying and selling straight up text documents, and users could search through the market and find apps that were, in effect, standalone ebooks. Now, however, there is a section dedicated specifically to ebooks... Continue reading at Betanews
[ Betanews | 2011-02-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Daily may be coming to the Android market. The Daily, a daily newspaper app that debuted on the Apple iPad, was the first to utilize Apples new subscription plan app (and pay its 30 percent share requirement of each purchase bought through the app). The News Corp. app is available for $.99... Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2011-02-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Caroline Horn Publication Date: Wed, 23/02/2011 - 14:20 Walker Books is launching marketing campaigns to support its picture book publishing and teen fiction ranges. Undercover, promoting a range of YA titles, will launch in March and a separate picture book campaign, Picture Book... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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As the Paris Cookbook Fair gets underway next month, cookbook publishers are getting ready to do some shopping--and not just the sort that involves stocking up on Dijon mustard and bonbons from Fauchon. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-02-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Philip Jones Publication Date: Wed, 09/02/2011 - 14:28 The e-reader market doubled over Christmas, according to statistics given out by the Publishers Association at its annual digital seminar. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Philip Stone and Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Mon, 07/02/2011 - 09:24 The supermarket sector was the only winner in the 2010 retail trade, with sales jumping 7% year-on-year. Estimates based on data from Nielsen BookScan show that book sales in the UK were down by 4% in 2010 in... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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By Tim Conneally, Betanews Google on Thursday finally launched a renewed web-based Android Market that integrates with a user's Google account and lets him shop for applications and send them to the various Android-powered devices linked to the account. This new shop marks the industry-wide... Continue reading at Betanews
[ Betanews | 2011-02-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Quercus has announced that its market share has increased by 103% in a year. The publishing group responsible for Stieg Larsson's best-selling Millennium Trilogy, revealed the group dominated 1.37%, up from 0.66% in 2009 in a market that declined by 1.7%. Quercus chief... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Waterstone's is cutting orders it makes on new titles from March to reduce its number of returns. The book retailer contacted suppliers this week asking them to reduce initial orders by about 20%. Publishers were asked to cancel existing pre-orders so that new orders... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-01-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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