If they succeed in distracting commuters from their smartphones, short story dispensers will be a welcome addition to the landscapeCan fiction miniatures dispensed through slots lure commuters away from their smartphone apps and social media feeds into the imaginary worlds created by authors including Virginia Woolf and Anthony Horowitz? We are about to find out. The French company Short Édition, which already has short-story vending machines in France, Hong Kong and the US, arrives in the UK this week, unveiling its first three terminals in London. Henceforth, travellers through Canary Wharf will have the option of forsaking news, email, Football Manager 2019 and every other temptation their handheld device can offer in favour of a story on a scroll of paper, printed on demand for free.It’s a modern twist on the idea of a free bookstall or swap scheme, already familiar to rail travellers across the UK. The cost is borne by businesses, which are encouraged to install the machines as a way of improving customer experiences and preventing people from getting cross or bored. The novelty lies in the dispenser, but also the brevity and portability of the reads on offer, which range from one minute to half an hour, and can also be viewed online. (Mr Horowitz has been commissioned to pen a 60-second whodunnit for the launch.) They demand far less time and energy than a book – in many cases, less effort to read even than a chapter – and will take up next to no space in a bag.... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2019-04-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The giants of the scientific publishing industry have made huge profits for decades. Now they are under threatScientific publishing has long been a licence to print money. Scientists need journals in which to publish their research, so they will supply the articles without monetary reward. Other... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2019-03-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The story of Dan Mallory, aka the bestselling author AJ Finn, reads like a thriller. But it asks uncomfortable questions of the literary worldA true story worthy of a Patricia Highsmith thriller was published this week in the New Yorker. The magazine detailed the deceptions of Dan Mallory, who... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2019-02-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Corporate sponsorship needs to steer clear of impinging on artistic freedomsNews that investment managers the Man Group is withdrawing its sponsorship from the Booker prize after 18 years has shocked the literary world. The hedge fund’s decision to move on was linked in the press to novelist... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2019-02-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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These days, most writers cannot afford to live secluded from their public. But when a very private author like Thomas Harris announces a new novel, there’s always special excitementAuthors – at least as far as their relationship with the public goes – fall into several distinct categories. There... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2018-10-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Martin Lewis is suing Facebook. The question is whether companies can be held responsible for the behaviour of their softwareMartin Lewis, the consumer advice and money-saving expert, is suing Facebook in a case that threatens the dominant business model of publishing on the internet. It raises... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2018-04-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The standards by which the internet is controlled need to be open and subject to impartial judiciaries – not left to advertisersThe revelations we publish about how Facebook’s data was used by Cambridge Analytica to subvert the openness of democracy are only the latest examples of a global... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2018-03-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The news that the music weekly will no longer appear in print is unsurprising. Where should we look for the sense of excitement it once offered?It would be silly to mourn the demise of NME, which is closing its print edition after 66 years, maintaining only its painful digital existence. This is... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2018-03-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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London book fair has shown how upbeat the literary world can be – and how worried our cultural businesses have become at the thought of losing old certaintiesThe mood at this week’s London book fair appeared upbeat, with hotly contested auctions leading to the return of the six-figure publishing... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2017-03-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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It may not prove easy to marry British and Japanese journalistic cultures. But in a global media world this deal makes senseThe Financial Times is one of the best newspapers in the world, not just in Britain. It is quick without being rash, accurate without leaden pedantry, thoughtful without... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2015-07-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The readiness of juries to defend public interest journalism is good news. But the press should be more transparent about payments to sources for storiesThe case of the Sun journalists charged with paying public officials for information has been a troubling one in many respects. It is, we... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2015-03-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Can a one-size-fits-all, low-price, consumer-dominated sales model support a diverse, innovative, challenging literary output?It is either an existential threat to intellectual freedom or a rustbelt media industry meeting its comeuppance at the hands of disruptive technology. The battle between... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-08-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Penguin Random House has installed a machine in the Devon city’s station, enabling travellers to buy a changing raft of titles, inspired by company founder Allen LaneCommuters at Exeter St Davids station in Devon will now have the option to buy a book using a vending machine, after publisher... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-03-27 11:49:47 UTC ]
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Writers, publishers and agents pay tribute to a warm, generous figure, author of more than 50 books ranging from SFF to crime to children’s literatureEric Brown, a prolific, award-winning author who published more than 50 novels, children’s books and short story collections, and who was the... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-03-23 13:58:10 UTC ]
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The vending machine, created by Bogle Bartle Hegarty, was placed at Comic Con in London, as part of a seasonally appropriate activation for the new Netflix series The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself. Continue reading at Media Week
[ Media Week | 2022-10-28 12:44:39 UTC ]
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Struggling to read more but just can’t find the time? Well, Brooklyn’s Center for Fiction may have the solution (for free!). The staff at the not-for-profit is curating short stories for NYC’s first Short Story Dispenser, which is scheduled to be in commission starting October 2nd. Visitors to... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-09-22 18:38:46 UTC ]
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Lucy Pearse is to join Simon & Schuster Children's as editorial director for fiction this autumn. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-09-02 03:18:25 UTC ]
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Hodder & Stoughton has made some changes to its fiction editorial team, making new hires of Noor Sufi and Molly Power as commissioning editors for its crime and thriller and SFF lists, and promoting Kimberley Atkins to publisher for Women's Fiction. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-03-16 13:08:15 UTC ]
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David Cameron’s memoir, For the Record, hit the headlines this weekend as the publicity campaign for the former prime minister’s book gets underway. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-09-16 03:37:49 UTC ]
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Editorial director for Weidenfeld & Nicolson (W&N), Paul Murphy, is leaving his role after more than eight years with Orion, following a “review" of the imprint's non-fiction commissioning team. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-05-27 22:34:20 UTC ]
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From the French revolution to Brexit, this newspaper has put itself at the heart of the issues of the moment, whatever its sizeToday, we are proud and excited to launch our new design for the Observer. We think it’s vital for a newspaper to shed its skin from time to time, to reimagine itself... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2018-01-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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