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 ]
Shocking no one, 'Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Parts 1 and 2' stays #1 more than a week after its much-ballyhooed release. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-08-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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J K Rowling and Jack Thorne’s Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Little, Brown) has become the fourth fastest-selling title of all time, with 847,886 copies worth £8.76m shifted through Nielsen BookScan's Total Consumer Market last week, making it 2016's biggest selling title of the year in just... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-08-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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NBCUniversal is continuing under the spell of “Harry Potter,” striking an exclusive deal with Warner Bros. to bring films of the juggernaut franchise to two NBCUniversal cable channels. The agreement, announced Monday, extends the relationship between the two media companies by conveying... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2016-08-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Harry Potter's appeal continues, with huge sales numbers coming out from the release of 'Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,' a book version of the script used in the West End play. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2016-08-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bloomsbury is set to celebrate 20 years of Harry Potter with a year-long campaign, including special anniversary publishing and new projects with key partners. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-08-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Twenty years after the publication of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, 2017 show promises ‘a journey to the heart’ of JK Rowling’s storiesIdeally positioned in King’s Cross, just a stone’s throw from the mythical beginning of the journey to Hogwarts on Platform 9 3/4, the British... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2016-08-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Harry Potter and the Cursed Child playscript has sold 680,000 print copies in the UK in its first three days of sale – making it the fastest-selling book in a decade. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-08-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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To listen to the Audio Book Club discussion of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, click the arrow on the player below. Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2016-08-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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North American sales of 'Harry Potter and the Cursed Child' top 2 million copies, UK sales blow past records, all within days of Rowling's new release. The post In the US, UK, and Canada, Harry’s on Another Roll With ‘Cursed Child’ appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2016-08-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Harry Potter's appeal continues, with huge sales numbers coming out from the release of 'Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,' a book version of the script used in the West End play. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2016-08-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Scholastic estimated Wednesday morning that 'Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts One and Two' sold more than two million copies in North American in its first two days of sales. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-08-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The script for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child becomes the fastest-selling book in the UK this decade. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2016-08-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Boy Who Lived returns to the iBooks Bestseller list as the Book That Sold, J.K. Rowling's 'Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts One and Two,' rides the broomstick of public fervor to #1. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-08-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Rowling spoke about her plans for Harry Potter following the premiere of the play 'Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,' which depicts Harry and his family years after the events of the original books and films. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2016-08-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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J K Rowling has told fans that Harry Potter is “done” after the release of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child playscript last weekend. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-08-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sales of the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child playscript (Little, Brown) have been “incredible” according to Waterstones, while Foyles deemed it “the fastest-selling book we’ve ever sold” after fans flocked to midnight openings around the country. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-08-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The new Harry Potter went on sale last Saturday night, and bookstores across the country celebrated with midnight parties. Here we present a sampling of photos from those festivities. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-08-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In spite of tepid critical reaction to 'Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Parts One and Two,' which became available to the public at precisely 12:01 a.m. on July 31, the book seems to have hit its high sales performance expectations. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-08-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Central London was once again full of wizards, Harrys, Hagrids and Hermiones last night (30th July) as Waterstones Piccadilly and Foyles on Charing Cross Road held extravagant parties to celebrate Little, Brown’s publication of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child– surely already the fastest... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-07-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A look back at the magical journey through Harry Potter's history leading up to the release of "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child". Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-07-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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